Why a poem outraged 1980s Britain

Forty years ago, Northern British poet Harrison published a powerful piece inspired by a tombstone that had been destroyed in his hometown of Leeds. Later, when it was shown on television in 1987, a public turmoil exploded.

“Four Letter TV Poem Fury” thundered the front pages of British newspapers and denounced the “Cascade of Let’s Dictionary.” “From Bad to Poetry” was the headline of another article, citing members of Congress who questioned whether “whatever the artistic purpose was.” And a group of lawmakers in particular sought a discussion in the House.

The fuss was about a poem called V by Northern English poet Tony Harrison. Tony Harrison was inspired by the destroyed tombstones in his hometown of Leeds, published in January 1985, but became Serebre when it was shown on national television in the UK in November 1987.

In many cases, poetry does not become a hot topic of conversation among the general public. The last time it happened was when Amanda Gorman read her poem “The Hill,” which she climbed at Joe Biden’s inauguration, but the poet’s youth and outfit piqued as many comments as her poems. Before that, after appearing at four weddings and funerals at Romcom in 1994, it was Blues at W.H. Auden’s Funeral.

However, when it is rare for poetry to escape the scope of the literary world, it is virtually unheard of forcing politicians to act and publicly call on television channels ferociously.

V originated in May 1984 on a visit from Harrison to Holbeck Cemetery in Beston, Leeds. The cemetery stands on a hill. Harrison discovers that the cemeteries scattered across the cemetery are littered with spray-painted graffiti to tilt their parents’ graves. Some nature of graffiti suggests that football fans are responsible.

At this point, the unemployment rate was rising, reaching 11.9% later that year. It was at a level not seen in the UK since 1971, and has not been seen since. The previous year, the boys from Blackstuff about the award-winning BBC drama Liverpool’s unemployed captured the era and had a huge impact. The miner’s strike began a few weeks ago. In fact, the country was deeply divided under a polarised, conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher. In vandalism and spray-painted undressing, Harrison saw further evidence of social division and gave him the idea of ​​his poem.

Harrison was, at this point, an established and respected poet, playwright and translator. He published several poems and was a resident playwright at the National Theatre, but his translation of Molière’s The Misanthrope in 1973 was highly praised.

On January 24, 1985, V was featured in a London book review.

It consists of 112 four-line stanzas, or quatrains, with a scheme that rhymes with Abab, and is the same form as Thomas Gray’s blessed 18th-century poems. Elegy written in a rural church gardenHarrison tried to appeal to his own work.

The title “V” stands for “Versus.” This is also a pun in “poetry,” but is intended to refer to the two-finger “V-sign” gesture, which is probably “victory” and perhaps considered rude in British culture.

All of these Vs are life

Leedsv. From Derby, Black/White

And (as I know my expenses) man vs wife,

Communism v. Fascist, left v. right.

The poem imagines a poet engaged in dialogue with the person who tainted the tomb, which is characterized by the indecency and racist admiration used in the graffiti.

Sandy Byrne, an English professor at Oxford University, said:

“A football supporter who takes shortcuts through the cemetery and draws anger with a tombstone is treated sympathetic despite being consistent with himself in offensive language.

“The power and endurance of poetry comes from its energy, the driving force of poetry and language, anger, and the use of individuals in political service.”

V didn’t appear to cause anger when first printed in a London book review. It was then published in the form of a book by Bloodaxe Books in November 1985, and once again, neither the British Parliament nor the newspapers were bothered. Neil Astley, founder of Bloodaxe Books and still the publisher’s editor and managing director, recalls Harrison performing it all in Tyne Tees Television’s late-night art slot shortly after the poem was published as a book.

However, it became known that a broadcast version of the poem was made in 1987 for Channel 4, directed by well-known theatrical director Richard Eyre, and especially for the national broadcaster Channel 4, featuring Harrison reading the poem along with footage of Miner Holbeck Cemetery and Thatcher reading the poem along with footage of Thatcher signing a “winning” sign. At that point, all hell slowly broke.

In October, a few weeks before it aired, the Daily Mail reported on its homepage about “Four Letter TV Poem Fury.” Activist and anti-obesity campaigner Mary White House called the poem “a work of singular awkwardness.” Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative MP, who earlier that year, tried to introduce a law that would make a crime into air material that could cause “a reasonable person” to cause “all crimes,” was another person who opposed the broadcast. He officially called for an argument in the House of Representatives to try and stop it. 121 lawmakers signed the proposal. Howarth I later admitted He had not read the poem in full. Harrison recalls a telegrapher knocking on his door in the 2013 BBC Radio 4 documentary “Expling Voring V,” and The After of the Furore. “I said, ‘Have you read a poem?'” he said, ‘No. I’m new.’ ”

Opposition to TV shows Although mostly from right-wing commentators, Oberon War, a columnist and editor of the literary review of Sunday Telegraph, never mistaken for the winger on the left, Oberon War found the poem, “well-written, very moving,” as he wrote in his telegraph column at the time. Ian Hislop, editor of the British satire magazine Private Eye, wrote an article defending it with a listener. The independent poems were printed entirely on the news page. In an introduction by Blake Morrison, he wrote:

The film aired on Wednesday, November 4th, 1987 on Channel 4 at 11pm. According to a log of Channel 4 staff on Swowtboard, it was replicated in the supplement to the poem of Bloodaxe’s second edition, causing many newspaper and magazine articles to infuriate. But others approved. Mr. K of Watford suggested that “politicians should address the energy to social issues that appear in the poem.” Mr W of London said: Most of the calls were in the air favor.

“Of course, ironically, Bloodaxe sold thousands of poems before 1987 as a result of an attack on Channel 4 films, but V reached an audience of millions who may not have heard of it,” Astley told the BBC. “And if you read the poem today, I feel it’s just as important and relevant as it was 40 years ago.”

Sandie Byrne said: [miners’ leader] Arthur Scargill showed scenes of the miners strike and assumed they were the only subject matter. Even among those who actually read it, poetry seemed to revive ideas about the aptitude of a poetic dictionary.

Byrne was “unexpected and shocking,” according to the BBC. The use of cemetery, oval, slang, ordinary speech, and northern pronunciation probably suggested that the poem was not sleepy, dusty backwaters and not necessarily couched in prissy, high-class Southern, or elaborate languages. ”

The poem was broadcast again on Radio 4 in 2013. The media had anticipated a controversy, but it wasn’t really a big deal. Perhaps listeners were used to the four-letter words used in all kinds of media. The racist epithets would have one if they were considered even more offensive in 2013 than when the Channel 4 film aired. The 30-minute radio 4 documentary aired before reading the poems that were contextualized with the words of oath and slur must have helped listeners understand their use in the work.

Both poets and poetry are currently the accepted parts of the canon of literature. The website of the Poetry Foundation, a respected American organization founded to promote poetry; I’ll explain about Harrison As “the main British poet Playlight,” and V says that he remains his “most famous poem.” However, while the impact V’s force may have been reduced somewhat, it had no ability to attract and move readers.