The Movement was a term coined by J. D. Scott, literary editor of the Spectator, in 1954 to describe a group of writers including Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, Donald Alfred Davie, D.J. Enright, John Wain, Elizabeth Jennings and Robert Conquest. The Movement was essentially English in character; poets in Scotland and Wales were not generally included. Sir Kingsley William Amis (April 16, 1922 – October 22, 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. ... Philip Larkin (August 9, 1922 – December 2, 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. ... Donald Alfred Davie (1922-1995) was an English poet and critic. ... Dennis Joseph Enright (March 11, 1920 – December 31, 2002) was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic, and general man of letters. ... John Wain (born John Barrington Wain, March 14, 1925 - May 24, 1994) was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group The Movement. ... Elizabeth Jennings (born 1926) is an English poet, noted for her clarity of style and simplicity of literary approach. ... Robert Conquest Dr. George Robert Ackworth Conquest (born July 15, 1917), British historian, became one of the best-known writers on the Soviet Union with the publication in 1968 of his classic account of Stalins purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror. ...

Although the name was essentially a publicists' concoction, it is used still as a shorthand for these and a few others, including Thom Gunn and John Holloway. Thom Gunn (August 29, 1929 - April 25, 2004) was a British poet. ...

Essentially The Movement was a reaction against the extreme romanticism of the previous major movement in poetry, the New Apocalypse. Whereas the New Apocalypsists had been irrational, deliberately incoherent, and "outrageous" or "controversial", The Movement poets tended towards anti-romanticism (almost constituting a form of neo-classicism), rationality, and sobriety. The Movement produced two anthologies: Poets of the 1950s (1955) (editor D. J. Enright, published in Japan) and New Lines (1956). Conquest, who edited the New Lines anthology, described the connection between the poets as 'little more than a negative determination to avoid bad principles.' These 'bad principles' are usually described as excess, both in terms of theme and stylistic devices. The polemic introduction to New Lines targeted in particular the 1940s poets, the generation of Dylan Thomas and George Barker — though not by name. A second New Lines anthology appeared in 1963, by which time The Movement was a spent force, in terms of fashion; the 'underground' in the shape of The Group, and the more American-influenced style of the Al Alvarez anthology The New Poetry having come to the fore. Apart from Larkin, it was hard at that point to identify a Movement poet by 'voice'. Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... New Apocalypse was a neo-Romantic movement in British poetry in the late 1930s and 1940s. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Dylan Marlais Thomas, (Swansea, October 27, 1914 – November 9, 1953 in New York City) was a Welsh poet and writer. ... There are multiple notable people named George Barker: George Barker (painter) (1882–1965) was a portrait and landscape painter from the United States. ... Philip Hobsbaum (born 29 June 1932) is an academic, poet and critic. ... Al Alvarez (1929-) is an English poet, writer and critic. ... The New Poetry was a poetry anthology edited by Al Alvarez, published in 1962 and in a revised edition in 1966. ...

Poets in the New Lines (1956) anthology

Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest, Donald Davie, D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, John Holloway, Elizabeth Jennings, Philip Larkin, John Wain. Sir Kingsley William Amis (April 16, 1922 – October 22, 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. ... Robert Conquest Dr. George Robert Ackworth Conquest (born July 15, 1917), British historian, became one of the best-known writers on the Soviet Union with the publication in 1968 of his classic account of Stalins purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror. ... Donald Alfred Davie (1922-1995) was an English poet and critic. ... Dennis Joseph Enright (March 11, 1920 – December 31, 2002) was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic, and general man of letters. ... Thom Gunn (August 29, 1929 - April 25, 2004) was a British poet. ... John Holloway may be John Holloway (poet) British academic and poet John Holloway (economist), a Marxist writer John Holloway (musician), British violinist based in Germany John Holloway (colonial governor), British colonial official and governor of Newfoundland (1807-1809) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages... Elizabeth Jennings (born 1926) is an English poet, noted for her clarity of style and simplicity of literary approach. ... Philip Larkin (August 9, 1922 – December 2, 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. ... John Wain (born John Barrington Wain, March 14, 1925 - May 24, 1994) was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group The Movement. ...

Poets in the New Lines 2 (1963) anthology

All of the above, excepting John Holloway, together with: Thomas Blackburn, Edwin Brock, Hilary Corke, John Fuller, Francis Hope, Ted Hughes, Richard Kell, Thomas Kinsella, Laurence Lerner, Edward Lucie-Smith, George MacBeth, James Michie, Jonathan Price, Vernon Scannell, Anthony Thwaite, Hugo Williams. Edwin Brock is a poet. ... For other people named John Fuller, see Fuller (disambiguation). ... Edward James Hughes, referred to normally as Ted Hughes (August 17, 1930 – October 28, 1998) was an English poet and childrens writer. ... Thomas Kinsella (born May 4, 1928) is an Irish poet, translator, editor and publisher. ... Vernon Scannell (born 1922) is a British poet and author. ... Anthony Simon Thwaite (born 1930) is a British poet and writer. ...