Robin is in all of us

At the well attended and very well enjoyed “Subversion and Rebellion: Ballads and Storytelling: the case of Robin Hood” talk on Monday 17 November in Nottingham, one of the panellists Pippa Hennessey wrote the following fantastic poem in response to questions regarding the existence of Robin Hood and why the stories continue to be retold;

By Pippa Hennessy, Nottingham Writers’ studio

Robin is in all of us.

He’s in the boy who stands up to the bully

and the woman who leads a protest march,

he’s in your tongue when you say,

‘That’s not fair, you can’t make me do that.’

He’s in our legs when we run away

and our knuckles when we hit back.

He’s the granite of Slab Square,

Little John tolling the hours

and Brian Clough’s clenched fists.

His feet walk our streets every day.

He is in you. Stand tall.

Be Robin.

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Storytelling and Ballads is one of many events bringing cutting-edge research in the humanities to a broader audience during the Being Human festival. For updates on that programme and on the festival follow us on Twitter @BeingHumanFest,and on Pinterest. Don’t forget to sign up to our e-newsletter too!  The talk was part of the University of Nottingham’s programme of events for the Being Human Festival of the Humanities 2014. The Heroes and Villains: subversion and rebellion in Nottinghamshire events programme for the rest of the week can be found at here, or follow on Twitter @UoNHumanities