Poetry of Place: Rome
 Glyn Pursglove
 ISBN: 978-1906011-22-2

 Area of interest: Italy
 Genre:  Poetry

 Date of first publication: 2008
 Eland publication date: October 1, 2008
 Price: £6.99

     

All roads lead to Rome, the eternal city, the centre of Christendom, the lodestone of the pilgrim and the artist, the seat of the only Empire that has ever succeeded in uniting the European landmass. No literate traveller can escape its fascination, and many get drawn back year after year.

Despite the triumphant remains of forum, Imperial arch, public baths, gilded basilica and palace, it is only the bright flame of passionfilled poetry that can bring it back to life. Rome, the beating heart where all the great English romantic heropoets, from Keats, Shelley, to Byron were drawn to wither upon the bright glory of its ancient stones.

Glyn Pursglove has woven a delicate tapestry of ancient, medieval and modern poetry, from Virgil to Pasolini. It is a truly Olympian cast enough to fill the Pantheon, whose voices magically echo the city and its lessons to us.

Who can equal the sensuality, power and crude honesty of Martial and Catullus. An extraordinary treat to read these masters of hungry sexuality, not banished amongst the ancient histories and the classics, but brought hungrily to life beside their poet peers.