 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Simon Armitage |
|---|---|
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
Publication date | 1992 |
| Media type | Paperback |
| Awards | Forward Prize for Poetry |
| ISBN | 978-0571166077 |
| OCLC | 919570527 |
| Preceded by | Zoom! |
| Followed by | Book of Matches |
| Website | https://www.simonarmitage.com/kid/ |
Kid is the second collection of poems by Simon Armitage, published in 1992. The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry.
Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright and novelist. He was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2019. [1] 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. [2] [3] At the start of his career, and at the time Kid was published, he was working as a probation officer. [4]
Kid, Armitage's second book of poetry, [5] was his first to be published by Faber and Faber, in 1992. [6] [7]
The 48 poems in the collection, structured as a single list, include:
The collection was described by the poet and novelist Ruth Padel as being "Very Yorkshire; very Simon Armitage". [6] She wrote that the book "consolidated his name for technical virtuosity [and] black humour", [6] the voice having "a self-deprecatingly cocky self-centredness." [6] In her view, the first poem, "Brassneck", about a murderer, had "brilliant rhyme"; [6] but she noted that some, especially poets, "found it less convincing than Zoom!." [6]
The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry in the "best first collection" category in 1992, the first year in which the prizes were awarded. [9]