The Map & the Clock is a celebration of the most scintillating poems ever composed on our islands Curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy & by Gillian Clarke National Poet of Wales this anthology gathers fourteen centuries of extraordinary verse
- beginning with the first writings from the old languages of England & Ireland Scotland & Wales & culminating in some of our most recent poets speaking in our present-day tongues Many of our founding myths & legends are told here
- King Arthur & Gawain Beowulf & Mad Sweeney the Mabinogion
- as are the nursery-tales & songs we still sing today Through these pages we witness the tragedy of European wars & world conflict; we court romance & friendship; we explore nationhood & belonging identity & belief; & we are welcomed to a celebration of the cultural diversity of the poetries of our twenty-first century The Map & the Clock is a stunning & essential treasury of the poems that have moulded our languages examined our worlds & shaped our islands through time