I've been waiting for this one to come up, and I've had a name down for this challenge basically since beginning the whole reading challenge: Wendy Cope. I can't remember why or when I first read her poem The Orange, but I absolutely loved it, and since then I've read a few of her love poems; they are quirky and to the point, but embody so much feeling as well (I can heartily recommend 'Differences of Opinion' just because it's so on the point on mansplaining).
Anyway, I've chosen to read Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis, mostly because my Danish library had it, and so the choice was sort of made for me. We shall see whether it lives up to the poems I already know.
Comments:
For new-comers to Wendy Cope I would recommend her love poems, as most of them are quite straightforward and deliciously unprententious. This collection requires slightly more thought, or maybe I just feel like that because, despite having lived in England for 5 years, there are still a lot of (cultural) references I don't get and my reading of this collection suffers slightly from it. However! There are brilliant poems in this collection. The 'All-Purpose Poem For State Occasions' is wonderfully to the point and a true comment on the role of the royals in British society. 'From June To December' and 'Rondeau Redoublé' are, I suppose, love poems, but not the soppy ones. They are more bitter or bitter-sweet, but all the better for it, I think. And the concluding poem, 'Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis' is possibly the star of the collection, what with it's position at very back of the book, in it's own section, and the way it completely does away with any kind of implied depth from the title of it. I won't spoil it (can you spoil a poem?), but read the collection and make sure you save it for last.
Comments:
For new-comers to Wendy Cope I would recommend her love poems, as most of them are quite straightforward and deliciously unprententious. This collection requires slightly more thought, or maybe I just feel like that because, despite having lived in England for 5 years, there are still a lot of (cultural) references I don't get and my reading of this collection suffers slightly from it. However! There are brilliant poems in this collection. The 'All-Purpose Poem For State Occasions' is wonderfully to the point and a true comment on the role of the royals in British society. 'From June To December' and 'Rondeau Redoublé' are, I suppose, love poems, but not the soppy ones. They are more bitter or bitter-sweet, but all the better for it, I think. And the concluding poem, 'Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis' is possibly the star of the collection, what with it's position at very back of the book, in it's own section, and the way it completely does away with any kind of implied depth from the title of it. I won't spoil it (can you spoil a poem?), but read the collection and make sure you save it for last.
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