Pinter as Poet, Pinter as Politician

Abstract Widely celebrated as one of the greatest playwrights of the second half of the twentieth century, the playwright Harold Pinter is rarely maligned. Pinter's poetry, however, is often sidestepped, with critics generally regarding it as lacking the deftness of his drama. Following on from Basil Chiasson in The Late Harold Pinter: Political Dramatist, Poet and Activist (2017), this article focuses on Pinter's often neglected poetic works. It reads Pinter's poetry in the context of the Cold War, Gulf War, and Iraq War to unpick the political resonances within poems such as “Partners” (1985), “American Football” (1991), “Don't Look” (1995), and “God Bless America” (2003). Through reference to Jean Baudrillard's article “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place” (1991), this article examines Pinter's poetry in light of what we now call “fake news.”