Marra Familia

William Martin (1925-2010) wrote poetry inspired by the social, cultural and religious life of Northumbria past and present. He built his world from myth, from Anglo-Saxon literature and art, children’s games, ballads and street songs, as well as from the history and struggles of pit communities. His poems show both political anger and a wider concern for a society losing its common ground, its rituals and rites of passage. Marra Familia is the third book tracing his search for the Ancient Feminine and her Marradharma or kingdom, following Cracknrigg (1983) and Hinny Beata. He finds her underground in coal-mines, in song and northern landscape, drawing on various sources, including the Gnostics, to enrich her image and to brighten his vision of common feasting. Marra Familia (1993) was followed by Lammas Alanna in 2000.