Some other titles alone give the flavour – ‘Bloody Men’, one of her most famous; or ‘Men and their Boring Arguments’. The final stanza of ‘I Worry’ will summarise the general mood: 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 ] Wendy Cope is not just a comic poet, and she can often move us with her touching account of falling in love (or, for that matter, out of love, or, for another matter, being single and not having anyone to love). This poem is a prime example. Wendy Cope was educated at Farringtons School, Chislehurst, London and then, after finishing university at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she worked for 15 years as a primary school teacher in London.

Wendy Cope - Literature - British Council Wendy Cope - Literature - British Council

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). Before I got married, I used to think about the dating game as that part of the game show "The Price Is Right" when you are made to choose one of two closed doors while having no idea what's behind them... but after making the choice, if you make the wrong choice and it turns out the other door was the better choice, you can't change your mind. The indecision of youth used to remind me so much of that game! Also, I can appreciate some snark and pettiness, but there was a lot that just rubbed me the wrong way and fell flat for me. One example is a poem titled "Kindness to Animals," which is noted to have been commissioned for an anthology benefitting the World Wide Fund for Nature but which was rejected as unsuitable: In 1998, she was voted the listeners' choice in a BBC Radio 4 poll to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate. When Andrew Motion's term as Poet Laureate came to an end in 2009, Cope was again widely considered a popular candidate, although she believes the post should be discontinued. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded Motion as Poet Laureate. If this selection has whetted your appetite for more of Wendy Cope’s work, we recommend Two Cures for Love: Selected Poems 1979-2006 .Cope keeps her explanations droll and to the point, wisely allowing the poems their own voice. Containing a generous selection from her three books this recording is a wonderful showcase for the emotional and technical deftness that’s made her work so widely cherished. In 1998 she was the BBC Radio 4 listeners' choice to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate and when Andrew Motion's term of office ended in 2009 she was once again considered as a replacement. really simple, which doesn't work for me with rupi kaur, etc. — maybe it works here because it feels like there's more meaning and less melodrama to the simplicity. I also personally like the parts that are more life-affirming and humorous. In some of her best poems, Wendy Cope likes to take a word or phrase and then try to think up multiple funny rhymes for it – and here, ‘My heart has made its mind up’ leads to lines ending with ‘lined up’ and ‘signed up’, in a humorous Valentine’s Day poem about unrequited – and probably unsolicited – love. 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).

Wendy Cope - Wikipedia Wendy Cope - Wikipedia

On the other hand, you can clearly see in many poems in this collection that a simple style can also lead to forgettable, boring poetry. Personally, I found the poems that dealt with romantic relationships directly (not just mentioned in the periphery) to be the weakest - probably because the subject matter has been done throughout centuries of poetry and the simplistic style really is a hindrance here, it needs originality and freshness to create an emotional reaction from the reader. This is not to say Wendy Cope writes just simple poems, she has a very specific style, which I think can have a certain appeal for some readers, I might just not be the target audience.a b c " The Guardian "Wendy Cope: I don't want to be laureate" 2 June 2008". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 27 January 2019. We publish a Literature Newsletter when we have news and features on UK and international literature, plus opportunities for the industry to share.

Serious Concerns | Faber

As remarked above, Wendy Cope can move us as well as amuse us. And although she is known for writing about the everyday, she has also occasionally engaged with more momentous events. In terms of popularity, it is clear what fans prefer. Serious Concerns stands as Cope's most popular book, even thirty years later. In a top-ten list of "must read" Cope poems, [16] every one of the top five are from either Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis or Serious Concerns. There's no doubt that these poems are what resonates with readers. However, Cope herself disagrees with the concept of a "Wendy Cope anthem", and doesn't believe her poetry could be categorized in this way. Cope's progression and growth, along with her willingness to discuss difficult subjects in her writing, is distinct and unquestionably commendable. Some fans are displeased with the changes and prefer that initial lighthearted approach, but one of the best comic poets from the past fifty years has every authority to develop her style and not to be confined by expectations created by her accomplishments". [15] 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]In this collection, Cope also draws on an alter ego for the Strugnell poems. Strugnell’s version of a poetic voice is used to mix the elevated with the everyday and the outcome is comic. Christopher Reid’s review for the London Review of Books (17 April 1986) explains how the use of this persona adds a further layer to the wit: a b c "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. 27 February 2018 . Retrieved 17 November 2022. Wendy Cope is one of the most acclaimed living comic poets writing in English. Since her first collection appeared in 1986, she has published a handful of popular volumes of comic verse, though she can also write ‘straight’ poetry very successfully too (as the last poem in this list testifies). Below are ten of Wendy Cope’s finest poems.

Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope | Waterstones

The United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.The joke has often been centred on men from the point of view of the single heterosexual woman, and this is most famously used in ‘Bloody Men’ (of Serious Concerns,1992): 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. Lccn 92175168 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL1306963M Openlibrary_edition Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part In 1998, she was voted the listeners' choice in a BBC Radio 4 poll to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate. [3] When Andrew Motion's term as Poet Laureate came to an end in 2009, Cope was again widely considered a popular candidate, [3] although she believes the post should be discontinued. [3] [4] Carol Ann Duffy succeeded Motion as Poet Laureate.