Poetry: The form and culture of poetic creation in English poetry manuscripts, 1600–2000

Surveying the form and cultural significance of English poetry manuscripts in the period since 1600, this chapter looks at the unique features of the poetry manuscript. The first section discusses the authenticity value of poetry manuscripts as objects that were collected and exchanged. As gifts within domestic and literary networks, poetry manuscripts often held special value, representing the physical embodiment of friendship. The material proximity to the hand that created the poem forms the subject of the second section on creativity. Bringing to the fore conflicting attitudes towards the poet’s workshop, this section offers a reflection on the working of the imagination as manifested on the page. This finally leads to an investigation of the creative traces recorded on the manuscript, which analyses modes of composition as well as the poet’s own special relationship with their manuscript and how, as physical object, the manuscript impacts on the creative process.