Peter Sirr
Sway
How poor the man who’d love and not increase by it.
Sway comprises poems from the troubadour tradition and a number of Peter Sirr’s responses to them. With their source in southern France almost nine centuries ago, and in the language called Old Occitan, this confluence of word and music helped pave the way for European poetry as we know it. It had a conspicuous influence on poets from Dante to Pound.
Already highly commended by the judges of the Forward prizes these poems are recovered and remade in Peter Sirr’s adroit and nimble versions. Sway conveys the wit, passion and invention of work that speaks still with the energy invested in it when the originals were composed and performed all those years ago.
Publication Date: 13 October 2016