Poetry & Strikes

Michael James holds a PhD in English Literature from Royal Holloway, University of London.

‘[T]his book is committed to a perspicacious engagement with the social and political components and contexts of the poems discussed, whereby poetry offers "alternative representations" of both trade unionism and the forces arrayed against it.’Adam Hansen, Modern Language Review

• IntroductionI.Why Poetry?II.Introducing the PoetsIII.The ChaptersChapter OneHow Did We Get Here? The HistoryChapter TwoUnions and Not UnionsI.UnionsI.I. Barry MacSweeney’s Black Torch and ‘Black Torch Sunrise’I.II. Tony Harrison’s ‘V.’I.III. Sean O’Brien’s ‘Summertime’I.IV Steve Ely’s ‘Ballad of the Scabs’, ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’ and ‘Inglan is a Bitch’II.Not UnionsII.I Helen Mort’s ‘Scab’Chapter ThreeNaming Scargills and ThatchersI.NamingI.I. Paul Bentley’s ‘The Two Magicians’I.II. Barry MacSweeney’s ‘John Bunyan to Johnny Rotten’I.III. Sean O’Brien’s ‘Unregistered’I.IV. Steve Ely’s ‘Arthur Scargill’, 'One of Us’, 'Ballad of the Scabs’, ‘Scum of the Earth’, ‘Nithing’Chapter FourStrikes and PlaceI.I. Paul Bentley’s ‘The Two Magicians’I.II. Helen Mort’s ‘Scab’ and ‘Pit Closure as a Tarantino Short’ and Steve Ely’s ‘Objective One’Chapter FiveOther Poetic ResponsesI.Against All the OddsII.The Poet Laureate - Ted Hughes’ ‘On the Reservations’ and ‘The Best Worker in Europe’