''Kid'' is the second collection of poems by Simon Armitage, published in 1992. The book won a

Forward Prize for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

Author

Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright and novelist. He was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds and became Oxford Professor of Poetry when he was elected to the four-year part-time appointment from 2015 to 2019. He was born and raised in Marsden, West Yorkshire. At the start of his career, and at the time ''Kid'' was published, he was working as a probation officer.

Book

Publication history

''Kid'', Armitage's second book of poetry, was his first to be published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, in 1992.

The 48 poems in the collection, structured as a single list, include: * "Kid" – the title poem, this is spoken by

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

's companion

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin **Forest rob ...

. * "Brassneck" – the story of two thieves attempting to steal from a crowd at a football game. * "At Sea" * "Robinson's Resignation" – the story of a businessman. * "Great Sporting Moments: The Treble" – an exploration of

class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

Reception

The collection was described by the poet and novelist Ruth Padel as being "Very Yorkshire; very Simon Armitage". She wrote that the book "consolidated his name for technical virtuosity ndblack humour", the voice having "a self-deprecatingly cocky self-centredness." In her view, the first poem, "Brassneck", about a murderer, had "brilliant rhyme"; but she noted that some, especially poets, "found it less convincing than ''Zoom!''." The book won a

in the "best first collection" category in 1992, the first year in which the prizes were awarded.

References

Bibliography