Collected Poems (Main)

Here are the full poetic works of our wittiest and much-beloved writer, including many previously uncollected poems.

When Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis was published in 1986 Wendy Cope became that rarest of creatures: a best-selling and celebrated poet.

Her artful combination of clarity and wit made an extraordinary impact in poems that cocked a gentle snook at the pomposity of a literary world hitherto dominated by men. Since then, through four further collections, she has continued to delight, finding, through the viral nature of the web, a whole new generation of enthusiastic readers.

Love and heartbreak; life and death - those daily desires and fears that underlie our existences - these are the subjects she tackles with an unpretentiousness that draws us in and an emotional resonance that keeps us coming back for more. 'We can love Wendy Cope's words . . . for the rhymes they reveal but also for the sad truths they speak.' Adam Gopnik, New Yorker 'One has to go back to Byron to find a poet as consistently witty, wide-ranging and technically outstanding as Cope.' Los Angeles Review of Books'We need not wonder at Wendy Cope's continued, wide appeal.

She writes poems that people want to read, and this is how poems survive.' Literary Review'Wit and heart?

Cope's fans should rest assured there are enough gems here with both.' Telegraph 'Wendy Cope's real strength lies not in charm or insight (she has buckets of both) but in the pitch-perfect exactitude of her writing.' Sunday Times'Her poems are moving, memorable, funny, clever; they alert readers to what it means to be human.' PN Review