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As Angela Leighton wrote in the Times Literary Supplement, Peter Robinson ‘has been a generous promoter of contemporary poetry for decades, and this collection of essays bears witness to his dedication and energy.’ What she had to say then of Twentieth Century Poetry: Selves and Situations (2005) could not be truer for The Personal Art, a new and comprehensive gathering of Robinson’s critical writings on Anglophone poets from Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Here are essays and reviews of collections by poets he has admired and followed over some forty-five years. Veronica Forrest-Thomson, Elizabeth Bishop, Douglas Oliver, John James, Peter Riley, Sinead Morrissey, Peter Sirr, Derek Walcott and Bill Manhire are among the many writers whose work he addresses. To these have been added some memoirs on his childhood and youth in Liverpool, his becoming a reader, on the Cambridge Poetry Festival, the events around his diagnosis and operation for a benign brain tumour, and the importance of Roy Fisher as example and mentor. Robinson ‘writes with an unformulaic enthusiasm,’ Leighton observed, ‘moving easily from biographical, political and poetic contexts to the nitty gritty of close reading, while also striking an easy, readable tone.’ The Personal Art is an essential guide to the poetry that has shaped and fed the imagination of a distinctive and original poet.
As with everything Robinson writes this is a beautifully crafted piece of work which, as much as his poetry, provides scope for repeated reading. It is a deeply personal book drawing on his literary, critical and philosophical passions -Belinda Cooke on Poetry & Translation: The Art of the Impossible in Agenda.
