This monograph considers the formal vitality of lyric in the face of anxieties about linguistic agency across the corpus of the British poet, W. S. Graham. A sophisticated modernist lyric originates, the book argues, in Grahams rendering of self-consciousness at different strata across space, sound, image and form as distinct from a more general lyric subject or ego. By listening closely to the poems, the book seeks to identify the self-sufficiency of Grahams lyrics, and their ability to account for themselves theoretically on their own terms. Archival material including worksheets, manuscripts and notebooks is used to examine Graham's visual and spatial conception of verse and his ambivalent relation to verse form. Grahams propositions are considered in the context of broader theoretical debates about modern lyric and a slipstream of mid-century poets (namely William Empson and Veronica Forrest-Thomson). The book concludes with a sustained analysis of Denise Riley's long-term engagement with Grahams poetry, which suggests how Grahams generative approaches to lyric can be further politicised.
Chapter 1- Introduction.
Chapter 2 - Silence of a certain shape:
Self-consciousness, Space and Silence.
Chapter 3 - Graham and the St Ives
Artists: Self-Conscious Space.
Chapter 4 - Nostalgia of a form: Grahams
Self-Conscious Balladry.
Chapter 5 - I have to choose a way: Graham, William
Empson and The Dark Intention.- Chapter 6 - Unquiet as a Talkative Ear:
Graham and Denise Riley.
Chapter 7 - Conclusion.
Sam Buchan-Watts is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Fine Art at Newcastle University, UK. He is the author of the poetry collection Path Through Wood (Prototype, 2021) and co-editor of Try To Be Better (Prototype, 2019), a creative-critical engagement with W. S. Graham.
