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11
Oct 2021
Poet Laureate brings the 'primitive magic' of verse to Ripon festival
Simon Armitage summed up the power of poetry when he read a selection of his works to a packed audience in Ripon on Saturday.
The Poet Laureate, whose poems brought laughter and sadness to 200 people at Ripon Grammar School, said words on a page take on a different character when spoken.
Armitage, who was the star attraction at the fourth Ripon Poetry Festival, described verse as having 'a kind of primitive magic".
The West Yorkshire-born and bred poet told the Stray Ferret he was delighted to perform at the four-day festival, where he brought some of his own primitive magic and talked about his local connections.
He said:
Poetry boom
Talking about lockdown, he said:
Lockdown also gave Armitage, who was appointed to the 10-year office of Poet Laureate in May 2019, the opportunity to focus on his work.
He said:
Saturday evening's audience was given a taste of the epic poem, which focuses on the quarrelsome conversation between the two birds, as they show their mutual dislike.
The newly-published work featured recently on BBC Radio 4's hit podcast, The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed.
There were also readings from Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems, a collection that provides a guided tour in verse of the village where Armitage grew up.
Ripon festival success
His lines, which paint a picture of home-town life and experiences, were very much in keeping with the theme of the festival.
Andy Croft, who was one of the organisers of the four-day event, that included 17 sessions at venues across the city, said:
Testimony to the growing popularity of poetry was the fact that this year's festival anthology, The Other Side of the Looking Glass, contains 92 poems covering a broad spectrum of styles and based on a wide range of subjects, including life in lockdown and the environment.
Mr Croft pointed out:
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