The Selected Poems of John Whitworth

Drawing from eleven collections published between 1980 and 2016, The Selected Poems of John Whitworth presents the full range of a poet too long pigeonholed as a mere light versifier. Whitworth's formally dazzling poems - praised by Philip Larkin, Les Murray, and Peter Porter - deconstruct idioms, press intellectual certitudes to surrealistic absurdity, and swap transcendence for cliché, all while delivering moments of genuine tenderness and grief. From Betjemanesque Oxford romances to philosophical patter songs on Oakeshott and Quine, from concrete poems to devastating elegies, this posthumous selection, introduced by Walter Ancarrow, reveals a poet whose tongue was firmly in his cheek and whose heart was quietly on his sleeve.

PRAISE FOR THE SELECTED POEMS OF JOHN WHITWORTH:

John was a bold, robust poet with a sense of humour and first-rate technical skill. His masterpiece, Landscape With Small Humans (1993), tells the story of his childhood in a London suburb and later in Edinburgh. Witty, touching and very readable, it received far less attention than it deserved. I hope this publication will enable many new readers to discover it.

- Wendy Cope, author of The Orange and Other Poems

John Whitworth was a brilliant and prolific talent, whose mastery of traditional forms was sometimes, paradoxically, held against him. His range is impressive, from intense childhood memories to the angst of teenage years, and his scrutiny of adulthood takes in excess, deception, and delusion, as well as everyday commitment. He wrote vividly and funnily for, and about, his own children, too. Furthermore, as a social and political satirist he had a gift for making the topical memorable: top-drawer, every time.

- Simon Rae, author of Gift Horses

John Whitworth is an essentially British poet, but that does not mean that his brilliance should not charm American readers. Once one gets past a few 'local' references, there is wit and mordant humour enough for any reader. It's a shame that his international reputation is posthumous, for after reading the briefest sample of his large and varied output, one can only cry, 'More! More!'

- R. S. Gwynn, author of Dogwatch

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

John Whitworth (1945-2019) John Whitworth (1945-2019) grew up in north London (just verging on Metroland) and, from 1955, in Scotland: a split heritage that is reflected in much of his work. He was educated in Edinburgh and Merton College, Oxford, and was married, with two daughters. After moving to Canterbury, he worked part-time teaching English as a foreign language and running creative writing courses, whilst launching his career as a poet and freelance reviewer. Besides awards for some of his eleven poetry collections (the Alice Hunt Bartlett, from the Poetry Society for the most promising first book, the 1986 National Poetry Competition, the Cholmondeley Award), he won countless prizes for individual poems, which appeared in a huge range of magazines including Poetry Review, the TLS, the Spectator, the Literary Review, the New Criterion, the Hudson Review, and Quadrant, as well as in many anthologies. His poems were broadcast on several different BBC radio programmes, and he contributed a televised piece for the BBC's coverage of the English leg of the1992 Tour de France. In addition, his Writing Poetry handbook remains an outstanding guide for those who value metrical, rhyming and stanzaic skills.