English poet (born 1946)
Brian Patten
(born 7 February 1946) is an English poet and author.
[1]
He came to prominence in the 1960s as one of the
Liverpool poets
, and writes primarily lyrical poetry about human relationships. His famous works include "Little Johnny's Confessions", "The Irrelevant Song", "Vanishing Trick", "Emma's Doll", and "Impossible Parents".
Career
[
edit
]
Patten was born in
Bootle
,
Liverpool
, England.
[2]
He attended Sefton Park School in the
Smithdown Road
area of Liverpool, where his early poetic writing was encouraged.
[1]
He left school at fifteen and began work for
The Bootle Times
writing a column on popular music. At age 18, he moved to Paris, where he lived rough for a time, earning money by writing poems in chalk on the pavements.
[3]
Together with the other two
Liverpool poets
,
Roger McGough
and
Adrian Henri
, Patten published
The Mersey Sound
in 1967. One of the best-selling poetry anthologies of modern times,
The Mersey Sound
aimed to make poetry accessible to a broader audience. It has been described as "the most significant anthology of the twentieth century".
[4]
Together with Henri and McGough, Patten was awarded the
Freedom of the City
of Liverpool in 2001.
[5]
Patten's first published volumes of poems were
Little Johnny's Confession
(1967) and
Notes to the Hurrying Man
(1969). They were followed by
The Irrelevant Song
(1971),
Vanishing Trick
(1976) and
Grave Gossip
(1979). In 1983, along with
Roger McGough
and
Adrian Henri
, Patten published the follow-up to
The Mersey Sound
with
New Volume
. Patten's later solo collections,
Storm Damage
(1988) and
Armada
(1996), are more varied, the latter featuring a sequence of poems concerning the death of his mother and memories of his childhood.
Armada
is perhaps Patten's most mature and formal book, dispensing with much of the playfulness of former work. He has also written comic verse for children, notably
Gargling With Jelly
and
Thawing Frozen Frogs
.
Patten's style is generally
lyrical
and his subjects are primarily love and relationships. His 1986 collection
Love Poems
draws together his best work in this area from the previous sixteen years.
Charles Causley
commented that he "reveals a sensibility profoundly aware of the ever-present possibility of the magical and the miraculous, as well as of the granite-hard realities. These are undiluted poems, beautifully calculated, informed - even in their darkest moments - with courage and hope."
[6]
The actor
Paul Bettany
, in his contribution to the poetry collection
Poems That Make Grown Men Cry
(2014), said of Patten's work: "Reading Brian Patten's poetry does that trick that art should do, which is to sort of adhere you to the surface of the planet, just long enough that you don't go spinning off into the loneliness of space - 'Somebody else has felt this too', you think. And you breathe a little easier".
[7]
Patten's poem "So Many Different Lengths of Time" has, in recent times, become a popular poem recited at funerals. At the service to remember
Ken Dodd
in Liverpool's
Anglican Cathedral
, the actor
Stephanie Cole
read "So Many Different Lengths of Time" to a congregation of thousands within and outside the building. Opening his poem with verse by
Pablo Neruda
, Patten's poem argues that it is the act of remembrance which offers family members the best antidote to the anguish of loss. In tackling the subject of grief, Patten views poetry as performing an important social function: "Poetry helps us understand what we’ve forgotten to remember. It reminds us of things that are important to us when the world overtakes us emotionally."
[8]
Selected bibliography
[
edit
]
Publications with others
[
edit
]
- The Mersey Sound
1967
- New Volume
1983
Poetry collections for adults
[
edit
]
- Little Johnny's Confession
1967
- Notes to the Hurrying Man
1969
- When You Wake Tomorrow
illustrated by Pip Benveniste 1971
- The Irrelevant Song
1971
- And Sometimes It Happens
1972
- Vanishing Trick
1976
- Grave Gossip
1979
- Love Poems
- (anthology) 1986
- Storm Damage
1988
- Grinning Jack
(anthology) 1992
- Armada
1996
- Selected Poems
(anthology) 2007
- Collected Love Poems
(anthology) 2007
- The Book of Upside Down Thinking
2018
Books for children
[
edit
]
- The Elephant and the Flower
1970
- Jumping Mouse
1972
- Emma's Doll
1976
- Mr Moon's Last Case
1988
- Thawing Frozen Frogs
1992
- Impossible Parents
, illustrated by
Arthur Robins
Walker Books, 1994,
OCLC
31708253
- Jimmy Tag-Along
1995
- The Blue and Green Ark: An Alphabet For Planet Earth
1999
- Juggling With Gerbils
2000
- The Impossible Parents Go Green
, illus. Robins, Walker Books, 2001
- The Story Giant
2004
- The Most Impossible Parents
, illus. Robins, Walker Books, 2010
- Gargling With Jelly
2015
As editor
[
edit
]
- The Puffin Book of Utterly Brilliant Poetry
1998
- The Puffin Book of Modern Children's Verse
2006
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Academics
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|