Ask two poets what their first drafts look like, and you'll get wildly different answers. From typed pages with delicate annotation to hasty scribbles in a dog-eared notebook, drafts can tell us so much more about poems - and their poets - than their final, published versions. Diverse themes including love, inequality, and the natural world bring together some of the most culturally significant and emotionally affecting poems in the British Library's collections and beyond. These carefully selected drafts are written on materials ranging from school exercise books to mulberry bark to Holloway prison toilet paper. They include not only English and American poetry, but also drafts in Amharic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Persian, Thai and Sanskrit. Expert commentary explains the provenance of the manuscripts, as well as the secrets they reveal about the writing process. Previously unpublished early drafts by practising poets including Benjamin Zephaniah, Simon Armitage, Pascale Petit and Hollie McNish are accompanied by new reflections from the poets themselves on their inspiration and craft.

About the Author
Alexandra Ault is Lead Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts 1601-1850, and Laura Walker is Lead Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts 1850-1950 at the British Library.


Book Information
ISBN 9780712354660
Author Alexandra Ault
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint British Library Publishing
Publisher British Library Publishing