After the Merrymaking

by Roger McGough

date purchased written at top of title page. good overall condition minor wear some discoloration and wear

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 1971

Reviews

[Jack Malik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not McGough’s strongest work. But there’s one absolute banger, which is “40–Love”

That alone gave an extra star, otherwise this collection would have been a solid 1/5 ⭐️

[Genetic Cuckoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a couple of other poetry collections from this author, and this is some of his early work. (It's pretty amazing that he has been publishing poetry from the 1960s to today!). Some of his unique style and humour is present in these poems. I quiet liked that there is always a section with a theme in his poetry collections, this one has a group of poems all about a policeman. It's an enjoyable read.

[russell barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the work of poets, more than any other oeuvre, contain nuggets you tend to come across more often than not in collected works - either of their own cannon or within a stylistic or thematically linked collection. So you get a fractured view of them as seen through the prism of the editor.

So whilst I think I love McGough, in fact, I've never actually read a complete body of his work as he's written it. In fact the poet I've always thought I love, I've loved on the basis of the collections he's appeared in, so it was both refreshing and interesting to follow his train of thought through his own stylistic/thematic whole so you really are getting it warts and all, and scrape the unknown lows as well as the more famous highs.

After the Merrymaking has plenty of both, and in amongst the more well-known poems were examples that really should be better recognised, and an equal amount of duff ones which naturally get left out of any retrospectives. However, what is more interesting isn't that they are duff in terms of how they are written, but in terms of how 'of their time' they are. Not that I imagine free love, drugs and rape were in anyway condoned in the Sixties, but the poems all share a naivety we associate with those times which doesn't always translate to the 21st Century.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this was like sitting in a pub with a really good friend who you haven’t seen in a while.
You’re laughing at their jokes, remembering why you got on so well, and then they say something a bit offensive to remind you why it’s been so long.

Roger I love you, but maybe not everything you do.