Kid
book cover
Cover of first edition
AuthorSimon Armitage
GenrePoetry
PublisherFaber and Faber
Publication date
1992
Media typePaperback
AwardsForward Prize for Poetry
ISBN978-0571166077
OCLC919570527
Preceded byZoom! 
Followed byBook of Matches 
Websitehttps://www.simonarmitage.com/kid/

Kid is the second collection of poems by Simon Armitage, published in 1992. The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry.

Author

Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright and novelist. He was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2019.[1] He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds and became Oxford Professor of Poetry when he was elected to the four-year part-time appointment from 2015 to 2019. He was born and raised in Marsden, West Yorkshire.[2][3] At the start of his career, and at the time Kid was published, he was working as a probation officer.[4]

Book

Publication history

Kid, Armitage's second book of poetry,[5] was his first to be published by Faber and Faber, in 1992.[6][7]

Contents

The 48 poems in the collection, structured as a single list, include:

  • "Kid" – the title poem, this is spoken by Batman's companion Robin.[6]
  • "Brassneck" – the story of two thieves attempting to steal from a crowd at a football game.[8]
  • "At Sea"[8]
  • "Robinson's Resignation" – the story of a businessman.[8]
  • "Great Sporting Moments: The Treble" – an exploration of class conflict.[8]

Reception

The collection was described by the poet and novelist Ruth Padel as being "Very Yorkshire; very Simon Armitage".[6] She wrote that the book "consolidated his name for technical virtuosity [and] black humour",[6] the voice having "a self-deprecatingly cocky self-centredness."[6] In her view, the first poem, "Brassneck", about a murderer, had "brilliant rhyme";[6] but she noted that some, especially poets, "found it less convincing than Zoom!."[6]

The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry in the "best first collection" category in 1992, the first year in which the prizes were awarded.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Simon Armitage: 'Witty and profound' writer to be next Poet Laureate". BBC News. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ↑ Flood, Alison (19 June 2015). "Simon Armitage wins Oxford professor of poetry election". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. ↑ "Biography » Simon Armitage – The Official Website". www.simonarmitage.com. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  4. ↑ McGuiness, Daniel (Winter 1995). "Book of Matches". The Antioch Review. 53 (1): 120. doi:10.2307/4613107. JSTOR 4613107.
  5. ↑ Armitage, Simon (7 March 2020). "Magnetic fields: Simon Armitage on the pull of Marsden". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Padel, Ruth (20 September 1997). "Heaven can wait". The Independent. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  7. ↑ Armitage 1992, p. iv.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Wilkinson, Ben (7 November 2014). "Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989–2014 by Simon Armitage review – 'What surprises is how urgent and contemporary his early poems still read'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "Forward Prize Alumni". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 24 February 2022.

Bibliography

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