Hull: City of Poets

Today, Thursday 3rd October 2019, Britain celebrates the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Day. Founded in 1994 by William Seighart, National Poetry Day is a campaign to promote the enjoyment of poetry in all its forms. And as such we thought such a celebration provides the perfect opportunity to promote and celebrate poets associated with our city.

Until recently and with the recognition afforded by the City of Culture year in 2017, Hull had often been forgotten, consigned to the margins and thought of as a city at the end of the line. Yet, Hull has a strong history of poets and poetry associated with the city. Peter Porter, the Australian poet, even described Hull as the most poetic city. With the number of poets that have emerged from the area and their work often revealing the influence the city and its people have had on them, sometimes even years after they’ve moved away from the area, perhaps it can be said that Philip Larkin really had something when he described Hull as ‘the town that lets you write.’

In order to help celebrate local poets the Hull History Centre has put together a small exhibition, which will be available to view in the History Centre’s arcade free of charge until Saturday 5th October 2019. The selection of poems and their poets presented in the exhibition and indeed here below, are by no means extensive and the small selection does not pretend to represent all poets associated with the area. Each poem was personally selected by staff at the History Centre from books held in our Local Studies Library collection picked out because the poem spoke some form of truth, was thought provoking, or, more often than not, simply raised a smile.

Poetry exhibition in the Hull History Centre’s arcade, free entry

Below are a small sample of titles and the first line of poems chosen by staff for the exhibition, and the reasons for their choice.

Veritas by George Kendrick

This is to certify that I am …

“Back in the mid 1980’s I took an English Language/Literature course at Hull College.  I was privileged to be taught by a lovely man called George Kendrick of whom I knew nothing about apart from the fact that he was our teacher.  He often mentioned during his lectures that he had written a book of poems.  Years later I finally read the book and have chosen this poem as it made me smile!” Angela

Tolstoy in the bathroom by Peter Knaggs

Tolstoy loves the bathroom …

“I’ve picked Tolstoy In the Bathroom as I loved the idea of taking an author who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time and putting him in an up-to-date domestic setting.  It made Tolstoy more human to me and I felt less daunted about reading one of his works of fiction.” Caoimhe

Absent by Bernard Young

Dear Teacher …

“We have all been absent and have spent a lot of our time being absent I think, I just never thought about starting my career as an absent at school! What really makes me giggle, is that all the high powered business executives are spending thousands of pounds to help them de-stress and calm their mind… when there are kids in school that just have that amazing power!” Jenny

Long ago by Grace Wade

Amber eyes, half closed but glowing…

“I knew Grace when I worked at Avenues Library in the 1990s. A lovely lady who lived on the avenues, she was also an artist. I particularly like ‘Long Ago’ as it captures the ways of felines, their possible dreams and their mystique and of course when cats were worshiped as ‘kings’ in Egypt.” Michele

Local Studies Library at the Hull History Centre,
books can be borrowed with a Hull Library ticket

To see the whole exhibition and to borrow books from our Local Studies Library visit us at the Hull History Centre. Remember to bring some form of ID with you (e.g. driving licence) and we’ll be able to register you with a Hull Library ticket. Hull: City of Poets exhibition will be accessible to view at the History Centre until Saturday 5th October 2019.

We hope you enjoy the poems just as much as we have.

Laura Wilson

Archivist