Product Description

Simon Armitage issues a timely collection of work focusing on conflicts aside from the Great War and World War Two.

The poems were originally aired on a Channel 4 documentary film of the same name, shown in the summer of 2007. They are featured alongside an introduction from Simon and press reviews of the film. The poems focus on the testimonies of veterans of the Gulf, Bosnia and Malayan wars - ex-soldiers who have seldom been heard before.

"Never having been to the front line, turning the words, phrases and experiences of these soldiers into verse has been the closest I've ever come to writing "real" war poetry, and as close as I ever want to get," said Simon.

The Not Dead received excellent reviews in the press and moving responses on the Web from other veterans. "I wasn't present when the three men read the poems to camera, but it can't have been easy for them. In my view, it was a supreme act of bravery," Simon added.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142254 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Review
`The Not Dead is uniquely impressive. In transmuting the stories of particular soldiers into the lyrical music of Simon Armitage's poems, something exceptional is achieved: the painful truth of lives damaged beyond help is made meaningful for the rest of us. We can only catch our breath and read them again and again'
--Joan Bakewell

Customer Reviews

The not Dead is superb
As a veteran of one conflict the poems and recollections contained in this book brought back memories,some good, some bad. But I think that it's a book that secondary school students should read, as they would understand the full impact of war. It really is a very well compiled book.