Martian poetry was a minor movement in British poetry in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which everyday things and human behaviour are described in a strange way, as if by a visiting Martian who does not understand them. Poets most closely associated with it are Craig Raine and

Christopher Reid Chris Reid (born 1971) is a Scottish football goalkeeper. Chris or Christopher Reid may also refer to: People *Christopher Reid (rapper) (born 1964), American actor, comedian, and former rapper *Christopher Reid (writer) (born 1949), Hong Kong-bor ...

. The term Martianism has also been applied more widely to include fiction as well as to poetry. The word ''martianism'' is, coincidentally, an anagram of the name of one of its principal exponents,

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

, who promoted the work of both Raine and Reid in the '' Times Literary Supplement'' and the '' New Statesman''.Diedrick, page 58. Perhaps the best-known Martian poetry is Craig Raine's "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" in which a Martian attempts to describe everyday human interactions and habits from his own point of view.

Origins

The term derives from Raine's poem " A Martian Sends a Postcard Home" in which the narrator, a Martian, uncomprehendingly observes human behaviour and tries to describe it to fellow Martians. For examples, the narrator calls books " Caxtons" and describes them as: :''mechanical birds with many wings'' :''perch on the hand'' :''cause the eyes to melt'' :''or the body to shriek without pain'' This drive to make the familiar strange was carried into fiction by Martin Amis. His 1981 novel '' Other People: A Mystery Story'' where the story unfolds from the point of view of a protagonist who is apparently suffering from an extreme form of

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...

which causes her to lose her memory of even basic aspects of human experience. Martian poetry became a popular element in the teaching of poetry composition to school children. Related to

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, it arose in the context of the

experimental poetry Experimental literature is a genre that is, according to Warren Motte in his essa"Experimental Writing, Experimental Reading" "difficult to define with any sort of precision." He says the "writing is often invoked in an "offhand manner" and the ...

of the late 1960s; but also owes a debt to a variety of English traditions including

metaphysical poetry The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyric ...

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

riddles, and

nonsense poetry Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature. Limericks are probably the b ...

(e.g.: Lewis Carroll,

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

's descriptions of the metaphysical poets' approach where '' 'the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together' '' could aptly describe much Martian poetry; in this context what was distinctive about Martian Poetry was its focus on visual experience.

References

Citations

Poetry

* Raine, Craig, ''The Onion, Memory'', Oxford University Press, 1978. . * Reid, Christopher, ''Arcadia'', Oxford University Press, 1979. . * Raine, Craig, ''A Martian Sends a Postcard Home'', Oxford University Press, 1979. . * Reid, Christopher, ''Pea Soup'', Oxford University Press, 1982. .

Anthologies

* Morrison, Blake & Motion, Andrew, ''The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry'', Penguin, 1982. .

Commentary

* Diedrick, James, ''Understanding Martin Amis'' University of South Carolina Press, 2004. . * O'Brien, Sean, ''The Deregulated Muse'', Bloodaxe, 1998. . * Robinson, Alan, ''Instabilities in Contemporary British Poetry'', Macmillan, 1988. . British poetry Poetry movements 20th-century British literature British literary movements {{poetry-stub