George Orwell's Poems For Sale

The Independent reports that a collection of poems by George Orwell has been cleared for sale to the public. As Joel Gunter suggests, there might be a good reason why Orwell isn't known as a poet. In fact, readers associated with his estate questioned whether the mediocre nature of his poetry might tarnish his reputation. More:

Famous for writing some of the best-known novels and essays of the 20th century, George Orwell is remembered for his prose rather than his verse – and perhaps for good reason.

A collection of the Nineteen Eighty-Four author’s poems has been cleared for sale to the public, despite fears among those who look after his estate that the poetry’s dubious quality would damage his reputation.

The book had originally been restricted to members of the Orwell Society, but after “quite a struggle” by its members and pressure from Amazon and Waterstones, the slim volume will now be released more widely.

Dione Venables, the book’s editor and a founder of the Orwell Society, led the fight after combing through the author’s collected works over the course of a year to bring the 42 poems together.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Venables admitted the poems were “somewhat varied” in quality but said the collection overall “showed great charm”.

“He is a good poet but not an excellent poet, and his poetry is not up to the consistent brilliance of his political writing and his journalism,” she said. I can’t think of any poem that is downright bad, but there are quite a lot that are average.” [...]

Learn more at The Independent.