Serious Concerns

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The humour and knowingness is, at times, offset with poignancy: this can be seen in poems such as ‘Tich Miller’ and ‘Lonely Hearts’. These two poems demonstrate an awareness of the outsider, which is in keeping with the undeclared premise of being accessible to a wider readership. His chief desire was to express himself and his own truth – and therefore life and humanity.” – Walter de la Mare on Edward Thomas Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis’ is the only poem in the third and final section. It takes up just four lines and captures the irreverent but familiar mood of the collection:

Wendy Cope - Wikipedia Wendy Cope - Wikipedia

Cope’s poetry collections include Serious Concerns (1992); If I Don’t Know (2001), shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award; Two Cures for Love: Selected Poems 1979–2006 (2008); Family Values (2011); Christmas Poems (2017), a collection of new and previously published Christmas-themed work; and Anecdotal Evidence (2018). She is the author of the prose collection Life, Love and the Archers (2015) and two books for children, Twiddling Your Thumbs (1988) and The River Girl (1991), and the editor of numerous anthologies, including, The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories (1999). If one compares this with the first four lines of ‘The Waste Land’, it is possible to see the divergences and why the parody is effective: British Council complies with data protection law in the UK and laws in other countries that meet internationally accepted standards. Excellent read for cheering anybody up on a rainy day, whether real or emotional rain. I think my favourite verse is the first one from "Men and Their Boring Arguments":a b Lewis, Helen (3 December 2011). "Wendy Cope interview: "I can't die until I've sorted out the filing cabinets" ". New Statesman . Retrieved 23 November 2016. According to multiple sources, Cope's favorite publication is Anecdotal Evidence and one of her favorite poems is Flowers from Serious Concerns, which is also one of her most famous. [ citation needed] Bibliography [ edit ] Cope's poetry for adults [ edit ] Wendy Cope writes quite simple poetry, and I happen to enjoy a simplistic approach to a poem every now and then (I even enjoy the occasional Rupi Kaur). I think this collection shows the two sides of this kind of style: on one hand, poems like the iconic „The Orange“ really show how effective a simple poem utilizing casual language evocatively can be, and that short, funny ones like „Loss“ that almost read more like jokes than poems, work great as interludes. Read about the Faber story, find out about our unique partnerships, and learn more about our publishing heritage, awards and present-day activity. Two of the uncollected poems included here are also the result of a commission, this time from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. I was asked to write some poems to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The rest are a miscellany. John Cage, Jesus, The Archbishop of Canterbury, a damaged piano, a college reunion. I can’t see a theme.

Serious Concerns | Faber

The beauty of the poem is in its touching simplicity, and the faint hint of the absurd suggested by that huge orange. This delightful poem is from Cope’s 1992 collection Serious Concerns . The United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Despite her slight output, her books have sold well and she has attracted a popular following with her lighthearted, often comical poetry, as well as achieving literary credibility winning two awards and making an award shortlist over a fourteen-year period. [9] She has a keen eye for the everyday, mundane aspects of English life, especially the desires, frustrations, hopes, confusions and emotions in intimate relationships. [9] Dr Rowan Williams is a well known fan of her work, writing that: "Wendy Cope is without doubt the wittiest of contemporary English poets, and says a lot of extremely serious things". [10] In 2021, the poet and critic Rory Waterman published the first critical book on her work, for the Writers and Their Work series. [11]She received a Cholmondeley Award in 1987 and was awarded the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse (American Academy of Arts and Letters) in 1995. Her poetry collections include Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (1986), Serious Concerns (1992) and If I Don't Know (2001), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award. Two Cures for Love (2008) is a selection of previous poems with notes, together with new poems. Further collections include Family Values (2011) and Anecdotal Evidence (2018); she has also published Christmas Poems (2017), which features her new and previously-published Christmas-themed poems, and a collection of prose, Life, Love and The Archers (2015). Unfortunately, this wasn't really my cup of tea. It was written in the 90s, so the sensibility feels a little dated. There's a lot of "lol alcohol(ism) amirite" and "men are dumb, eh?" vibes that just feel so played out at this point. There are also references that I had to Google and something is thereby lost in translation. In 2008 Cope's poem "After The Lunch" was used as the lyric of the song "Waterloo Bridge" by jazz composer and musician Jools Holland and singer Louise Marshall. [13] Progression of style [ edit ]