With barely a week to go to the referendum on Scottish Independence I keep thinking of things...
What happens about the Poet Laureate if Scotland votes 'Yes'...
I am assuming they might not want to share ours any more, even though Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow. The Scots already have their equivalent, the Makar, in Liz Lochhead, but anyway this month has seen the opening, at Holyrood in Edinburgh, of what looks like a wonderful exhibition on the history of the laureateship...
Thursday, 7 August 2014 to Sunday, 2 November 2014
The office of Poet Laureate is a special honour awarded by the Sovereign to a poet whose work is of national significance.
This exhibition celebrates the work of the current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, at the half-way point in her laureateship.
It explores the role of the Poet Laureate, and the close relationship between poet and monarch over the last three and a half centuries. It brings together presentation volumes, original manuscripts, annotated collections of poetry and remarkable images of poets, including John Dryden, William Wordsworth, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, John Betjeman and Ted Hughes.
Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry is also represented by the work of the textual artist Stephen Raw, who has created several pieces for the exhibition.
I'm not likely to get there any time soon but if any of you do go please report back.
And to celebrate the half way point in Carol Ann Duffy's tenure a very beautiful book of her Laureate poems has been published to coincide with the exhibition, and with the most beautiful illustrations by Stephen Raw.
Scroll down for gifts, and a waiting cat eager to see you after his summer sojourn out in the fields...
Recent Comments