ABSTRACT

This essay focusses on the junctions and fault-lines of history, exploring the ways in which poetry can illuminate and populate spaces of uncertainty in the historical record in ways which are akin to – yet different from – non-fiction and prose fiction. It investigates poetics in relation to the interpretation of history, specifically the divergent interpretations of the life of Richard III, and how poetry facilitates a more open approach to historical speculation.   To begin, it commences with the assimilation of historians’ interpretations of Richard III, based on records, material possessions and artistic representations. It then discusses what the creative writer may bring to historical sources, through both fiction and poetry. It finishes by considering my current creative/research project, which is a sequence of poems which tell the story of Richard and the Princes in the Tower. In doing so, it addresses the ways in which poetry can give voice to multiple interpretations simultaneously in a way which is different from non-fiction and prose fiction.  

Keywords: poetry, Richard III, Shakespeare, the Princes in the Tower, creative writing, practice-led research, history, interpretation