Скачать или смотреть SILVER RIBBONS: a poem by Tony Walsh, Longfella

Silver Ribbons is a powerful ballad poem about Irish Navigators working on the English canals. It was written and performed by UK-based Anglo-Irish poet, Tony Walsh, also known as Longfella. "One of the Uk's most renowned performance poets."

Web: www.longfella.co.uk
Twitter: @LongfellaPoet
Facebook:   / tony.walsh.984  
Signed copies of Tony's acclaimed new book can be ordered online at: http://longfella.co.uk/sexandloveandr...

Most of the men who dug the English canals were English, but a significant number of Irishmen came over as itinerant labourers, living "on the tramp" in terrible conditions and following the work around to dig the canals and then the railways. As a consequence of the Irish Famine, they'd work for even less money than their English counterparts which was a source of considerable tension. The Navigators (from where we get the word "navvy") were a rowdy bunch, by all accounts, but many were family men, driven to England by extreme poverty and sending home what money they could.

The poem contains several phrases and job-titles which I learned from: http://www.victorianweb.org/history/w...

The poem was written in answer for a call from the UK canal laureate, my friend Jo Bell, as part of the Waterlines project. Find out more at:

http://www.waterlines.org.uk/
@BoatPoet
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