When Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis was published in 1986, Wendy Cope became that rarest of creatures: a celebrated poet who was also a best-seller. Her artful combination of insight and wit made an extraordinary impact in poems that cocked a gentle snook at the pomposity of a literary world hitherto dominated by men. Through four further collections, Cope has continued to delight her readers while finding a whole new generation of enthusiasts when her poem ‘The Orange’ went viral. Together these poems catalogue the desires and fears that underlie our ordinary existences, love and heartbreak, disappointment and a hard-won capacity to find happiness, even if only in the form of a poem. In their profound attention to and encapsulation of the everyday, these poems serve to make our own lives the more remarkable and memorable. Collected Poems celebrates a lifetime’s achievement by a poet who has been original and distinctive from the very start, and provides the perfect accompaniment to the trials, tribulations and joys of our all too human lives.
