Liverpool poets
Encyclopedia
The Liverpool Poets are a number of influential 1960s poets from Liverpool
, England, influenced by 1950s Beat poetry. They were involved in the 1960s Liverpool scene that gave rise to The Beatles
, during a time when the city was termed by US beat poet Allen Ginsberg
"the centre of the consciousness of the human universe".
Their work is characterised by its directness of expression, simplicity of language, suitability for live performance and concern for contemporary subjects and references. There is often humour, but the full range of human experience and emotion is addressed.
, Roger McGough
and Brian Patten
. They were featured in a 1967 book The Liverpool Scene edited by Edward Lucie-Smith
, with a blurb by Ginsberg and published by Donald Carroll.
Although he was born in Sussex
, Adrian Mitchell
shared many of the concerns of the Liverpool poets and is often linked with them in critical discussion.
Other related poets include the Londoner Pete Brown
(who wrote lyrics for Cream
), Pete Morgan
and Alan Jackson (both associated with the 1960s Edinburgh
poetry scene), Tom Pickard
and Barry MacSweeney
(both from Newcastle
), Spike Hawkins
, Jim Bennett
, Heather Holden, Mike Evans, Pete Roche and Henry Graham
.
The poets generally came from a working class background and went to art college rather than university. There was a strong allegiance with pop music, and the values and effectiveness of that in reaching out to a wide audience informed the poetry. Readings took place in a pub or club environment.
, Andy Roberts
, Mike Evans, Mike Hart
, Percy Jones
and Brian Dodson. It grew out of the success of The Incredible New Liverpool Scene, a CBS LP featuring Henri and McGough reading their work, with accompaniment by the guitarist Roberts. Liverpool DJ John Peel
, who was then working on the pirate radio station Radio London
, picked up on the LP and featured it on his influential late-night Perfumed Garden
show. After Radio London closed down, Peel visited Liverpool and met the band; as a consequence, they were featured in session on his BBC Top Gear
and Night Ride shows, and in 1968 he produced their first LP. Four LPs were issued with Henri's poetry heavily featured.
Despite Peel's support the albums achieved little success, although the band did become popular on the UK university and college circuit. Their public performances included a 1969 tour
when they opened for Led Zeppelin
; they also toured the USA but did not attract much acclaim from US critics and audiences. Henri was described in performance as "bouncing thunderously and at risk to audience and fellow performers, the stage vibrating out of rhythm beneath him."
The albums were:
There were at least 3 "best of" albums and a single Love Is/Woo-Woo.
(1963–1974), which featured John Gorman, Mike McCartney
(brother of Paul McCartney
) and Roger McGough. Initially Adrian Henri
was a member, when they were known as The Liverpool, One Fat Lady, All Electric Show. ("One Fat Lady" is the bingo term for 8, and they mostly lived in the Liverpool 8 district.)
In December 1967 Thank U Very Much (sung with a Liverpool accent) reached number 4 in the charts. A year later Lily the Pink reached number 1. Ringo Starr
's bass drum was used; also featured were Jack Bruce
from Cream
, Graham Nash
from The Hollies
and Reg Dwight, later renaming himself Elton John
. Both hits were in the spirit of cheery and humorous drinking songs.
(1973-4) contained a changing cast of
Adrian Henri, Brian Patten, Roger McGough, John Gorman, Mike McCartney, George `Zoot' Money, Neil Innes, Michael Giles, Kate Robbins, John Megginson, Andy Roberts, David Richards, Peter `Ollie' Halsall, Norman Smedles, Brian Jones, Ritchie Routledge, Valerie Movie, Gerry Conway, Pete Tatters and Timmy Donnell.
Adrian Henri was described by Lucie-Smith as "the theoretician of the group" and asserted the need to be in touch with contemporary life, following T. S. Eliot
's dictum "to purify the dialect of the tribe" and pointing out that his tribe included everyone from motor-bike specialists through consultant gynaecologists and Beatles
fans to admen and peeping toms. His conclusion was:
said:
Alan Alvarez wrote about "the fashion for the diluted near-verse designed for mass readings and poetry-and-jazz concerts", linking it with pop lyrics as "the logic of a traditional form at its weariest", scolding "the poet resigns his responsibilities" and concluding, "what he offers is not poetry", a criticism remarkably similar to that made by F. Dalton in The Times Literary Supplement
, on 31 June 1917 about "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr. Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry...".
, Attila the Stockbroker
, John Hegley
and Benjamin Zephaniah
.
The Liverpool poets were a strong influence on the late 1970s Kent group The Medway Poets
(some of whom later founded the Stuckists
art group), and were also involved in reading with them.
Alan Bleasdale
said, "The poetry of Henri, Patten and McGough has stayed with me for 35 years. The beauty is its accessibility."
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England, influenced by 1950s Beat poetry. They were involved in the 1960s Liverpool scene that gave rise to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, during a time when the city was termed by US beat poet Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
"the centre of the consciousness of the human universe".
Their work is characterised by its directness of expression, simplicity of language, suitability for live performance and concern for contemporary subjects and references. There is often humour, but the full range of human experience and emotion is addressed.
Poets
The poets most commonly associated with this label are Adrian HenriAdrian Henri
Adrian Henri was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group The Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten and Roger McGough. The trio of Liverpool poets came to prominence in that city's...
, Roger McGough
Roger McGough
Roger Joseph McGough CBE is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly...
and Brian Patten
Brian Patten
-Background:Born near Liverpool's docks, he attended Sefton Park School in the Smithdown Road area of Liverpool, where he was noted for his essays and greatly encouraged in his work by Harry Sutcliffe his form teacher. He left school at fifteen and began work for The Bootle Times writing a column...
. They were featured in a 1967 book The Liverpool Scene edited by Edward Lucie-Smith
Edward Lucie-Smith
John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith is a British writer, poet, art critic, curator, broadcaster and author of exhibition catalogues.-Biography:Lucie-Smith was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to the United Kingdom in 1946...
, with a blurb by Ginsberg and published by Donald Carroll.
Although he was born in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, Adrian Mitchell
Adrian Mitchell
Adrian Mitchell FRSL was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British anti-authoritarian Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's anti-Bomb movement...
shared many of the concerns of the Liverpool poets and is often linked with them in critical discussion.
Other related poets include the Londoner Pete Brown
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
(who wrote lyrics for Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
), Pete Morgan
Pete Morgan
Colin Peter Morgan was a British poet, lyricist and television documentary author and presenter.Morgan's career as a poet began in the mid-1950s when he was 16 and living alone in London. He entered the British Army and rose to the rank of infantry platoon commander while serving in West Germany...
and Alan Jackson (both associated with the 1960s Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
poetry scene), Tom Pickard
Tom Pickard
Tom Pickard is a poet, radio and film maker who was an important initiator of the movement known as the British Poetry Revival....
and Barry MacSweeney
Barry MacSweeney
Barry MacSweeney was an English poet and journalist.-Life and work:Barry MacSweeney was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked as a professional journalist throughout most of his life...
(both from Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
), Spike Hawkins
Spike Hawkins
Spike Hawkins is a British poet, best known for his 'Three Pig Poems', included in his one book, the Fulcrum Press collection The Lost Fire-Brigade . He was part of the poetry scene in Liverpool during the 1960s and much of his output upholds the values of that group; short, modernistic, humorous...
, Jim Bennett
Jim Bennett (poet)
Jim Bennett is a poet. He performed alongside Roger McGough and Adrian Henri in the late 1960s.- Early life:He was adopted into the Bennett family at 2 years of age. He began writing poetry and short stories in the 1960s and was performing his poetry in O'Connor's Tavern in Liverpool long before...
, Heather Holden, Mike Evans, Pete Roche and Henry Graham
Henry Graham
Henry Graham is a British poet. Educated at the Liverpool College of Art in the early 1950s, he was part of the Liverpool poetry scene in the 1960s, and he is presently one of the poetry editors of the British literary magazine Ambit...
.
The poets generally came from a working class background and went to art college rather than university. There was a strong allegiance with pop music, and the values and effectiveness of that in reaching out to a wide audience informed the poetry. Readings took place in a pub or club environment.
The Mersey Sound
The anthology The Mersey Sound was published by Penguin in 1967, containing the poems of Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, and has remained in print ever since, selling in excess of 500,000 copies. It brought the three poets to "considerable acclaim and critical fame", and has been widely influential. In 2002 they were given the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.The Liverpool Scene
The Liverpool Scene was a poetry band, which included Adrian HenriAdrian Henri
Adrian Henri was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group The Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten and Roger McGough. The trio of Liverpool poets came to prominence in that city's...
, Andy Roberts
Andy Roberts (musician)
Andrew "Andy" Roberts is an English musician.He gained a violin scholarship to Felsted School. He then attended Liverpool University. He has played with The Liverpool Scene, Plainsong, The Scaffold, Roy Harper, Chris Spedding, Pink Floyd, Hank Wangford, Kevin Ayers, Vivian Stanshall and Grimms...
, Mike Evans, Mike Hart
Mike Hart (poet)
Mike Hart was a Liverpool based singer/songwriter and poet.In 1962 he founded the band The Roadrunners, before leaving in 1965 to join The Liverpool Scene, a poetry and music collective, with Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts and Mike Evans...
, Percy Jones
Percy Jones (musician)
Percy Jones is a Welsh bass guitarist, and was a member of jazz fusion band Brand X, from 1974 to 1980, and a reformed version which lasted from 1992 to 1997...
and Brian Dodson. It grew out of the success of The Incredible New Liverpool Scene, a CBS LP featuring Henri and McGough reading their work, with accompaniment by the guitarist Roberts. Liverpool DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, who was then working on the pirate radio station Radio London
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...
, picked up on the LP and featured it on his influential late-night Perfumed Garden
The Perfumed Garden (radio show)
The Perfumed Garden was the title given by John Peel to his 1967 late-night programme on the British pirate radio station, Radio London. After several years of work in US commercial pop radio, Peel joined the station in March 1967, on returning to the UK from California. As well as various slots on...
show. After Radio London closed down, Peel visited Liverpool and met the band; as a consequence, they were featured in session on his BBC Top Gear
Top Gear (radio show)
Top Gear was originally a short-lived pop music show on the BBC Light Programme in the mid-1960s.- Origin and format :It was one of the Corporation's few attempts to compete with the pirate radio stations and Radio Luxembourg, who had attracted large audiences of young British pop music listeners...
and Night Ride shows, and in 1968 he produced their first LP. Four LPs were issued with Henri's poetry heavily featured.
Despite Peel's support the albums achieved little success, although the band did become popular on the UK university and college circuit. Their public performances included a 1969 tour
Led Zeppelin United Kingdom Tour Summer 1969
Led Zeppelin's Summer 1969 United Kingdom Tour was a concert tour of the United Kingdom by the English rock band. The tour commenced on 8 June and concluded on 29 June 1969. It included a single show in Paris, France, performed for French television...
when they opened for Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
; they also toured the USA but did not attract much acclaim from US critics and audiences. Henri was described in performance as "bouncing thunderously and at risk to audience and fellow performers, the stage vibrating out of rhythm beneath him."
The albums were:
- The Incredible New Liverpool Scene (CBS 1967)
- Amazing Adventures of (RCA 1968)
- Bread on the night (RCA 1969)
- St. Adrian & Co., Broadway and 3rd (RCA 1970)
- Heirloon (RCA 1971)
- Recollections (Charisma 1972)
There were at least 3 "best of" albums and a single Love Is/Woo-Woo.
The Scaffold
The best-known band to emerge was The ScaffoldThe Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...
(1963–1974), which featured John Gorman, Mike McCartney
Mike McCartney
Mike McCartney , known professionally as Mike McGear, is a British performing artist and rock photographer and the younger brother of Paul McCartney...
(brother of Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
) and Roger McGough. Initially Adrian Henri
Adrian Henri
Adrian Henri was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group The Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten and Roger McGough. The trio of Liverpool poets came to prominence in that city's...
was a member, when they were known as The Liverpool, One Fat Lady, All Electric Show. ("One Fat Lady" is the bingo term for 8, and they mostly lived in the Liverpool 8 district.)
In December 1967 Thank U Very Much (sung with a Liverpool accent) reached number 4 in the charts. A year later Lily the Pink reached number 1. Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
's bass drum was used; also featured were Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
from Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, Graham Nash
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash, OBE is an English singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer...
from The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
and Reg Dwight, later renaming himself Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. Both hits were in the spirit of cheery and humorous drinking songs.
Grimms
A short-lived touring ensemble GrimmsGrimms
GRIMMS was an English pop rock, skit and poetry group, originally formed as a merger of The Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Band, and the Liverpool Scene for two concerts in 1971 at the suggestion of John Gorman...
(1973-4) contained a changing cast of
Adrian Henri, Brian Patten, Roger McGough, John Gorman, Mike McCartney, George `Zoot' Money, Neil Innes, Michael Giles, Kate Robbins, John Megginson, Andy Roberts, David Richards, Peter `Ollie' Halsall, Norman Smedles, Brian Jones, Ritchie Routledge, Valerie Movie, Gerry Conway, Pete Tatters and Timmy Donnell.
For
S.N. Radhika Lakshmi observes "the Liverpool poets' approach to poetry differs from that of other poets in that they consistently give the impression of being real people getting to grips with real and pressing situations." He continues:- Like the French Symbolists, Baudelaire and Rimbaud, 'The Liverpool poets' believe that the effect that a poem produces is more important than the poem itself; a poem should be considered as an 'agent' (that conveys the poet's message), rather than as an 'object'. The poetry of 'The Liverpool poets' is also characterized by the undercurrent of sarcasm, irony and pungent wit, which runs through many of their poems. They are also noted for their directness of expression, simplicity of style, and, (in the manner of Robert Frost), their deft handling of complicated ideas in uncomplicated language.
Adrian Henri was described by Lucie-Smith as "the theoretician of the group" and asserted the need to be in touch with contemporary life, following T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's dictum "to purify the dialect of the tribe" and pointing out that his tribe included everyone from motor-bike specialists through consultant gynaecologists and Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
fans to admen and peeping toms. His conclusion was:
- the whole post-Gutenberg galaxy of expanding communications can become the subject-matter of the poet, it's just that most poets are afraid to face up to the consequences of it."
Against
The emergence of the Liverpool poets as pioneers of "pop poetry" in the UK engendered hostility from the literary establishment. Ian HamiltonIan Hamilton (critic)
Robert Ian Hamilton was a British literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher....
said:
- A lot was going on that we were in opposition to: there was the Group; there was pop poetry; there was the Liverpool Scene. And when Lucie-Smith, arch-organiser of the Group, went off and edited a book called The Liverpool Scene, praising those people to the skies we thought: 'Treasonable clerk. This is the sort of thing you'd expect from these corrupt, opportunistic, careerist-type figures.' So we went at them. As for nurturing talent, the talent that was around we... nurtured.
Alan Alvarez wrote about "the fashion for the diluted near-verse designed for mass readings and poetry-and-jazz concerts", linking it with pop lyrics as "the logic of a traditional form at its weariest", scolding "the poet resigns his responsibilities" and concluding, "what he offers is not poetry", a criticism remarkably similar to that made by F. Dalton in The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
, on 31 June 1917 about "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr. Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry...".
Legacy
The Liverpool poets paved the way for a subsequent flourishing of performance and pop-based work by poets such as John Cooper ClarkeJohn Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet"...
, Attila the Stockbroker
Attila the Stockbroker
Attila the Stockbroker is a punk poet, and a folk punk musician and songwriter. He performs solo and as the leader of the band Barnstormer...
, John Hegley
John Hegley
John Richard Hegley is an English performance poet, comedian, musician and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in the Newington Green area of Islington, London, England, into a Roman Catholic household. He was brought up in Luton and Bristol...
and Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is an English writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008....
.
The Liverpool poets were a strong influence on the late 1970s Kent group The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, North Kent in 1979. They were an English punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy Childish, Rob Earl, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson...
(some of whom later founded the Stuckists
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art group), and were also involved in reading with them.
Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.-Early life:Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother...
said, "The poetry of Henri, Patten and McGough has stayed with me for 35 years. The beauty is its accessibility."
Further reading
- Ed. Edward Lucie-Smith (1970), British Poetry Since 1945, Penguin Books. (Includes theoretical writing by Alan Alvarez and Adrian Henri).
- Ed. Stephen Wade (2001), Gladsongs and Gatherings: Poetry and Its Social Context in Liverpool Since the 1960s, Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-727-1
- Simon Warner (2007) 'Raising the consciousness? Re-visiting Allen Ginsberg's 1965 Liverpool trip' in Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and Avant Garde, edited by Christoph Grunenberg and Robert Knifton, Liverpool University Press & Chicago University Press