Radical Voices

Chartist poetry will rabble rouse again

RADICAL poetry from the era of the Chartists will speak out once more for the democratic rights of ordinary people at a memorial lecture held to celebrate May Day – the International Day of Workers.



‘Till the Struggle is O’er: The Poetry of Chartism’ by Dr Mike Sanders forms the inaugural Frow Memorial Lecture, held in Salford this Saturday. Chartist poetry will be read at the event by Maxine Peake, while a selection of Chartist songs will be sung by Corista.

“Between 1837 and 1852, the leading Chartist newspaper The Northern Star published over 1,000 poems by more than 350 poets, most of whom were ordinary working class people,” said a spokesperson for the event.

“The sheer volume of verse produced by individual Chartists demonstrates the importance of poetry to the movement. Published in newspapers, recited at meetings and even sung in prison, poetry was everywhere in the Chartist movement. Our speaker will talk about the importance of Chartist poetry as an outlet for working class creativity, and as a vital part of Chartism’s struggle for fundamental democratic rights.”

Thanks to the University of Salford the lecture will take place at the Conference Room, Old Fire Station, Crescent, Salford, a couple of hundred yards from the Library.

Dr Mike Sanders is Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Manchester, and the author of The Poetry of Chartism: Politics, Aesthetics, History (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

The event is free and takes place at 2pm on Saturday 1 May.

MC


Category: EVENTS

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