elegies

Ed Sheeran speaks for England. “I find this country of mine gets a bad reputation,” sings the singer-songwriter tonight on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, “of being cold and grey.” Looking for a new England, Sheeran’s newfound national elegies put him in a lineage of songwriters that includes Ray Davies and Billy Bragg.Where performing an album in full is generally reserved for settled career-best classics or the rollout of bold new statements, Autumn Variations – performed tonight with a six-piece string section – isn’t…

Sharon Olds recently turned 80 and, as one reads her latest collection, one wonders: over a long writing career, do you get to sound more, or less, like yourself? It is inspiring to be able to report that, in Balladz, she proves triumphantly evergreen: a woman who still steps across prudishly conventional lines as playfully as a child absorbed in French skipping. She writes about sex, love and the landscape of the body with zany intimacy. And there is something new here too: a freshly evolved conscience, a chafing sense…