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A visionary vista of England by a prolific poet of tradition
A review of ‘Visions of England: Poems selected by the Earl of Burford’ by Nicholas Hagger (O-Books UK £10.99 / US $16.95, January 2019)
This worthy volume doubtless will be ignored by the prevailing poetry establishment, which is precisely why I must review it.
Why will it be ignored? The answer is because it’s founded on traditional poetical practices — anathema to today’s would-be literary ‘cognoscenti’ — and because the theme of the collection is traditional ‘Englishness’ with emphasis on the metaphysical rather than the secular.
In his Selected Poems: The Quest for the One (2016), Hagger writes: ‘So few know the great secret I exist. / I am ignored by all verse and prose hacks’. Thus, somewhat paradoxically, Hagger, by very dint of his traditionalist stance, finds himself anti-establishment in the world of contemporary poetry. As such, he deflects prevailing critical criteria.
I am a lover of tradition / And store castles in my heart (‘Closed’).
In his selection, the Earl of Burford, Charles Beauclerk — descended from Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, the son of Charles II and Nell Gwyn — highlights the strong metaphysical strand in…
