The Collected Poems of Arnold Bennett book published by Clayhanger Press

The Collected Poems of Arnold Bennett Poetry Hardback Book.

This is a first edition hardback book of 160 pages, including detailed commentary with each poem. It is beautifully bound and has an illustrated dust cover.

"Being an assembly of verse composed by ' a poet of the ordinary '.

Introduction written by Roger Bloor.

Edited by Roger Bloor with Paul Plant, Catherine Burgass & Martin Laux

Published in 2023 by Clayhanger Press

Size: 23.75cm x 16cm x 2cm

This first-ever collection of Arnold Bennett's poems explores what attracted him to writing in verse. Was it a distraction, an amusement, an interlude while devising new prose, or did the act of writing within the constraints of a poetic form allow him to express personal thoughts that were excluded from both his personal conversations and his public writings?

His fiction has overshadowed Arnold Bennett's poetry and this is a function of both quantity and quality. Bennett never really developed his poetic voice, but there is poetry in the fiction, not least in the vividly rendered pictures of the Potteries' landscape described in a language elevated above the 'ordinary'. His poetry although at times ponderous, deliberate and sometimes naive, demonstrates very clearly his accurate observation, perception, ironic tone, humour, and perhaps most importantly, his ingenious use of words. 

List of contributors includes: Roger Bloor with Paul Plant, Catherine Burgass & Martin Laux

The Cover Image: From a copy of The Bookman 1911.

Clayhanger Press is a small independent publishers specialising in poet's works which are based about location, an area or the work by locally based poets.