The Acts of Oblivion

The Acts of Oblivion is a collection of poems by Paul Batchelor that rebel against the Acts of Oblivion, a series of seventeenth-century laws enacted by both Parliamentarian and Royalist factions. The poems explore lost futures, such as those offered by radical figures in the English Civil War and the deliberately destroyed mining communities of North East England, and are characterized by their intense detail and novelistic grasp of national catastrophes. Batchelor has won numerous awards for his poetry, and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 16 December 2021
Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd

The Acts of Oblivion, a series of laws enacted in the seventeenth century by both Parliamentarian and Royalist factions, aimed to erase revolutionary deeds and speech from the public record. In response, Paul Batchelor's poems in his second collection, The Acts of Oblivion, challenge these injunctions. The book explores lost futures, including those offered by radical figures during the English Civil War and the deliberately destroyed mining communities of North East England. It also collects acclaimed individual poems like "Brother Coal" and "A Form of Words," alongside visions of the underworld imagined by Homer, Lucian, Lucan, Ovid, and Dante. Batchelor's poems are intensely characterized, novelistic in their detail, and grasp national catastrophes. They have been described as "the most accomplished poet of his generation" by Andrew McNeillie. Batchelor's first book, The Sinking Road, was shortlisted for the Jerwood-Aldeburgh Best First Collection Prize. He has also published a chapbook, The Love Darg, and edited a collection of essays, Reading Barry MacSweeney. His poems and translations have been featured in numerous anthologies and publications such as Granta, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, Poetry, PN Review, Poetry Review, The Times, and the Times Literary Supplement.

Weight: 190g
Dimension: 135 x 216 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800171992