麻豆社

One hundred years after the beginning of the catastrophic battle of the Somme, Paul Farley crosses the battlefield in north-eastern France with Simon Armitage to hear his new poems inspired by wartime aerial photographs of the area and Virgil's ancient Georgics (quasi-didactic texts on good land use and husbandry). Taking these new poems back to their source involves travelling along an old Roman road that runs through open farmland. One hundred years ago a paltry mile or two along this road were the scene of horrendous carnage as British and Allied troops attempted to attack and overrun the German lines. Months after the battle began in July 1916 only a mile or so of ground had been won. An appalling price had been paid. In one of the many wartime cemeteries now chequering the French farmland is the grave of a William Shakespeare. Many others and much else died in those months and Simon Armitage and the Echo Chamber have been to listen. His poem sequence is called 'Still' and was commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary, the Writer's Centre Norwich, and Norfolk and Norwich Festival.