{"id":10066,"date":"2019-01-25T15:53:13","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066"},"modified":"2019-01-26T22:15:33","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T21:15:33","slug":"peter-robinson-ravishing-europa-reviewed-by-ian-pople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Peter Robinson | <em>Ravishing Europa<\/em> | reviewed by Ian Pople<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Peter Robinson | <em>Ravishing Europa<\/em> | Worple Press: \u00a310.00<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i68.tinypic.com\/of4lco.jpg\" width=\"220\" align=\"left\" style=\"margin-right: 10px\"><\/p>\n<p>Peter Robinson\u2019s new collection from Worple Press is an often elegiac response to the Brexit Referendum.  It\u2019s suitably ambiguous title \u2013 does Europe ravish, or is it being ravished? \u2013 seems almost to respond to the conflict in which the British people, and in particular, its much derided government finds itself.  It is a conflict which the British have made for themselves; as David Runciman sums it up in the <em>London Review of Books<\/em>, \u2018are we stuck because we are divided or are we divided because we are stuck?\u2019  Or as Robinson, himself, puts it, \u2018as if the in-two-minds of Europe \/ were fighting it out through you.\u2019  Peter Robinson is not stuck, however, either physically or politically.  The collection\u2019s closely weaved surfaces move through an impressive litany of European locations:  from his beloved Italy, to Croatia and Montenegro, from Andalusia and County Clare to Sonning Lock and \u2018the big skies of the Lincolnshire Wolds.\u2019  And Robinson is not stuck politically either.  As much as he might sympathise with those who vote to leave with their \u2018B roads leading on to \/ abandonment, abjection\u2019 Robinson\u2019s heart is very firmly in Europe, as the translator of, amongst other, Montale and Sereni. <\/p>\n<p>The geographical span of the collection allows Robinson to move around the continent emotionally as well as physically.  Being on the train, in \u2018Belongings\u2019 from which I\u2019ve quoted above, moving from Milan to Parma, shows him how it is possible to \u2018move\u2019 inside Europe, and also to \u2018belong among these homes \/ (the popular housing of post-war years) \/ beyond a confetti of magnolia petals [\u2026] while some still cling to their garden boughs\u2019, with its echo of Pound\u2019s \u2018In a Station of The Metro\u2019, itself a genuflection to a Eurocentric view. The word \u2018home\u2019 is carefully placed near \u2018popular housing\u2019 to suggest, perhaps, that post-war housing, after the devastation of the second-world war, was a way of re-homing, of giving people back a sense of home and locale when those things had been ripped from people\u2019s grasps in the war.  Thus Robinson moves through Europe on the train, with its own symbolism, and yet moves through a kind of homeland, in which there are a range of \u2018belongings\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>This sense of belonging is, in part, a response to the words of Theresa May, uttered on the 5th October, 2016, \u2018If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.\u2019 Which Robinson uses as an epigraph for the poem \u2018On a Walk to Sonning\u2019.  The walk in Sonning near Robinson\u2019s home in Reading, throws up questions of identity \u2018of children raised in other countries, \/\/ both their parents aliens there, \/ third-culture kids\u2019 grass roots, a tree\u2019s \/ torn at by the air\u2026\u2019 The jargon of \u2018third-culture\u2019 is thrown against the informality of \u2018kids\u2019 to, perhaps, suggest that the grass roots are both substantial and yet fragile, artificial and yet real.  With \u2018peace talks \u2026 in disarray\u2019, then \u2018we\u2019re vulnerable transients, all of us, \u2026 or rescued from the mid-sea waves \/ in need of shelter, safe house, home, \/ and who are you to judge?\u2019  This is Robinson, himself a son of the manse, suggesting that Christian generosity of spirit is somewhat absent from the utterances of the \u2018vicar\u2019s daughter\u2019.  <\/p>\n<p>Others of these poems are more straightforwardly polemical.  \u2018The Irish Border\u2019, for example, deftly adumbrates the suffering a \u2018hard border\u2019 in Ireland would entail. This poem, too, glances back to \u2018another paper-scrap brought home from Europe\u2019, the analogy with Chamberlain\u2019s waving the peace agreement with Hitler. Written when \u2018no hard border\u2019 was agreed, Robinson greets with this heavy irony, \u2018the British government has given its word.\u2019 And concludes \u2018\u2026blessed are the peacemakers \/ for they shall see all manner of things!\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that the Brexiteers do not really have the greatest word-smiths, although Johnson and Gove might wish to see themselves as journalists.  Perhaps there are poets out there who can make a case for Brexit.  Until then, the Remainers have poets with the accomplishment of such as Nicholas Murray and Peter Robinson, on their side.  In Robinson, they have someone who has spent considerable amounts of time working and living abroad, who does actually know what it means to embrace \u2018a foreign culture\u2019 and to embrace its language.  It is that broadmindedness, along with his skill and verve, which makes this collection so sensitive and accomplished.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>by Ian Pople<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | Worple Press: \u00a310.00 Peter Robinson\u2019s new collection from Worple Press is an often elegiac response to the Brexit Referendum. It\u2019s suitably ambiguous title \u2013 does Europe ravish, or is it being ravished? \u2013 seems almost to respond to the conflict in which the British people, and in particular, its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | Worple Press: \u00a310.00 Peter Robinson\u2019s new collection from Worple Press is an often elegiac response to the Brexit Referendum. It\u2019s suitably ambiguous title \u2013 does Europe ravish, or is it being ravished? \u2013 seems almost to respond to the conflict in which the British people, and in particular, its [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-25T14:53:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-26T21:15:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i68.tinypic.com\/of4lco.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066\",\"name\":\"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-25T14:53:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-26T21:15:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | Worple Press: \u00a310.00 Peter Robinson\u2019s new collection from Worple Press is an often elegiac response to the Brexit Referendum. It\u2019s suitably ambiguous title \u2013 does Europe ravish, or is it being ravished? \u2013 seems almost to respond to the conflict in which the British people, and in particular, its [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2019-01-25T14:53:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-26T21:15:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i68.tinypic.com\/of4lco.jpg"}],"author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066","name":"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-25T14:53:13+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-26T21:15:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=10066#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Peter Robinson | Ravishing Europa | reviewed by Ian Pople"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-2Cm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10070,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10066\/revisions\/10070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}