Children of Albion: Poetry of the 'Underground' in Britain

by Michael Horovitz (Editor)

Compiled & published during the glory days of the 1960s in England, it's an amazing collection of poems by young poets ablaze with wit, optimism, and visionary fire.

Genres: Poetry

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this in the 70s and loved it, hippy poetry, probably really dated now, I daren't go back and re-read and spoil my fond memories.

[Gavin Lightfoot · Rating 2 out of 5]

The underground movement, part of the British revival of the 60s, for me I felt the majority of the poetry in this collection was written by poets high on weed, pretty incoherent stuff. There were a few shining lights, Gael Turnbull-An Irish Monk, Barry Tebb-School Smell, Neil Oram-Straight and Bernard Kops-Whatever Happened to Isaac Babel plus a few others. So it has at least given me a few poets to explore further.

[Harry Minogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the riveting to the banal, and everything in-between, the late '60s British poetry scene is preserved in these pages. A fantastic collection with some real gems within. A fascinating document of its time.

[Will Keifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great compilation of poetry works by a ton of writers who I’ve never heard of. It’s different from typical poetry, but you’ll still always find something here for any feelings you may want to emphasize.

[Michael Vawser]

1 UB
1PS paperback

[M Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appreciated the collection. Nepotism?

[Karlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading to understand the British Beat, jazzpoetry and underground poetics of the mid to late 60s. Includes long essay by editor Michael Horovitz which is essential to understanding the context from which these poems spring into the Glad Day (of Blake's cover). I love it, love it, love it. A British equivalent of Don Allen's Beat anthology 'The New American Poetry'. I have read it and re-read it over a dozen times. Includes Pete Brown, Alexander Trocchi, Spike Hawkins, Adrian Mitchell, Jim Burns, Lee Harwood, Bernard Kops, Michael & Frances Horovitz, Anselm Hollo and many more.

[Tiff Gibbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a re-read. I picked up this collection of poems at 14 from a second hand store, mainly out of curiosity regarding the use of the word 'Albion' (not to blow up my spot, but I may have been a Libertines stan in my teens).

The poetry holds up. It's engaging and at times explosive, making you stop and really think about a line over and over again.

I see the text as indicative of its time; of course, there are far more male poets than female poets featured. There's also that sort of '60s Baby-Boomer-esque hangover of "I'm writing PISS and WHORE and BOOZE and OTHER BAD WORDS and it's being PRINTED, whaddayamake of that mum and dad?!" People were still really freaked out about Howl, I guess! The Rolling Stones were scandalizing the English aristocracy just by prancing around in tight pants and wearing their hair long. Marianne Faithfull even gets mentioned in one poem called The News by Herbert Lomas. Rebellion had a template set in diametric opposition to tradition. It seems kind of lame now, but again, it's a beautiful artefact of its time.

A standout poet for me was Gael Turnbull, and I will be seeking out more of his works because of what was featured of his here.

Rated four stars because some of these modernist poets just took it too far with the spacing of their words (this is a pet peeve of mine, so it's personal preference). Also didn't love how edgy some of these poets thought they were being simply by mentioning, for instance, sex workers or homosexuals as window-dressing for their poetry - they were never the subject of the poems, just these sort of props. I get why I thought these sort of poems were so cool when I was 14, but hey, I also loved Bukowski back then.

[Steve Bowbrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant collection. All the hairy anarchists, bass guitarists, bus drivers, drop-outs, pacifist squaddies, tramps and street corner crazies from about 75 years of British poetry (no Auden, no Larkin, nothing respectable). Funny, challenging, radical and often lyrical. And the absolutely best bit is the long section at the back - the eccentric and inspiring notes on the poems and the period from editor/participant Horovitz, including fascinating contemporaneous notes from the 1965 'International Poetry Incarnation' at the Royal Albert Hall - with Ginsberg et al.

You can get this one for a few quid second-hand - and you must. I've marked this one as 'read' but I reckon I'll still be going back to it when I die.

[Ade Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it largely for Horowitz's extensive notes as I'm contextualising 1960s 'bohemian' Liverpool poetry and music. The great poetry read-ins are all discussed here, and there is some useful stuff, especially on establishment reception of the 'underground'. It all seems dated now. Most of the poetry is crap.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this from the Penguin catalogue in 1969. Some fabulous stuff.

Read again in 2015 - some dated and lost in time. Some now the products of famous poets...