Brian Patten - Wikipedia Brian Patten From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search 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", "Impossible Parents", amongst others. Contents 1 Career 2 Selected bibliography 2.1 Publications with others 2.2 Poetry collections for adults 2.3 Books for children 2.4 As editor 3 References 4 External links Career[edit] Patten was born in Bootle, England, near the Liverpool docks.[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. 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.[3] Together with Henri and McGough, Patten was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2001.[4] Patten's first published volumes of poems were Little Johnny's Confession (1967) and Notes to the Hurrying Man (1969). The later 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 1981 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."[5] Patten's poem So Many Different Lengths of Time has in recent times, become a popular poem recited at Funerals. 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.’[6] Selected bibliography[edit] Publications with others[edit] The Mersey Sound (1967) Poetry collections for adults[edit] Little Johnny's Confession Notes to the Hurrying Man The Irrelevant Song Vanishing Trick Grave Gossip Love Poems Storm Damage Grinning Jack Armada Selected Poems Collected Love Poems The Projectionist's Nightmare Geography Lesson Books for children[edit] The Elephant and the Flower Jumping Mouse Emma's Doll Gargling With Jelly Mr Moon's Last Case Jimmy Tag-Along Thawing Frozen Frogs Juggling With Gerbils The Story Giant Impossible Parents, illustrated by Arthur Robins (Walker Books, 1994), OCLC 31708253 The Impossible Parents Go Green, illus. Robins (Walker, 2000) The Most Impossible Parents, illus. Robins (Walker, 2010) As editor[edit] The Puffin Book of Utterly Brilliant Poetry The Puffin Book of Modern Children's Verse References[edit] ^ a b Echo, Liverpool (29 September 2010). "Mersey Poet Brian Patten on his memories of Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 29 July 2018. ^ Manning, Craig. "Hot off the bookshelf ... Brian Patten on his book of Upside Down Thinking". Wirral Globe. Retrieved 29 July 2018. ^ "Brian Patten - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. The British Council. Retrieved 29 July 2018. ^ "Recipients of the Honorary Freedom of the City of Liverpool - Liverpool Town Hall". Liverpool Town Hall. Retrieved 29 July 2018. ^ Causley, Charles (1978). Twentieth-century Children's Writers (1st ed.). Macmillan International Higher Education. pp. 979–980. ISBN 9781349036486. Retrieved 29 July 2018. ^ https://beyond.life/blog/the-poetry-of-remembrance-pablo-neruda-brian-patten/ External links[edit] Official website Brian Patten at British Council: Literature An interview from Liverpool's Nerve magazine Interview with Roger McGough about 40 years of the Mersey Poets Articles by Brian Patten on the 5th Estate blog Portraits of Brian Patten at National Portrait Gallery Brian Patten at Library of Congress Authorities, with 38 catalogue records Poetry portal Authority control BNF: cb145164788 (data) GND: 119521016 ISNI: 0000 0001 1005 0181 LCCN: n50050675 MBA: 520cfeda-deeb-4e3b-9353-810a87204ec0 NDL: 001170697 NKC: js20020304024 NLA: 35411976 NLK: KAC200306842 NTA: 068589654 PLWABN: 9810590708605606 SNAC: w60c552g SUDOC: 069143463 VIAF: 111553910 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n50050675 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brian_Patten&oldid=997349413" Categories: Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1950 births Living people 20th-century English poets 21st-century English poets English male poets 20th-century English male writers Hidden categories: Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية Deutsch Italiano مصرى Edit links This page was last edited on 31 December 2020, at 02:49 (UTC). 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