Book Of Matches is a poetry book written by Simon Armitage, first published in 1993 by Faber and Faber. Several poems featured in the book are studied as part of the GCSE English Literature examination in the UK.
The book is written in three sections, the first (Book of Matches) containing 30 short sonnets. Each is meant to be read within 20 seconds, the amount of time it would take for a match to be lit and burn out. The second, Becoming of Age, contains 14 titled poems, with the third, Reading the Banns, containing a collection of untitled poems based upon a wedding theme.
Critical reception for Book of Matches was mostly positive, Ronald Carter calling it Armitage's "most distinctive volume". The Independent stated that it was a "fine collection" and noted that Armitage's persona had changed in the collection's tone.
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—Book Of Common Prayer, The. Solemnization of Matrimony, “Exhortation,” (1662)
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—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“No phallic hero, no matter what he does to himself or to another to prove his courage, ever matches the solitary, existential courage of the woman who gives birth.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)