Philip Spires commonplace book

I have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Saturday, June 8, 2024

73 poems by e e cummings

›

poetry:to me is about passing images that sometimes stick but often pass by only to return un:announced when le ast expected ...

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Thirty-Five Poems by Herbert Read

›

Thirty-Five Poems by Herbert Read, I repeat Stavesacre – a larkspur plant or its seeds Benison - benediction Sodality – fellowship, co...

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

The Life of Lord Byron by John Galt

›

John Galt published his Life of Lord Byron in 1830, just six years after the poet's death in Missolonghi, in what is now modern Greece a...

Monday, September 27, 2021

Mary Swann by Carol Shields

›

I have just completed four years of thinking through a project. There were several false starts, many rejected, some reworked ideas. What ...

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Childe Harold by Lord Byron

›

I finished a novel recently. In Eileen McHugh, a life remade, I created a character called Alice, an art teacher close to retirement, as the...

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Mary Swann by Carol Shields

›

I have just completed four years of thinking through a project. There were several false starts, many rejected, some reworked ideas. What I ...

Monday, January 11, 2021

Childe Harold by Lord Byron

›

I finished a novel recently. In Eileen McHugh, a life remade, I created a character called Alice, an art teacher close to retirement, as the...

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

The Life of Ezra Pound by Noel Stock

›

A review of The Life of Ezra Pound by Noel Stock must begin by acknowledging the phenomenal achievement of its author. It is comprehensive,...

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd

›

Peter Ackroyd’s Chatterton presents an enigma seen from several contrasting, some related standpoints. It seems to deal with the concept of ...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Prisoners of ideology - Angels and Insects by A. S. Byatt

›

Angels and Insects is an intriguing pair of novellas. At one level it examines the complexities of human relationships, especially those inc...

›

Home

View web version

About Me

philipspires: I was born in Wakefield and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Kenya. I spent sixteen years in London, in Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. I currently live in La Nucia, near Benidorm in Spain. I am interested in the relationship between nature and nurture, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic and social roles underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control. What others do, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. I was President of Alfas del Pi Music Society for twelve years.

View my complete profile