First published 2014
This anthology brings together 300 poems written by authors who lived through war, imprisonment, torture, and slavery. Carolyn Forché presents a tradition within English-language poetry where writers created their work under extreme conditions. The collection includes poets who composed verses while awaiting execution, enduring captivity, fighting in battle, or laboring near death. Anne Askew wrote during her torture and execution for religious beliefs under Henry VIII. Phillis Wheatley created poetry after slave traders abducted her. Samuel Bamford witnessed the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. William Blake observed the Gordon Riots of 1780. Samuel Menashe survived the Battle of the Bulge. The volume places these witness poets alongside Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth. Forché argues that such poets appear throughout human history as a constant presence. The anthology demonstrates how their testimony through verse ranks among the finest achievements in the English language.
Genres: anthologies, historical-fiction, 20th-century, poetry, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: testimony, witness
Period: Henry VIII, Peterloo Massacre, Gordon Riots, Battle of the Bulge
673 pages · Kindle Edition · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: torture, violence