CloudCuckooLand
Poems

In 1996, Simon Armitage bought a powerful Russian telescope and began to inspect the night sky from his West Yorkshire home. The sequence of short poems in the middle of this book must have something to do with that new interest, each receiving its classical title from one of the constellations, while turning out to be less concerned with pure astronomy than with moments in the life of the poet's mind. Celestial themes loom large elsewhere, with a number of what could be called religious poems towards the beginning of the book, and a play based on events around a total eclipse of the sun at the end. This dramatic tour de force was commissioned by the National Theatre, for performance by children, and confirmed Armitage as one of our true poetic experimenters - ceaselessly exploring and capable of making his stylistic advances without ever losing the confidence of his audience.