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'Ginnel' is the Northern dialect word for a passage between houses, and this closely unified sequence of poems is set in and around the ginnels of Leeds, where Lucy Newlyn grew up in the 1960s.

Exploring the hinterlands of middle-class Headingley and working-class Meanwood, the sequence is pervaded by a sense of restlessness, of wandering between two worlds and times. Poems are constantly on the move, revisiting the places of childhood and childhood as a place. With acute particularity, they recall familiar sights and sounds, local people, favourite walks, dialect words learnt when playing out in the back streets.

Just as ginnels intimately criss-cross the geographical terrain of Leeds, so they track the deepening of consciousness. This is poetry of firm local attachment, overlaid by a child's developing awareness of class divisions, separation, mortality and loss. The adult looks back, with a sense of exile.

Table of Contents

Ginnel

Home

Two addresses

Light

Washing day

Rag and bone man

The attic

Wood Lane

Toad

Omnibus

August, and the hollyhocks

Snicket

The Misses Hallewell

Last to read

Transposed

Saturday afternoon on the Ridge

Trading conkers

Brambling

Landscape near Otley

Walls

Ginneling

Juan taught me

Playin' Out

Meanwood ginnel

Pig-pen at Meanwood

Mill Pond dump

Bandstand

Thornton's Arcade

Bryan's Fish Shop

Mr Bradshaw

Prosaic

Comfortable box

Across the street

Truant

Map

Absences

Eleven-plus

Penny for the guy

Alibi, 22 November 1963

Alma Road

Cleo's songs

Town Hall lions

Baking

Grove Lane in September

Homesickness

At the back

Hide and Seek

The bend

Riddle

Crossing the Ridge

Notes

Lucy Newlyn was born in Uganda and grew up in Leeds. She read English at�Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she also studied for her D. Phil, going on to become Lecturer then Tutorial Fellow at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. She taught English at St Edmund Hall for thirty-two years, published widely ... read more

Praise for Lucy Newlyn 'It is testament to the dramatic power of Newlyn's achievement that, reading through the sonnets, it is easy to imagine William's part being recited in a Cumbrian burr, overlaid with the crunch of gravel and the rush of rivulets ... [Vital Stream is] a showcase of scholarship, a gripping drama in verse, and an epic prelude â the octave to the sestet of the writing it encompasses and mythologises.'
James Riding, The London Magazine 'Her attention to detail in this lengthy series of sonnets is nothing short of phenomenal... These are poems of mood ambiguity, of unexpected warmth and generosity, of philosophical differences, and of a love undermined by the many years of separation prior to the reconciliation at Dove Cottage'
Steve Whitaker, The Yorkshire Times
'The lives and the landscapes flash before us like vivid slides in a continuous poetic magic-lantern show.'
Richard Holmes

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Ginnel Lucy Newlyn Categories: 21st Century, First Collections Imprint: OxfordPoets Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Description Author Contents Reviews 'Ginnel' is the Northern dialect word for a passage between houses, and this closely unified sequence of poems is set in and around the ginnels of Leeds, where Lucy Newlyn grew up in the 1960s. Exploring the hinterlands of middle-class Headingley and working-class Meanwood, the sequence is pervaded by a sense of restlessness, of wandering between two worlds and times. Poems are constantly on the move, revisiting the places of childhood and childhood as a place. With acute particularity, they recall familiar sights and sounds, local people, favourite walks, dialect words learnt when playing out in the back streets. Just as ginnels intimately criss-cross the geographical terrain of Leeds, so they track the deepening of consciousness. This is poetry of firm local attachment, overlaid by a child's developing awareness of class divisions, separation, mortality and loss. The adult looks back, with a sense of exile. Table of Contents Ginnel Home Two addresses Light Washing day Rag and bone man The attic Wood Lane Toad Omnibus August, and the hollyhocks Snicket The Misses Hallewell Last to read Transposed Saturday afternoon on the Ridge Trading conkers Brambling Landscape near Otley Walls Ginneling Juan taught me Playin' Out Meanwood ginnel Pig-pen at Meanwood Mill Pond dump Bandstand Thornton's Arcade Bryan's Fish Shop Mr Bradshaw Prosaic Comfortable box Across the street Truant Map Absences Eleven-plus Penny for the guy Alibi, 22 November 1963 Alma Road Cleo's songs Town Hall lions Baking Grove Lane in September Homesickness At the back Hide and Seek The bend Riddle Crossing the Ridge Notes Lucy Newlyn was born in Uganda and grew up in Leeds. She read English at�Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she also studied for her D. Phil, going on to become Lecturer then Tutorial Fellow at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. She taught English at St Edmund Hall for thirty-two years, published widely ... read more Praise for Lucy Newlyn 'It is testament to the dramatic power of Newlyn's achievement that, reading through the sonnets, it is easy to imagine William's part being recited in a Cumbrian burr, overlaid with the crunch of gravel and the rush of rivulets ... [Vital Stream is] a showcase of scholarship, a gripping drama in verse, and an epic prelude â the octave to the sestet of the writing it encompasses and mythologises.' James Riding, The London Magazine 'Her attention to detail in this lengthy series of sonnets is nothing short of phenomenal... These are poems of mood ambiguity, of unexpected warmth and generosity, of philosophical differences, and of a love undermined by the many years of separation prior to the reconciliation at Dove Cottage' Steve Whitaker, The Yorkshire Times 'The lives and the landscapes flash before us like vivid slides in a continuous poetic magic-lantern show.' Richard Holmes You might also be interested in: Waterloo Teeth John Whale	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
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