British Poetry Revival

The British Poetry Revival is the general name given to a loose poetic movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The Revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry.

A treacherous assault on British poetry

In 1971, a large number of the poets associated with the British Poetry Revival joined the Poetry Society and elected a council to represent them. The society had been traditionally hostile to modernist poetry, but under the new council this position was reversed. Eric Mottram was made editor of the society's magazine Poetry Review. Over the next six years, he edited twenty issues that featured most, if not all, of the key Revival poets and carried reviews of books and magazines from the wide range of small presses that had sprung up to publish them.

Related Topics:
1971 - Poetry Society

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Nuttall and MacSweeney both served as chairperson of the society during this period and Bob Cobbing used the photocopying facilities in the basement of the society's building to produce Writers Forum books. Around this time, Cobbing, Finch and others established the Association of Little Presses (ALP) to promote and support small press publishers and organise book fares at which they could sell their productions.

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In the late 1970s, in response to the number of foreign poets being featured in Poetry Review, the Poetry Society dissolved the editorial board of the magazine, describing their activities as "a treacherous assault on British poetry".

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