''Canny Bit Verse'' is a book, written and published by poet
Robert Allen from
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Ab ...
, England, in 1994. It contains a variety of poems, which between them praise the valley of the
North Tyne
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
, talk about local village cricket, or tell of sad occurrences as in the "whee's deid" (obituary) column, and according to the sales details "and for those who don't know their cushat (wood pigeon) from their shavie (chaffinch), there's a glossary of dialect words".
The poems were written at an earlier date and had been recorded by Allen on to three audio tapes, which he had produced; these are ''The Canniest Place on Eorth'', ''Ridin' High'' and ''The Lang Pack''.
The 128-page book is illustrated by local writer and artist
Henry Brewis.
Th
Northumbrian Language Society of which Allen was a founder member, is the sole supplier of this and others of his books and recordings.
Contents
The contents cover many topics, mainly written in Northumbrian Dialect, often very broad.
Below is a list of a few of the contents of the book:
Poems
*Bonnie North Tyne
*A Canny Welcome
*A Cautionary Tale
*The Corbie Crow
*The Costly chimney cowl
*End O' Lambin Day
*The Grittor
*A Lot Of It Aboot
*The Owld Farmor's Advice
*The Owld Men's Thowts
*Spuggies
*The Whee's Deed Collum
Prose
*God’s Bairn A Northumbrian version of the Christmas story
References
{{Reflist
External links
The Northumbrian Language Society
Northumbrian folklore
1994 poetry books
English poetry collections