Clever pastiches
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This is an amusing collection if you are fond of poetry and have some knowledge of the styles and poets that have inspired the contents. It would be a good stocking filler for a literary friend.
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Funny and poignant
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'Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis' is a joy to read. Wendy Cope writes witty and refreshing poems which are ideal to read aloud and share with others - they had my whole family in stitches. 'From June to December' is a funny and touching account of the different emotions which are experienced at the start of a relationship, and at its termination. Wendy Cope has a great talent for describing human emotions, particularly love, in a way that we can all identify with. However, her talent is not restricted to humorous poetry, and 'Tich Miller' effectively conveys what it is like to be the outcast who is picked last for teams during school sports, and although the narrator is able to get one over her athletic counterparts, "sneering at hockey players who couldn't spell", tragically Tich Miller dies before she can find any kind of niche for herself. One of the most enjoyable, touching poetry collections I have ever read.
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expected better
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we don't get to see as much of wendy cope in the u.s. as i had hoped, so i ordered a couple of her books from amazon uk. the few poems i had come across of wendy cope's have been great poems. her touch of humor is excellent in those poems. but the poems in this collection are less than stellar. much of the time the rhymes are predictable and uninteresting. her repetition of styles and themes gets old (god knows she must love the villanelle). in this collection her nursery rhyme imitations are phenomena. i can just see wordsworth and eliot writing those. her strength seems to be in mimicry, which she didn't do much of here. i don't know, maybe the poems i like so much came from serious concerns. if you want to read someone who is a better formal poet, and has what is probably the greatest wit of any living poet, check out R.S. Gwynn's selected poems: No Word of Farewell. i don't know if you can order it in the uk or if you'll have to order from the states, but it's well worth any trouble it takes to find it.
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Technique and truth collide in masterful parody
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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.
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A Modern Satirical Classic: An Absolute Must-Read
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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...
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