Wendy Cope

Rory Waterman

Liverpool University Press

Writers and Their Work

Wendy Cope is one of the most popular contemporary poets writing in English, whose readership extends far beyond that of almost all other poets
No previous book on Cope exists, so this is essential reading for all students of her work, as well as her non-academic readers
Cope's poetry is taught in schools, at GCSE level, and in universities, though criticism of her work is mainly confined to internet study guides of a small number of poems
Cope's popularity extends well beyond Britain - for example, she is often associated with the New Formalist movement, centred on the United States
The first book to draw on the Wendy Cope Archive at the British Library, as well as Cope's own personal archive and correspondence

Wendy Cope

Rory Waterman

Liverpool University Press

Description

Wendy Cope is one of Britain’s most popular poets: her first two collections have together sold almost half a million copies, and in 1998, when Ted Hughes died, she was the BBC listeners’ choice to succeed him as Poet Laureate. She is also contrarian and sometimes controversial, and has been celebrated as one of the finest parodists of her, or any, generation. It is perhaps surprising, then, that her popular appeal has been met with critical near-silence. After five major collections, Cope has received only piecemeal critical attention, mostly confined to book reviews. This is the first in-depth study of her poetry. Drawing on Cope's published work, archival material and correspondence, Rory Waterman considers her main collections, her works for children and her uncollected poems, with many close readings, and detailed considerations of her cultural and literary contexts and her poetic development.