Serious Concerns

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Five collections of her adult poetry have been published, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis in 1986, Serious Concerns in 1992, If I Don't Know in 2001, Family Values in 2011, and Anecdotal Evidence in 2018. She has also edited several anthologies of comic verse and was a judge of the 2007 Man Booker Prize. [ citation needed] See Faber authors in conversation and hear readings from their work at Faber Members events, literary festivals and at book shops across the UK. Elsewhere she seems to have been going through a more challenging time in her personal life, with many poems revolving around break-ups and general frustration with men, although her alertness to humour prevents her ever from slipping into cynicism. (This is indeed one of the uses of humour in life, as writers like Wendy Cope can teach you.) urn:lcp:seriousconcerns00cope:epub:30ba03d2-dbca-44fd-af95-47188b74c3cd Extramarc Duke University Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier seriousconcerns00cope Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t21c4sx2j Invoice 11 Isbn 9780571167050 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:

Serious Concerns (Faber Poetry): Cope, Wendy: 9780571352333 Serious Concerns (Faber Poetry): Cope, Wendy: 9780571352333

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Also falling into this category is one of her most anthologised poems, the short and awesome ‘Two Cures for Love’, which runs in its entirety: 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] Faber Members have access to live and online events, special editions and book promotions, and articles and quizzes through our weekly e-newsletter. a b c "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. 27 February 2018 . Retrieved 17 November 2022.

Wendy Cope - Wikipedia Wendy Cope - Wikipedia

I found this modern poem in one of the didactic handouts my classics and medieval literature professor gives us. I loved it because it's so true! This poem is soooo characteristic of the period in one's life when one is trying to choose amongst the suitors, and what happens when the person chooses the wrong suitor and is forced to get off the bus. 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": One of the funniest recurring aspects of Wendy Cope’s early poetry is her parodies (or burlesques, to use a perhaps more apt term) of various canonical works of poetry. a b c " The Guardian "Wendy Cope: I don't want to be laureate" 2 June 2008". TheGuardian.com . Retrieved 27 January 2019. 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.

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. 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 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. In Kate Kellaway’s review of Cope's third collection, If I Don’t Know (2001), she argues it is ‘constructed around helplessness in the face of beauty’ ( The Observer, 3 June 2001). Sutcliffe points out uncritically that there is an aspect of happiness, contentment even, that has infiltrated this work and this has not been so evident in the previous two books. He cites ‘Being Boring’ to exemplify this ( The Independent, 7 June 2001): 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!