Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems

by Sue Townsend

'It's really, really, really funny' David WalliamsMole Press - a brand new imprint of Penguin Books - is proud to announce the first publication of The Collected Poems of Adrian Mole to mark the author's 50TH birthday.--------------------------- 'Edgy politics, tortured eroticism, misunderstood intellect, changing Britain - a whiff of the sublime. Mole's contribution is significant' Daily Telegraph Featuring poems scattered over nearly thirty years of writing and salvaged from the diaries 'authored' by one Sue Townsend, this slim volume features more than thirty pieces of Adrian's unique art. From his timeless first documented poem - The Tap - via classic odes to his muse, first and only true love Pandora (I adore ya), we follow Adrian's life in verse form. We not only witness his burgeoning political anger in works like Mrs Thatcher (Do you weep, Mrs Thatcher, do you weep?) but also see in later poems his merciless examination of the hollow shell of masculinity as well as documenting his declining libido in tragic pieces like To My Organ. For the first time in a single volume, these are the collected poems of misunderstood intellectual and tortured poet Adrian Mole. 'I ruthlessly exploited Adrian. But he can't afford to sue me' Sue Townsend 'Wonderfully funny and sharp as knives' Sunday Times 'One of the great comic creations' Daily Mirror 'The funniest person in the world' Caitlin Moran

Genres: Poetry

57 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 16, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Lillian "Sue" Townsend was a British novelist, best known as the author of the Adrian Mole series of books. Her writing tended to combine comedy with social commentary, though she has written purely dramatic works as well. She suffered from diabetes for many years, as a result of which she was registered blind in 2001, and had woven this theme into her work.

Reviews

[Rehan Abd Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute n funny 😊

[libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

hilarious as ever, shockingly inappropriate at times, and good enough to make my recent stomach pains almost disappear! I highly recommend to any adrian mole fans, or anyone in search for a good old chuckle.

[Mind the Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Min local indie - Sheen Bookshop - hade placerat den här precis vid kassan och mitt lilla mellanstadieanglofilhjärta spratt till. "Misunderstood intellectual and tortured poet", åh, Adrian. Dikterna har alltså defiktionaliserats, lagom till hans femtionde födelsedag.

Vissa dikter är rysligt aktuella, om vi byter ut Thatcher mot en viss annan politiker:
Do you weep, Mrs May, do you weep?
Do you wake, Mrs May, in your sleep?
Do you weep like a sad willow?
On your Marks and Spencer's pillow?
[...]

Läsdagboken on location: första och sista gången jag träffade Sue Townsend http://lasdagboken.blogdns.com/2010/i...

[thehalcyondaysofsummer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening line: 'The tap drips and keeps me awake, In the morning there will be a lake.'

[Lee Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slim volume published in 2017, to mark Adrian Mole's "50th birthday" (according to his fictional biography, Adrian was born in April 1967).

These are all poems that have appeared in the various books that make up his diaries, and there's not really much else to it besides the letters that (fictional) John Tydeman wrote to him. I found out recently that there really was a BBC employee called John Tydeman who was an early champion of Townsend's work, so his name being used in the books was a tribute to him. He died in 2020.

This book will be fairly meaningless to anyone who hasn't read the diaries, and of course the poems are deliberately very bad indeed. One for the fans - the publication was a nice idea.

Sadly, of course, any hope of further Mole diaries or poems died with Sue Townsend back in 2014, although I have to be honest and say that I'm only really a fan of the first two books. Adrian never really seems to grow up properly, or become anything of a success, and the things that made him endearing and funny as a teenager make him a rather tragic adult. Anyway - it's a nice little book, and a tribute to Townsend's best-known creation.

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable collection of poems from the infamous Adrian Mole. I laughed out loud at his many odes to Pandora, agreed with his brilliant poem Mrs Thatcher, which really didn't sum up the 80s era especially if you weren't a fan of Maggie. I also enjoyed the letters from the long suffering John Tydeman at the BBC. Definitely a one for Adrian Mole fans.

[katherine (winnie) 🏹 · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't read this on kindle - read the paperback - but I hate how the picture for the paperback version like, isn't just the cover its like a photo of the book from a distance or something lmao anyway im petty

[Emjy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Désopilant à souhait :D

[Elancharan Gunasekaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarcasm at its finest...

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Adrian.. You are a scream. Reading this reminds me of one of my fave series... Maybe I'll reread it a third time or start her other titles... Maybe the latter. R. I. P sue...

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never read fictional poetry before. Really liked the letters with bbc host.

[Clare B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious trip down memory lane. Makes me want to reread the whole brilliant series.

[Kimia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely witty and entertaining to read! My favorite poems were 'the future' and 'the discontented tuna'. The only thing I didn't like was that the collection was so small :p

[Turnip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. I'm sure I'll wallow in it again many times.

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collected poems are a joyous treat. Mole is one of the most perfect literary creations.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny addition to the world of Adrian Mole. Chuckled all the way through this quick, short read.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Adrian Mole so much and this is the perfect final addition to my Mole collection.
All his terrible poems collected and published, just as he woudl have wanted.

[Mike Mcconnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last, the maestro's work in a single volume.

[Benjamin McConnell]

Norway

Norway! Land of difficult spelling.
Hiding your beauty behind strange vowels.
Land of long nights, short days, and dots over 'O's.
Ruminating majestic reindeers
Tread wearily on ice floes
Ever aware of what happened to the
Titanic
One day I will sjourn to your shores
I live in the midle of England
But!
Norway! My soul resides in your watery fiords fyords fiiords
Inlets.