I loved this book. At school we studied Wordsworth's The Prelude. And read about all those daffodils that he came across whilst wandering. And we read Chaucer... yeah, I know... important and all that! And TS Elliot, Byron... all great and wonderful poets... But here were three poets that actually said something to me - a teenager in the late 60s. Roger McGough - today still producing lovely work, Brian Patten and the quirky Adrian Henri, sadly no longer with us; three outstanding poets withstanding the test of time. Accessible - probably paving the way for "popular"poets like Wendy Cope and John Hegley - funny, frank, sad and unpretentious.
They sold over half a million copies of that first edition - not bad for a book of poetry. You can still find the book in second hand bookshops and on amazon. Re-read your copy today! And if you've never read it - well, obtain a copy as soon as possible.
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5 comments:
Daffodils? LOL. Must get a copy of this as it sounds exactly like the kinda of book, even now, that is inspirational.
You must have seen daffodils before.
I have this book and agree its in a class of its own. I must dig it out for a read and wallow in some 60's nostalgia. Saw a retrospective of Adrian Henri's paintings at Stoke a few years back which made me realise what a clever and underated artist he was.
Yes, Adrian Henri never got the recognition he deserved.
Oh memories "I wondered lonely as a cloud that floats on high over daffodils" (forgive me WW if I misquoted).
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