Product Description

"Offers parodies of William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson, and humorous sonnets, haiku, and love poems."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49493 in Books
• Published on: 1986-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 69 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Wendy Cope is very clever. She's good at taking much of what poetry holds dear and pricking its balloon. Her humour is an acquired taste and one short poem from "Strugnell's Haiku" sets the tone of this volume, first published in 1986, to great popular acclaim. "The leaves have fallen / And the snow has fallen and / Soon my hair also ..." a perfect haiku in form and perfectly ridiculous. This is her raison d'etre, to highlight the absurd in love, sex, courtship and in the sometimes stuffy, self-righteous literary poetry world. The title poem "Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis" was inspired by a dream apparently and the short four-line verse tells us no more. "Some kind of record seemed vital. / I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem / But I love the title." She tantalises but always stops short of deeper meaning. She mocks the rather pompous task of the Poet Laureate with her "All Purpose Poem for State Occasions": "The nation rejoices or mourns / As this happy or sombre day dawns." She slips into the bizarre persona of a policeman assigned to patrol the unconscious of Ted Hughes and parodies early reading books in an a-b a-b rhyme about an adulterous milkman: "Go Peter! Go Jane! Come milkman, come!" Her nursery rhymes in the style of Wordsworth ("Baa Baa Black Sheep") and T.S. Eliot ("Hickory Dickory Dock") are hilarious. It comes as quite a shock to come upon several serious poems, such as "On Finding an Old Photograph" in which she muses on her father before her birth and "all his sadness / and the things I didn't give him." The narrator of "Tich Miller" is bullied in school. "They usually chose me, the lesser dud / and she lolloped, unselected / to the back of the other team." There is little jauntiness in "At 3 a.m." in which the narrator imagines someone sleeping somewhere else with a woman next to him, crying quietly.

Most of Cope's poems confirm popular notions of what poetry should be--rhyming, accessible and direct. In "Rondeau Redouble", she's back laughing as though the hurt never happened at all. "There are so many kinds of awful men /One can't avoid them all. She often said / She'd never make the same mistake again: She always made a new mistake instead." --Cherry Smyth

Customer Reviews

Technique and truth collide in masterful parody
Wendy Cope always struck me as a woman fighting to keep her naive romantic and lyrical instincts about the scepticism that dogs our everyday disappointments with life. Her story of girlish summer romance turning to another weary disappointment by autumn does not prevent her wanting to try again.

That she chooses to do so with wickedly humour by parodying poetic forms and poets themselves (play the man, not the ball!) adds further emphasis to the moments of revelation unveiled with materful economy.

Mastery of technique is required to deliver first-rate parody, so it is to Cope's eternal credit that her skill is fulfilled with such a light touch. Cope's verse is charming but sly and frequently underestimated.

A Modern Satirical Classic: An Absolute Must-Read
This has been a firm favourite of mine ever since my father gasped in horror when I said I'd never read it & immediately went out to buy me a copy. There are so many fabulous satirical poems in this collection that I quite agree with my father that everyone with any interest at all in poetry should read it. Many of these poems are now old friends of mine, learned off by heart & a comfort to recall at odd moments. Some of the best poems are nursery rhymes re-written in the style of famous poets (TS Eliot: "In the first minute of the last hour/I saw the mouse ascend the ancient timepiece/ Claws whispering in the wind like dry hyacinths"). Indeed Cope is amazingly adroit at parodying Eliot (one of my favourite poets), and her set of five limericks summarising The Wasteland are a true joy ("In April one seldom feels cheerful/ Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful;/ Clairvoyantes distress me/ Commuters depress me-/ Met Stetson and gave him an earful"). Oh dear, I really must try to curb my longing to quote and quote from this marvellous volume. But I hope you have realised by now that these poems are far too good not to share. I often find myself buying copies of this book for Wendy-Cope-deprived friends and I must admit that nowadays when I do so I usually buy them the miniature volume that Faber have put out at a lower price. But I personally own this edition, and I think it is worth the extra money to have a well-bound edition as this is a book that is much thumbed in my home.

If I have any reservations at all about recommending this book, it is that those poems here which are *not* satirical (such as "Tich Miller") are not very good. However, these poems are in the minority here, and the vast majority of this book is an utter delight. "A Policeman's Lot", a poem based on a Ted Hughes quotation about outwitting his own internal policeman, is one of my very favourites ("All leave was cancelled in the lambing season/ When bitter winter froze the drinking trough/ For our commander stated with good reason/ That that's the kind of thing that starts him off") as is the short yet magnificent "Emily Dickinson" ... no... no... I really won't quote any more. Just buy the book already, OK? As long as you have a love of the English language and a functioning sense of humour you won't be sorry...

WENDY COPE - More Bridget Jones than Bridget Jones
Wendy Cope - what a woman. The first time I read one of her poems I thought she had got into my head and read my thoughts - witty, funny, romantic, ironic. Does she hate men? I don't think so, but the way she writes about them you could be sat in a pub with her chatting about the latest disaster to have befallen your love-life. Wendy Cope is not only a very clever, witty woman, but she's clearly 'been there', and her observational style is very easy to deal with. Read it - you'll love it - especially if you are a fan of Bridget Jones - but be warned, the lady is highly addictive!