Helen Harrison is a second year PhD student, studying Creative Writing (Poetry) at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. She has had poems published in the following literary journals: Prole Books; Ink, Sweat and Tears; The North; The Interpreters House; Bare Fiction; Cake; Flash Journal and the anthology Africa, UK, and Ireland: Writing politics and knowledge production. Helen lives in Merseyside with her husband and two children. 

Inhabiting Language

This paper pays close attention to the impact and effects of migration on ‘Liverpool poets’. It considers the different ways poets are linked to the city of Liverpool through either residency, birth or departure. It ascertains the determining factors which associate poets to the city by looking at the significance of place poetry and how it can be advantageous for poets to identify with a place (Liverpool) through inhabiting the language to connect with the city. Specifically, those poets who have used Liverpool language in their work to identify and represent themselves. Research explores the benefits and disadvantages for poets living within proximity to the city of Liverpool. 

Keywords: Poetical identity – place poetry – displacement – migration – Liverpool – language and accent – belonging – ideas of home