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Family Values
From a motorway service area to her ambivalent relationship with religion, Wendy Cope covers a wide range of experience in her new collection. Her mordant humour and formal ingenuity are in evidence, even as she remembers the wounds of a damaging childhood; and in poems about love and the inevitable problems of aging she achieves an intriguing blend of sadness and joy. Two very different sets of commissioned poems round off a remarkable volume, whose opening poem sounds clearly the profound note of compassion which underlies the whole.
66 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2011
11 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Cope
63 books422 followersWendy 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.
In 1981, she became Arts and Reviews editor for the Inner London Education Authority magazine, 'Contact'. Five years later she became a freelance writer and was a television critic for 'The Spectator magazine' until 1990.
Her first published work 'Across the City' was in a limited edition, published by the Priapus Press in 1980 and her first commercial book of poetry was 'Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis' in 1986. Since then she has published two further books of poetry and has edited various anthologies of comic verse.
In 1987 she received a Cholmondeley Award for poetry and in 1995 the American Academy of Arts and Letters Michael Braude Award for light verse. In 2007 she was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize.
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.
She was awarded the OBE in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours List.
Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011
In 1981, she became Arts and Reviews editor for the Inner London Education Authority magazine, 'Contact'. Five years later she became a freelance writer and was a television critic for 'The Spectator magazine' until 1990.
Her first published work 'Across the City' was in a limited edition, published by the Priapus Press in 1980 and her first commercial book of poetry was 'Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis' in 1986. Since then she has published two further books of poetry and has edited various anthologies of comic verse.
In 1987 she received a Cholmondeley Award for poetry and in 1995 the American Academy of Arts and Letters Michael Braude Award for light verse. In 2007 she was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize.
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.
She was awarded the OBE in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours List.
Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
April 15, 2023
A wonderful collection of poetry from an accomplished writer with a career spanning decades. Family Values was published in 2011, twenty-five years after her debut 'Making Cocoa for Kinglsey Amis'.
Cope presents mundane, everyday english life in hysterical, derisive form. Playful, witty, and at times remarkably melancholic.
The opener 'A Christmas Song' is a nod to those who no longer feel the season's good cheer. Whose 'burden, carried through year, is heavier at Christmastime', for 'all the men and women whose love affairs went wrong', or 'because somebody dear to them is far away or dead'.
In contrast, 'Keep Saying This' is a rousing anthem, insisting we embrace our mortality regardless of age. It beautifully captures how everyday life can saturate or blind us to the beauty of life, emphasising the purposelessness of trivial worry. A brilliant poem awash with energy, it's repetition of the line 'the party isn't over yet' enlivening and stirring.
This is my first experience of Wendy Cope's work and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've heard her debut, along with Serious Concerns is arguably even better. Highly recommend.
Cope presents mundane, everyday english life in hysterical, derisive form. Playful, witty, and at times remarkably melancholic.
The opener 'A Christmas Song' is a nod to those who no longer feel the season's good cheer. Whose 'burden, carried through year, is heavier at Christmastime', for 'all the men and women whose love affairs went wrong', or 'because somebody dear to them is far away or dead'.
In contrast, 'Keep Saying This' is a rousing anthem, insisting we embrace our mortality regardless of age. It beautifully captures how everyday life can saturate or blind us to the beauty of life, emphasising the purposelessness of trivial worry. A brilliant poem awash with energy, it's repetition of the line 'the party isn't over yet' enlivening and stirring.
This is my first experience of Wendy Cope's work and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've heard her debut, along with Serious Concerns is arguably even better. Highly recommend.
August 19, 2015
(2.5) Cope mostly uses recognizable forms (villanelles, sonnets, etc.): this is interesting to see in contemporary poetry, but requires a whole lot of rhyming, most of it rather twee (e.g. “tuppence/comeuppance”), which gives the whole collection the feeling of being written for children. This is appropriate for the poems that recall memories of childhood, but not so much for the others, such as “The Audience,” a long sequence commissioned by a string quartet.
I reckon there’s more similarity to Gervase Phinn or Pam Ayres in this collection than Cope would really like to be her reputation.
My two favorites were “Lissadell,” about a vacation to Ireland, and “Haiku,” perfect in its simplicity:
I reckon there’s more similarity to Gervase Phinn or Pam Ayres in this collection than Cope would really like to be her reputation.
My two favorites were “Lissadell,” about a vacation to Ireland, and “Haiku,” perfect in its simplicity:
A perfect white wine
is sharp, sweet and cold as this:
birdsong in winter.
April 20, 2022
Actually, 3.5 🫶🏻
October 17, 2016
More than any poet since Betjeman, Wendy Cope has the rare gift of being funny and serious - often in the same poem. That is crucial. Beneath the jaunty villanelles, the comic repetitions and the triple-metre, some hard truths about life and love are being smuggled in.
One favourite is the poem 'April'. I quote it here in full:
'The birds are singing loudly overhead
As if to celebrate the April weather.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever
And be with you, my love, and share your bed.
I don't believe I'll see you when we're dead.
I don't believe we'll meet and be together.
The birds are singing loudly overhead.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever.'
Like Auden's 'Lullaby', the poem gains its power and maturity from cherishing what it knows is only temporary.
Two other poems, 'Health Scare' and 'Keep Saying This', are franker confrontations with illness and death: rhyme and repetition become charms to keep despair at bay ('It helps to say their names and make them rhyme'). You can't help being reminded that 'Ring-a-ring-of-roses' was originally written about the Black Death.
Accepting futility doesn't mean going down without a fight. Cope's sharp (but never withering) sense of humour can deliver wicked, one-two combinations to the head, as in 'Special Needs', 'Unbearable', 'Football', and 'Differences of Opinion':
'He tells her the earth is flat -
He knows the facts, and that is that.
In altercations, fierce and long
She tries her to best to prove him wrong.
But he has learned to argue well.
He calls her arguments unsound
And often asks her not to yell.
She cannot win. He stands his ground.
The planet goes on being round.'
Cope's quality control system is as sound as ever. Her collections may be few, but they're always worth waiting for. A worthy addition to the Cope canon and a treat for readers everywhere.
One favourite is the poem 'April'. I quote it here in full:
'The birds are singing loudly overhead
As if to celebrate the April weather.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever
And be with you, my love, and share your bed.
I don't believe I'll see you when we're dead.
I don't believe we'll meet and be together.
The birds are singing loudly overhead.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever.'
Like Auden's 'Lullaby', the poem gains its power and maturity from cherishing what it knows is only temporary.
Two other poems, 'Health Scare' and 'Keep Saying This', are franker confrontations with illness and death: rhyme and repetition become charms to keep despair at bay ('It helps to say their names and make them rhyme'). You can't help being reminded that 'Ring-a-ring-of-roses' was originally written about the Black Death.
Accepting futility doesn't mean going down without a fight. Cope's sharp (but never withering) sense of humour can deliver wicked, one-two combinations to the head, as in 'Special Needs', 'Unbearable', 'Football', and 'Differences of Opinion':
'He tells her the earth is flat -
He knows the facts, and that is that.
In altercations, fierce and long
She tries her to best to prove him wrong.
But he has learned to argue well.
He calls her arguments unsound
And often asks her not to yell.
She cannot win. He stands his ground.
The planet goes on being round.'
Cope's quality control system is as sound as ever. Her collections may be few, but they're always worth waiting for. A worthy addition to the Cope canon and a treat for readers everywhere.
October 1, 2024
I think I can say Wendy Cope is truly my type of poetry, after The Orange, I found she has a lot available on openlibrary, so I had to try out a few more and this is still so excellent!!! I truly love her writing, it's simple, but there's humor in it, again the play with words (ahhh, I loved "Stars" so much), but also the mundane of things, and how every feeling, from love and joy to grief and pain are part of it.
I really LOVE how this collection has small sections that tell a story in itself, from the start with Christmas (and I was very touched by the portrayal of loss at Christmas) and then the "Audience" part, and even poems that tell full stories like "Daily Help" or "The Women's Merchant Navy". Besides these more story like poems, I also want to shout out the complicated feelings, contradictions and relationships with mothers in "Differences of Opinion" and "Sunday Morning", and then also "My Funeral" for also encapsulating what that moment (ignoring "my") feels like.
Definitely want to keep reading from Wendy Cope!! I've found my sweet spot with poetry and I accept more suggestions that are alike!!!
I really LOVE how this collection has small sections that tell a story in itself, from the start with Christmas (and I was very touched by the portrayal of loss at Christmas) and then the "Audience" part, and even poems that tell full stories like "Daily Help" or "The Women's Merchant Navy". Besides these more story like poems, I also want to shout out the complicated feelings, contradictions and relationships with mothers in "Differences of Opinion" and "Sunday Morning", and then also "My Funeral" for also encapsulating what that moment (ignoring "my") feels like.
Definitely want to keep reading from Wendy Cope!! I've found my sweet spot with poetry and I accept more suggestions that are alike!!!
April 15, 2018
the second wendy cope book that i have read, but it missed the perfect five star marks because of the first few poems in this book. i found them too personal, and i couldn't connect to them. but, later, the book just drove in my mind smoothly. i love her poems which contains the element of serious levity carefully and delicately. it's like she wrote the poems with utter delight, and her power of rhyming is strong, very strong. i have also loved the later experimental poems in the end. overall, a sumptuous read, utterly delightful.
August 23, 2025
AahahhaaaaaHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!
Loved it loved it loved it. Funny, yet serious, yet really funny. Loved all the rhyming so much.
There are two parts: the first part is particularly well arranged, and is ordered so well. This first part is funny - and quite sad/about being a bit of an outcast at school and in family, reflecting on childhood while aging, and believing that there is no afterlife yet finding life so meaningful. The first part feels like a complete collection on its own. The second part is a selection of poems from two broader commissioned works: one for a symphony, and one for the BBC. I was smiling throughout the entire second section. So very fun. I especially loved the poems inspired by the symphony (e.g., describing performers running late, audience members on a date, someone trying not to cough, a critic having very little time to review). The final poem is the collection ends so well, with a radio broadcaster switching off a light. Ugh, nice!
Two caveats: Could have done without the poem "Special Needs," as the presentation of students with disabilities/learning differences + "disinclined" students didn't sit right - but there is room for discussion of what the nuance of this poem is/what she's presenting (I just don't love putting students in a "disinclined" label/box, and it felt icky). Also wasn't too sure about "The Africans," on account of this reading a bit too much like othering, and perhaps being another example of white people using the entire continent of Africa and the many people there as a representation of "exotic" or "imagination" or "childlike wonder." But I'm not sure?
Cope is, I see, just barely under the surface sharp and a bit of a hater - and the irony of her calling others out (e.g., for being self-important or righteous, for using bad grammar) while she's being at least a smidgen righteous herself in doing so was a little meh. Also would perhaps refer her to 2-3 cognitive therapy sessions for her perspective on death, and what it seems to do to her mood. This is a joke. This is a joke? Hmm. This is a joke.
Loved it loved it loved it. Funny, yet serious, yet really funny. Loved all the rhyming so much.
There are two parts: the first part is particularly well arranged, and is ordered so well. This first part is funny - and quite sad/about being a bit of an outcast at school and in family, reflecting on childhood while aging, and believing that there is no afterlife yet finding life so meaningful. The first part feels like a complete collection on its own. The second part is a selection of poems from two broader commissioned works: one for a symphony, and one for the BBC. I was smiling throughout the entire second section. So very fun. I especially loved the poems inspired by the symphony (e.g., describing performers running late, audience members on a date, someone trying not to cough, a critic having very little time to review). The final poem is the collection ends so well, with a radio broadcaster switching off a light. Ugh, nice!
Two caveats: Could have done without the poem "Special Needs," as the presentation of students with disabilities/learning differences + "disinclined" students didn't sit right - but there is room for discussion of what the nuance of this poem is/what she's presenting (I just don't love putting students in a "disinclined" label/box, and it felt icky). Also wasn't too sure about "The Africans," on account of this reading a bit too much like othering, and perhaps being another example of white people using the entire continent of Africa and the many people there as a representation of "exotic" or "imagination" or "childlike wonder." But I'm not sure?
Cope is, I see, just barely under the surface sharp and a bit of a hater - and the irony of her calling others out (e.g., for being self-important or righteous, for using bad grammar) while she's being at least a smidgen righteous herself in doing so was a little meh. Also would perhaps refer her to 2-3 cognitive therapy sessions for her perspective on death, and what it seems to do to her mood. This is a joke. This is a joke? Hmm. This is a joke.
Read
May 3, 2021I feel like I've lost my poetry reading muscle and thought Wendy Cope might help me work it back up to strength. I think she helped!
There are some really beautiful poems in here and some really fun ones too. If you have a second, go read "The Orange" by her. It's not in this collection, but it is the poem that always fills me with joy.
There are some really beautiful poems in here and some really fun ones too. If you have a second, go read "The Orange" by her. It's not in this collection, but it is the poem that always fills me with joy.
December 17, 2020
A CHRISTMAS SONG
Why is the baby crying
On this, his special day,
When we have brought him lovely gifts
And laid them on the hay?
He’s crying for the people
Who greet this day with dread
Because somebody dear to them
Is far away or dead,
For all the men and women
Whose love affairs went wrong,
Who try their best at merriment
When Christmas comes along,
For separated parents
Whose turn it is to grieve
While children hang their stockings up
Elsewhere on Christmas Eve,
For everyone whose burden
Carried through the year
Is heavier at Christmastime,
The season of good cheer.
That’s why the baby’s crying
There in the cattle stall:
He’s crying for those people.
He’s crying for them all.
~~~
Picked this up at random in the school library - loved the first poem so much I thought id share it with the rest of goodreads!
But unfortunately most of the poems were pretty ‘meh’.
Some were funny and clever, others were funny but vapid (and the worst were just a bit dull).
But overall I would recommend!
Why is the baby crying
On this, his special day,
When we have brought him lovely gifts
And laid them on the hay?
He’s crying for the people
Who greet this day with dread
Because somebody dear to them
Is far away or dead,
For all the men and women
Whose love affairs went wrong,
Who try their best at merriment
When Christmas comes along,
For separated parents
Whose turn it is to grieve
While children hang their stockings up
Elsewhere on Christmas Eve,
For everyone whose burden
Carried through the year
Is heavier at Christmastime,
The season of good cheer.
That’s why the baby’s crying
There in the cattle stall:
He’s crying for those people.
He’s crying for them all.
~~~
Picked this up at random in the school library - loved the first poem so much I thought id share it with the rest of goodreads!
But unfortunately most of the poems were pretty ‘meh’.
Some were funny and clever, others were funny but vapid (and the worst were just a bit dull).
But overall I would recommend!
June 28, 2023
Picked this book up after falling in love with a Wendy Cope poem I found on TikTok. This collection didn't contain that specific poem, but it did have lots of others that I enjoyed (almost) as much. Her poetry style is easy to read, unpretentious, and very charming. It felt very much like the poetry my grandmother used to write.
September 26, 2025
I dont think im overstating things when I say Cope has been one of the most influential poets of my personal pantheon. Her devastating simplicity and way of discussing even the tenderest of subjects with humanity, humour and compassion are really what work for me. I feel like I can go through anything if Ive got some Wendy Cope to pull me through.
May 17, 2022
Cope is wonderfully relatable and accessible. You see the poems as her which is raw and honest. I found myself marking page after page as a favourite and high lighting line after line. She is immensely talented and sprinkles advanced poetic techniques over a relatable jaded voice. I love it
May 25, 2024
okay…
“I cannot guarantee success.
I'll blow it, forfeiting the pay,
Probably. Unless. Unless
I ask for help in my distress.
Does someone hear me when I pray?
If I'm not sure, I can't say yes.
Probably. Unless. Unless.”
“I cannot guarantee success.
I'll blow it, forfeiting the pay,
Probably. Unless. Unless
I ask for help in my distress.
Does someone hear me when I pray?
If I'm not sure, I can't say yes.
Probably. Unless. Unless.”
August 5, 2025
love a book that reflects life like omg a poem about crying at the art gallery followed by a poem about drinking white wine- read while I’m drinking white wine after crying at the art gallery? four stars
January 14, 2019
Though not life-altering, this collection is comfortably accessible reading that, as with much of Cope’s work, is full of wit and received with a wry, often cheeky, smile.
March 12, 2020
Delightful. Every poem was a pleasure to read.
December 16, 2025
gosh the amount of times i sobbed reading some of these pieces 😭🩵 i love you wendy cope
August 20, 2017
I didn't enjoy this collection quite as much as the other volume I read by her, Serious Concerns, but it was still very likeable and a nice way to spend the hour I had by myself in the library today. One reason I didn't quite enjoy this one as much was, perhaps, that it felt a little too cynical to me. In quite a few of her poems here, an embittered elderly lady peeked through, and while it's an attestation to her skill as a poet to let us catch glimpses of her as a person, I ended up feeling a bit sorry for her. There is a fine line between sarcasm and cynicism, and I thought this one was perhaps a little too heavy on the latter.
She works through some childhood issues in this volume, especially in the beginning chapters, and whenever she treats the topic with reverence, I was very moved by it. There is a poem that is dedicated to a Mrs Arnolds of what I can only assume to be her former boarding school. It's moving and sad and is underslung with that childhood longing for a parent that simply loves and accepts you. Other poems discuss what seems to be a complex relationship between mother and child, dating, love, hypocrisy, ageing and death, daytime television, the BBC; some are commissioned by a string quartet.
It's hard to find a unifying theme to this volume or to her works, but if there is one, it's perhaps best searched for in the first poem in this collection. It reads like a modern Christmas carol, and for all her ranting about religion and misogyny in later poems, I thought this one struck the perfect balance between intuition, social commentary, compassion, and wit. It seems to chant subtly that we lose something very human when we start paying too much attention to rituals, forms, and castes - closed spaces. In the end, we all struggle for room in the pews of acceptance and have simply come to hear a bit of nice music from the choir.
She works through some childhood issues in this volume, especially in the beginning chapters, and whenever she treats the topic with reverence, I was very moved by it. There is a poem that is dedicated to a Mrs Arnolds of what I can only assume to be her former boarding school. It's moving and sad and is underslung with that childhood longing for a parent that simply loves and accepts you. Other poems discuss what seems to be a complex relationship between mother and child, dating, love, hypocrisy, ageing and death, daytime television, the BBC; some are commissioned by a string quartet.
It's hard to find a unifying theme to this volume or to her works, but if there is one, it's perhaps best searched for in the first poem in this collection. It reads like a modern Christmas carol, and for all her ranting about religion and misogyny in later poems, I thought this one struck the perfect balance between intuition, social commentary, compassion, and wit. It seems to chant subtly that we lose something very human when we start paying too much attention to rituals, forms, and castes - closed spaces. In the end, we all struggle for room in the pews of acceptance and have simply come to hear a bit of nice music from the choir.
April 24, 2016
I’m an unabashed fan of Wendy Cope. She’s not the most prolific of poets, but her keen eye when observing the everyday and mundane means I often return to her relatively slight output. The verse may be light but the subjects addressed can be weighty, and despite the surface simplicity Cope is extremely technically skilled, employing the full range of traditional rhymed forms. She reminds me of Philip Larkin, and if you know me you’ll know that’s high praise indeed.
I just read her collection Family Values for the first time (despite it being five years old by now). She is as grumpy and deadpan as ever, but with a focus on death and decay that suggest perhaps the serious concerns are ever closer to the forefront of her mind. The fifty six poems in this collection span a human life, from childhood Christmases to detailed (hilarious) instructions for how to behave at her funeral. Despite the increasing awareness of mortality permeating the collection, Cope still has Larkin’s gift for “…skilled/ Vigilant, flexible/Unemphasised, enthralled/Catching of happiness…” and it’s in these moments she speaks most to me:
April
The birds are singing loudly overhead,
As if to celebrate the April weather.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever
And be with, my love, and share your bed.
I don’t believe I will see you when we’re dead.
I don’t believe we’ll meet and be together.
The birds are singing loudly overhead.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever.
https://eatsplantsreadsbooks.wordpress.com/
I just read her collection Family Values for the first time (despite it being five years old by now). She is as grumpy and deadpan as ever, but with a focus on death and decay that suggest perhaps the serious concerns are ever closer to the forefront of her mind. The fifty six poems in this collection span a human life, from childhood Christmases to detailed (hilarious) instructions for how to behave at her funeral. Despite the increasing awareness of mortality permeating the collection, Cope still has Larkin’s gift for “…skilled/ Vigilant, flexible/Unemphasised, enthralled/Catching of happiness…” and it’s in these moments she speaks most to me:
April
The birds are singing loudly overhead,
As if to celebrate the April weather.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever
And be with, my love, and share your bed.
I don’t believe I will see you when we’re dead.
I don’t believe we’ll meet and be together.
The birds are singing loudly overhead.
I want to stay in this lovely world forever.
https://eatsplantsreadsbooks.wordpress.com/
July 16, 2023
orange was a good poem.. i didn’t like any of these. they came across as lazy and half thought out. a poem can be simple but it shouldn’t be bad
February 8, 2018
This is a slim collection of Cope's poems published in 2012. The first section is poetry about family, which is good and occasionally great. I particularly liked 'A Christmas Song', 'The Women's Merchant Navy', 'At Stafford Services', 'At the Poetry Conference', 'Anniversary Poem', 'Spared' and 'Another Valentine' from this section. Then there's a second section, which is from something called 'The Audience', which were written for the Endymion String Quartet. These are great. Funny. As are those from the final section, which are from an 'An ABC of the BBC'. These were commissioned by BBC Radio 4. Again they're pretty funny. There's one called 'Football' about Radio 5 6-0-6 show that I liked a lot.
Definitely worth reading. I tend to read people's work from beginning to end, which I think makes me think I can see patterns emerging, but sometimes that's impossible to do. It's also good to realise that you don't know as much as you think you know about things.
It certainly wants to make me read her other three poetry collections.
Definitely worth reading. I tend to read people's work from beginning to end, which I think makes me think I can see patterns emerging, but sometimes that's impossible to do. It's also good to realise that you don't know as much as you think you know about things.
It certainly wants to make me read her other three poetry collections.
May 9, 2011
Wendy Cope has more fun with poetic forms than anyone since Dorothy Parker. I'd need a good hour with Lewis Turco to figure out all she's up to in her latest collection, although the sometimes villainous villanelles are unmissable. (Poor Hugo Williams.)
My favorite poems in this book are the first and last – "A Christmas Song" asks Why is the baby crying? and provides a rhyme book of clever answers; and "Closedown" about a woman reading the shipping news late at night. There are merry moments in between, but not nearly as many as in Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis. So what? Anything new by Wendy is worth snapping up, sighs and tears and wry bits of rueful wisdom all whipped together and laid out in a lattice of laughter.
My favorite poems in this book are the first and last – "A Christmas Song" asks Why is the baby crying? and provides a rhyme book of clever answers; and "Closedown" about a woman reading the shipping news late at night. There are merry moments in between, but not nearly as many as in Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis. So what? Anything new by Wendy is worth snapping up, sighs and tears and wry bits of rueful wisdom all whipped together and laid out in a lattice of laughter.
January 15, 2012
There is a lot here about aging and death, which is not terribly relevant to me right now* but I'll keep the book on shelf the the twilight years.
The second half of the book has a lovely sequence of poems about various people at a concert, and another sequence about the Beeb, both of which I enjoyed.
Unfortunately there's nothing here to match my great love for Cope's previous collections.
*Not that aging and death can't be written about in a way that is relevant and interesting to young (or, let's be honest here, young-ish) people, but Copes poems on these subjects are very personal and lacking a broad universalism.
The second half of the book has a lovely sequence of poems about various people at a concert, and another sequence about the Beeb, both of which I enjoyed.
Unfortunately there's nothing here to match my great love for Cope's previous collections.
*Not that aging and death can't be written about in a way that is relevant and interesting to young (or, let's be honest here, young-ish) people, but Copes poems on these subjects are very personal and lacking a broad universalism.
November 24, 2015
I love Wendy Cope, but have to confess that I was slightly disappointed in this, her fourth collection of poems. Her first two books, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis and Serious Concerns sparkled with wit and invention. There's plenty of humour in Family Values and Cope's mastery of a wide range of poetic forms is in evidence (I love a good villanelle!), but I was a little underwhelmed by some of the poems in this collection. Cope covers a variety of themes, including an unhappy childhood (one of the best poems in the book, Daily Help, is in this section), and two series of commissioned poems, one for the Endellion Quartet and one for the BBC.
Read
May 23, 2023It's May 2023 and I actually finally read this. The exploration of religion (believer vs doubter), relationship (especially parent to child) and music just proves that Wendy Cope should be known for more than The Orange (even if it is a wonderful poem).
Book 2/6 of 'Catching Up With My Reading Challenge Week So I Can Go On Holiday And Just Read Instead Of Worrying About My Reading Challenge.'
i just ordered this off alibris (again, a cheer for second hand online bookshops - this was £3 in all and its shipped already?!) after seeing the poem 'a baby cried a christmas' or something i cant quite remember the title, is wendy cope a christian?! if yes, i love her all the more
Book 2/6 of 'Catching Up With My Reading Challenge Week So I Can Go On Holiday And Just Read Instead Of Worrying About My Reading Challenge.'
i just ordered this off alibris (again, a cheer for second hand online bookshops - this was £3 in all and its shipped already?!) after seeing the poem 'a baby cried a christmas' or something i cant quite remember the title, is wendy cope a christian?! if yes, i love her all the more
September 7, 2011
There is something about Wendy Cope's poetic voice that resonates deeply with me. I'm not sure what it is, but there you have it. The only reason I've given this work 4 out of 5 instead of the full star rating, is because her earlier poem The Teacher's Tale (featured in If I Don't Know) has to be the most moving poem I have ever read, and that got the full 5 stars in my book. But this is a great collection, I really enjoy the warmth and wit in these works! :)
April 13, 2012
I love Wendy Cope's poetry. She is one of my favourite contemporary poets. Her poems are moving, accessible, beautifully constructed with a strong wit which is often bitter sweet. This volume of poetry covers all of that and so much more. A particular favourite is 'A Villanelle for Hugo Williams' which made me put Hugo Williams on my list of 'To read' even if just to check if he did get the rhyme scheme right.
April 8, 2011
The usual mixture of whimsy and crushing emotions from Ms. Cope. Well worth a look - many of these have lots of depth and will certainly stand up to repeated reading.
The closing poem about Alice Arnold reading the shipping forecast on Radio 4 is superb.
The closing poem about Alice Arnold reading the shipping forecast on Radio 4 is superb.
April 5, 2015
Read this over a couple of hours yesterday evening at Tullich. Warm, well-chosen words. This felt like a meander through her childhood and on into her sixties or so. Plus some gentle laughs at the expense of Radio 4.
May 9, 2011
New collection of poems from Wendy Cope. Humourous, snappy, sad, happy. I do like her stuff, especially the more personal, and reflective ones on her childhood, and on aging in this volume.
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