November 10th, 2009
Former British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has been accused of “burglary” over a poem he wrote for Remembrance Sunday. Military historian Ben Shephard is upset because all but 16 of the 152 lines in Motion’s poem come directly from the text of Shephard’s book A War of Nerves. Shephard: “There is a word for this. It begins with ‘p’ and isn’t poetry.” Motion: “He has got the wrong end of the stick. To blow off about it like he has done completely misunderstands what found poetry is.”
SMARTISH PACE THINKS
To blow off about it
like he has done
completely misunderstands
what found poetry is.
It begins with ‘p’
and isn’t poetry.
He has got the wrong end
of the stick.
There is a word
for this.
Smartish Pace