Discuss the innovative nature of the three contemporary poets, Peter Reading,Bernard O'Donoghue, and Carol Ann Duffy

At the turn of the twentieth century, literary critic Frank Raymond Leavis set the structure by which the ensuing century's poetry would be created when he stated that the job of the poet is to highlight "the most conscious point of the race in his time" (Leavis, in Hopkins, 1997). Poets since then have followed this directive by writing about issues that are pertinent to the time and place in which they are living. As the …

…Potts, R. (2003) Repeat to Fade. The Guardian. (updated 13 December, 2003) http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/ (accessed 1 March, 2004) Sansom, I. (2003) A Natural Way With an Enigma. The Guardian. (updated 13 December, 2003) http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/ (accessed 3 March, 2004) The John Hopkins University Press. (1997) The John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Edited by Groden, M. and Kreiswirth, M. http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/hopkins_guide_to_literary_theory/f._r._leavis.html (accessed 5 March, 2004)