Driven Out of the Town: Homosexuality and the British Poetry Revival

Abstract:Among the contributors to Donald Allen's legendary The New American Poetry anthology, we find at least a dozen queer poets, several of whom were directly involved in the struggle for gay liberation. This article goes in search of their British counterparts, looking at work associated with the so-called British Poetry Revival. Beginning on the cusp of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, I revisit Allen Ginsberg's trip to England in 1965, and argue for the significance of work by his friend Harry Fainlight. I go on to examine in detail Lee Harwood's love poems for John Ashbery and the stifled reception they've received in criticism. The article makes use of fresh archival resources, including Harwood's papers at the British Library and collections relating to the Gay Men's Press at the Bishopsgate Institute.