Words by Emily Matthews
On Thursday 23rd October, the acclaimed poet and author Simon Armitage was interviewed by his friend and colleague, Dr Jo Gavins to promote his new television programme as part of the Off The Shelf Festival.
Simon Armitage’s latest project is a programme called The Great War: An Elegy commemorating the centenary of World War One where he writes poetry to give a voice to those that have fought in the wars yet have had trouble coming to terms with what they saw.
At Sheffield University’s Students Union, a large audience gathered to hear him talk about the process involved in writing the pieces and we watched clips showing the moving stories of those who had fought for their country.
The stories were touching as were the way in which they were told and the poems that Armitage has written capture this incredibly well. The two stories that I found the most compelling were those of Cliff and Eddie and Laura.
Cliff fought in the Second World War and in the years after had worked as a policeman. His past came back to him when he was patrolling the streets and met a woman who’s son he had fought with. The way that this clearly still means so much to Cliff after all these years shows just how devastating the effects of war were and why it is so important that we continue to remember those who fought and helped with the war effort.
Simon Armitage also wrote a poem for Eddie and Laura. Eddie had fought in Afghanistan and what he had experienced had clearly had a heavy impact on him and Laura. It was clear that their relationship was very strong and had seen some dark days. What was interesting about the poem that Armitage had created for them was that it gave Laura a voice. Armitage explained his decision to do this because it was a story which had affected both of them and Laura had played a large part in helping Eddie to overcome what he had seen.
Even though the evening talked about a very emotional subject, there were a few laughs especially when an audience member asked about the anger in some Simon’s poems and he didn’t know that there was any perceived showing how personal poems can be and how people can recognise different elements in them.
Simon spoke about the way he created his poems and said that he found it easier to stay distanced from the emotion and situation and had not met any of the people that he had written the poems for until after. Armitage said that he writes better when he is not emotionally involved in the story although did acknowledge that some writers prefer to be emotional while writing.
We were also lucky enough to hear Simon read several of the poems he had written from his book, Paper Aeroplanes. It really made a difference to hear them in the poet’s voice.
A really nice touch to the evening was having his friend and colleague Dr Jo Gavins interview him as it added a more personal and informal touch to the evening.
The Great War: An Elegy will be on BBC2 Sunday 8th November
Off The Shelf Festival runs until 1st November
