In The Drifted Stream, the former poet laureate Andrew Motion draws together British and Irish poetry from the 14th century to the present day for a listening audience. In the foreword, Motion explains how the project harks back to a time when oral poetry was the prevailing form. “Poetry is as much a breath and sound art as it is an art that involves us on the page,” he says.
Read by a cast of actors including Matt Addis, Shaheen Khan, David Rintoul, Gabby Wong, Abraham Popoola and Homer Todiwala, the poems are arranged chronologically and divided into periods, including Middle English, Elizabethan, the metaphysicals and Milton, the first world war and so on, with Motion providing introductory context for each. The categories are needed, though this is a collection that is best dipped into, all the better to appreciate the shifting language, styles and voices that form our poetic history.
