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The anthology has modern perspectives on historical subjects, such as W.H. Auden's 'Roman Wall Blues' and Alistair Elliot on the aftermath of the Battle of Heavenfield in the 7th century, as well as poets from past ages, starting with Caedmon, the first English poet, writing in the 8th century. There are classic North-East songs from the oral tradition of balladeers and pitmen poets alongside the work of literary chroniclers like Mark Akenside from the 18th century, followed by evocations of Northumberland by decadent gentry poet Algernon Charles Swinburne contrasting with grim tales of life down the pit by Tommy Armstrong, Joseph Skipsey and Thomas Wilson in the 19th century. The region's favourite tipple is championed by 18th-century poet John Cunningham in his eulogy 'Newcastle Beer', while 200 years later, Tony Harrison's defences are 'broken down \/ on nine or ten Newcastle Brown' in his 'Newcastle Is Peru' (1969). Durham is celebrated in a 12th-century priest's poem but is a trinity of 'University, Cathedral, Gaol' for Tony Harrison. The River Tyne flows through poems by Wilfrid Gibson, James Kirkup, Michael Roberts, Francis Scarfe from early to mid-20th century, while the region's dialects (from Northumbrian to Geordie and Pitmatic) are heard in poems by Basil Bunting, William Martin, Tom Pickard, Katrina Porteous and Fred Reed. Other modern and contemporary poets and songwriters featured include Gillian Allnutt, Peter Armstrong, Peter Bennet, Robyn Bolam, George Charlton, Julia Darling, Richard Dawson, the Elliotts of Birtley, W.N. Herbert, Alan Hull, James Kirkup, Mark Knopfler, Barry MacSweeney, Sean O'Brien, Rodney Pybus, Kathleen Raine, Jon Silkin and Anne Stevenson, as well as poets who've spent time in the North-East, such as Fleur Adcock, David Constantine, Fred D'Aguiar, Frances Horovitz, Philip Larkin, Michael Longley and Carol Rumens, writing highly memorable poems in response to the place, its people and their stories. The book's introduction is in two parts, with Rodney Pybus covering the historical background and Neil Astley the last 50 years. This emphasises the importance of the oral tradition during the centuries when little \"written poetry\" of note was produced in the region. 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Compiled by Staying Alive editor Neil Astley, each book in the series covers four leading contemporary poets in depth, with substantial selections covering the whole range of each writer's poetry, as well as intriguing and illuminating background material, including profiles, interviews, essays and commentary by the poets. This introduction brings together four of America's major modern poets whose visionary poetry is rooted in the everyday world as well as in nature. Wise, passionate and incisive, their poems address heart, spirit and mind to illuminate the human condition. Jack Gilbert has always been a total outsider in American poetry. He writes compellingly about passion, loss and loneliness. His work is both a rebellious assertion of clarity and a profound affirmation of the world. Jane Hirshfield is a visionary writer whose poems ask nothing less than what it is to be human. Both sensual meditations and passionate investigations, they reveal complex truths in language luminous and precise. Galway Kinnell's diverse work ranges from odes of kinship with nature to realistic evocations of urban life, from religious quest to political statement, from brief imagistic lyrics to extended, complex meditations. W.S. 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