Staying Alive doesn’t look to illuminate an answer to life’s great questions, problems, mysteries and joys but to highlight their essence and emphasise their points. Beginning with an enticing introductory page; a few poets explain their written artworks whilst doing so almost in the fashion of a poem itself – its description ethereal.
Poetry is to experience something akin, as the editor Neil Astley explains, to feel a resonance to yourself, your emotions, past and present, and to learn something new. For as he puts it, the poem expresses what could not be said through other means; ‘for if what the poem says could be expressed by some other means, in prose or through conversation, you wouldn’t need the poem.’
The poems provide a ‘consolation in grief or affirmation in love’ or as the divided sections show; a connection to how we feel about our place in the world, the journeys we take or miss, relationships to one another, war, hope, even birth;
‘While I lay curled up,
my heart beating,
In the darkness inside her.’
– Extract from ‘It’s Good To Be Here’ by Alden Nowlan.
Astley states that the anthology is posed to explore questions of what poetry is today and of its relevance to us.
The book’s format allows the poems to ebb and flow into each other as they share a page – leading you to follow on, and skip over the small white space that separates them. This works especially well in the book’s groupings, of which there are twelve e.g. Body and soul, Bittersweet, Growing up, Man and beast, etc. Although some poems do not sit well together, and yet by doing so they emphasise feelings and thoughts like a debate club, each raising their voice to make the words of their poem that little bit clearer.
Astley’s selected poems range from those that have stood the test of time; Osip Mandelstam, W. B. Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Hayden, Sylvia Plath and E. E. Cummings who wrote nearly 3,000 poems (thankfully Astley has included just three of them), to a pleasing collection of contemporary poets that include works by Simon Armitage and Vona Groarke. However, the book was published nearly two decades ago and so it’s sadly missing some of the latest poets. Still, at the time of publication Astley had over 30 years of editing and publishing experience – and it shows with many a great work included.
With contemporary poetry no longer restricted to those from a specific background, there’s a greater representation of all walks of life, and as Astley puts it, they’re ‘…more tuned in to how people think about the world and feel about themselves than the poets of 50 years ago.’
Each section of the anthology has a brief intro explaining the poems selected, their connection to the specified section and the poets background/experiences. Preceding this are small quotes from long-established poets looking to answer what poetry is, or can mean, most of whom have a poem included in the book. The anthology also includes many a poetry prize winner, along with iconic poems that have been popularised by their inclusion in wider-culture contexts such as Dylan Thomas’s Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, and which is quoted in part in the 2014 Interstellar movie.
A particularly striking poem is ‘Spell’ by Kate Clanchy, its magic working to stay with you as do many of the poems in this anthology, the book never having to sit too long on a shelf. It’s a dictionary about being alive; of a place in shared time; a book to inspire creation; and to find yourself dreaming when awake. A rounded collection, Staying Alive engages both those familiar with poetry, while still being accessible for those who are new to its format. In Neil Astley’s anthology the poems are carefully selected, highly diverse and will leave you with more than a few new favourites.
Don’t wait to plunge into Astley’s collection – instead open the book and take a peek inside.
‘Go and open the door.
If there’s a fog
it will clear.’
– Extract from ‘The Door’ by Miroslav Holub.
Other Notable Works by Neil Astley:
- Staying Human: New Poems for Staying Alive 2020
- Being Human: The Companion Anthology to Staying Alive and Being Alive 2011
- Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds 2007
- Being Alive: The Sequel to Staying Alive 2004
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781852245887
Cover Photograph: Carles Fargas
Presented Edition: 2017 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Jr Korpa on Unsplash
Staying Alive: Real Poems For Unreal Times, edited by Neil Astley (2002)
Staying Alive doesn’t look to illuminate an answer to life’s great questions, problems, mysteries and joys but to highlight their essence and emphasise their points. Beginning with an enticing introductory page; a few poets explain their written artworks whilst doing so almost in the fashion of a poem itself – its description ethereal.
Poetry is to experience something akin, as the editor Neil Astley explains, to feel a resonance to yourself, your emotions, past and present, and to learn something new. For as he puts it, the poem expresses what could not be said through other means; ‘for if what the poem says could be expressed by some other means, in prose or through conversation, you wouldn’t need the poem.’
The poems provide a ‘consolation in grief or affirmation in love’ or as the divided sections show; a connection to how we feel about our place in the world, the journeys we take or miss, relationships to one another, war, hope, even birth;
‘While I lay curled up,
my heart beating,
In the darkness inside her.’
– Extract from ‘It’s Good To Be Here’ by Alden Nowlan.
Astley states that the anthology is posed to explore questions of what poetry is today and of its relevance to us.
The book’s format allows the poems to ebb and flow into each other as they share a page – leading you to follow on, and skip over the small white space that separates them. This works especially well in the book’s groupings, of which there are twelve e.g. Body and soul, Bittersweet, Growing up, Man and beast, etc. Although some poems do not sit well together, and yet by doing so they emphasise feelings and thoughts like a debate club, each raising their voice to make the words of their poem that little bit clearer.
Astley’s selected poems range from those that have stood the test of time; Osip Mandelstam, W. B. Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Hayden, Sylvia Plath and E. E. Cummings who wrote nearly 3,000 poems (thankfully Astley has included just three of them), to a pleasing collection of contemporary poets that include works by Simon Armitage and Vona Groarke. However, the book was published nearly two decades ago and so it’s sadly missing some of the latest poets. Still, at the time of publication Astley had over 30 years of editing and publishing experience – and it shows with many a great work included.
With contemporary poetry no longer restricted to those from a specific background, there’s a greater representation of all walks of life, and as Astley puts it, they’re ‘…more tuned in to how people think about the world and feel about themselves than the poets of 50 years ago.’
Each section of the anthology has a brief intro explaining the poems selected, their connection to the specified section and the poets background/experiences. Preceding this are small quotes from long-established poets looking to answer what poetry is, or can mean, most of whom have a poem included in the book. The anthology also includes many a poetry prize winner, along with iconic poems that have been popularised by their inclusion in wider-culture contexts such as Dylan Thomas’s Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, and which is quoted in part in the 2014 Interstellar movie.
A particularly striking poem is ‘Spell’ by Kate Clanchy, its magic working to stay with you as do many of the poems in this anthology, the book never having to sit too long on a shelf. It’s a dictionary about being alive; of a place in shared time; a book to inspire creation; and to find yourself dreaming when awake. A rounded collection, Staying Alive engages both those familiar with poetry, while still being accessible for those who are new to its format. In Neil Astley’s anthology the poems are carefully selected, highly diverse and will leave you with more than a few new favourites.
Don’t wait to plunge into Astley’s collection – instead open the book and take a peek inside.
‘Go and open the door.
If there’s a fog
it will clear.’
– Extract from ‘The Door’ by Miroslav Holub.
Other Notable Works by Neil Astley:
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781852245887
Cover Photograph: Carles Fargas
Presented Edition: 2017 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Jr Korpa on Unsplash
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