Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis

by Wendy Cope

When Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis was first published, it catapulted its author into the bestseller lists and established her as one of our funniest and most eloquent poets.

Genres: Poetry, Humor, Fiction, 20th Century, Poetry Plays, Classics, Literature

61 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Wendy Cope was educated at Farringtons School, Chislehurst, London and then, after finishing university at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she worked for 15 years as a primary school teacher in London.

In 1981, she became Arts and Reviews editor for the Inner London Education Authority magazine, 'Contact'. Five years later she became a freelance writer and was a television critic for 'The Spectator magazine' until 1990.

Her first published work 'Across the City' was in a limited edition, published by the Priapus Press in 1980 and her first commercial book of poetry was 'Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis' in 1986. Since then she has published two further books of poetry and has edited various anthologies of comic verse.

In 1987 she received a Cholmondeley Award for poetry and in 1995 the American Academy of Arts and Letters Michael Braude Award for light verse. In 2007 she was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize.

In 1998 she was the BBC Radio 4 listeners' choice to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate and when Andrew Motion's term of office ended in 2009 she was once again considered as a replacement.

She was awarded the OBE in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours List.

Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011

Reviews

[Warwick]

When I was at university and writing endless essays about The Waste Land, few things gave me greater pleasure (because I am not a big Eliot fan) than pulling out Wendy Cope's ‘Waste Land Limericks’, in which she condenses the whole poem into five admirably no-nonsense quintains:

I
In April one seldom feels cheerful;
Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful;
Clairvoyantes distress me,
Commuters depress me—
Met Stetson and gave him an earful.

II
She sat on a mighty fine chair,
Sparks flew as she tidied her hair;
She asks many questions,
I make few suggestions—
Bad as Albert and Lil – what a pair!

III
The Thames runs, bones rattle, rats creep;
Tiresias fancies a peep—
A typist is laid,
A record is played—
Wei la la. After this it gets deep.

IV
A Phoenician called Phlebas forgot
About birds and his business – the lot,
Which is no surprise,
Since he'd met his demise
And been left in the ocean to rot.

V
No water. Dry rocks and dry throats,
Then thunder, a shower of quotes
From the Sanskrit and Dante.
Da. Damyata. Shantih.
I hope you'll make sense of the notes.

This encapsulates quite well her most appealing qualities – wit, charm, a knowing literacy – as well as the running strain of pastiche which some critics have considered (wrongly in my view) a kind of anti-intellectualism. In fact playful rhymes like this come – well, it seems obvious to me – from a place of appreciation and love, and many other contemporary poets get similar treatment. Indeed she has an alter-ego called Jake Strugnell – a kind of Ted Hughes caricature – whom she uses to poke fun at the male literary world. Strugnell writes everything from bleak series like the ‘Songs of Budgie’ (nodding at Hughes's Crow) to haiku of hilarious banality (‘The cherry blossom / In my neighbour's garden – Oh! / It looks really nice’).

Still, perhaps her best poems are those where she is being more serious, and these tend to revolve around relationships. My favourite in this collection (her first) is the bittersweet ten-poem sequence ‘From June to December’, much of which has to do with a sort of distinctly English sensible sexiness:

Prelude

It wouldn't be a good idea
To let him stay;
When they knew each other better—
Not today.
But she put on her new black knickers
Anyway.

I think she's extremely funny, and a much cleverer poet than she often gets credit for, playing deftly with different forms when she needs to. I guess I associate her with a kind of Radio 4, middle-class British referential literary culture that, for all I know, is not as strong now as it was in the 80s when this came out. Maybe that's why she's not much read anymore. I for one miss her.

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice)]

If you like some humour featured in your poetry, this collection may just be for you! Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis kicked off with Engineers Corner which was written in response to an article in the Times newspaper by the main council for engineering. The rhyming really drew me in. Some of the parodies included did make me laugh. Sadly, I was hoping for some more light-hearted content.

[Steven Godin]

Giving Up Smoking

There's not a Shakespeare sonnet
Or a Beethoven quartet
That's easier to like than you
Or harder to forget.

You think that sounds extravagant?
I haven't finished yet -
I like you more than I would like
To have a cigarette.

[Emma Griffioen]

My least favourite of the work of hers that I've read but still good!

[Matthew Ted]

82nd book of 2023.

Playful. Cope has fun, we do too. Lots of literary references and pokes. For the light-hearted.

"Triolet"

I used to think all poets were Byronic -
Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
And then I met a few. Yes it's ironic -
I used to think all poets were Byronic.
They're mostly wicked as ginless tonic
And wild as pension plans. Not long ago
I used to think all poets were Byronic -
Mad, bad and dangerous to know.


"Emily Dickinson"

Higgledy-piggledy
Emily Dickinson
Liked to use dashes
Instead of full stops.

Nowadays, faced with such
Idiosyncrasy,
Critics and editors
Send for the cops.


"Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis"

It was a dream I had last week
And some kind of record seemed vital.
I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem
But I love the title.

[C. Varn]

While I am not always a fan of a) light-verse, b) parody's of formal poetry, and c) British grumpiness, Cope mixes them all so seamlessly that one can't help but be charmed. The send-up of Eliot and Wordsworth made me almost choke with laughter--the wasteland condensed to limmericks?--and the alter ego of Strugnell (who seems a mix of Cope herself and Philip Larkin, also famously formal and grumpy) is fascinating.

[Minna]

Some of these made me giggle and snort.

[Rebecca]

I’d read a few of Cope’s more recent collections (including Family Values and Anecdotal Evidence) and was decidedly underwhelmed, but this 1986 release (which I found in a Little Free Library in a bus shelter in the delightfully named village of Queen Camel, Somerset) was great fun. The collection is form-driven and mostly consists of parodies of other poets, especially T.S. Eliot – e.g. “In April one seldom feels cheerful,” one limerick opens. There are also rondeaus, sonnets, haiku, and villanelles. Poetic forms often lend themselves to earnest, serious verse, but Cope’s tongue-in-cheek approach is a perfect tonic to your more worthy stuff. Two favorites were “All-Purpose Poem for State Occasions” (“The nation rejoices or mourns / As this happy or sombre day dawns…”) and “Emily Dickinson” (in its entirety: “Higgledy-piggledy / Emily Dickinson / Liked to use dashes / Instead of full stops. // Nowadays, faced with such / Idiosyncrasy, / Critics and editors / Send for the cops.”).

[Izzy Scott]

not my favourite wendy cope collection but still so good

[James Murphy]

You wait for the title poem, the one with the intriguing title. Cope gives it to you on the last page:

It was a dream I had last week
And some kind of record seemed vital.
I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem
But I love the title.

That's it. Lame and not worth the wait or the joke. But everything before is marvelous. I personally like the villanelle, and she gives us several. I like her take-offs on other poets: here's Eliot, here's Dickinson and Wordsworth. Cope is a funny poet, not afraid to poke fun at herself and at some giants of poetry. The opening poem of the series about and by Jake Strugnell I thought to be a parody of Philip Larkin because it incorporates biographical elements pertaining to him. But I think Strugnell is an alter ego for Cope herself, even while the verse reputed to be his is Larkin-like. In his voice Cope tries on different poetic forms, like the sonnet and the haiku, and I believe she also tries on Ted Hughes. This is a well-known volume of poetry. It made Cope's reputation as shining as it is today, and I'm glad I could finally come to it because it's not only impressive in terms of the craft she demonstrates, it's lots of fun, too.

[RatGrrrl]

This was an one of five incredibly kind and generous additional poetry books an eBay seller added to my package as I had bought a bunch of things from them. Read as part of the Sealy Challenge.

I actually dozed off on the couch reading this last night, whixh was actually lovely and not a negative reflection on the writing at all.

I definitely enjoyed this acerbic send up of both the classics and the classic forms. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I were more familiar with the classics and those being aped and roasted, but this was definitely a fun read.

The title poem being the last in the book and being purely about the title is very funny.

[Colin]

I find it hard to believe that I bought this book almost forty years ago, harder still to realise that Wendy Cope is now eighty. I was prompted to revisit her first collection of poems by the recent purchase of her Collected Poems, a hefty volume of some 600 pages. It’s still as fresh and funny, artful and moving as when I first encountered it and her long subsequent career won’t have been a surprise to many who read the book back in 1986. Cope was already a master of poetic form - there are villanelles, triolets, rondeaux, sonnets, limericks and more. She also had (and still has) a wicked skill with poetic parody as evidenced by many examples here, although none can beat God and the Jolly Bored Bog-Mouse which manages to parody Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin, Seamus Heaney and Charles Causley in a single poem.

[aga]

I've discovered Wendy Cope through uncarley's youtube videos (she, booksbyleynes and sunny book nook are the queens of booktube, don't @ me). She's the first poet I've read of my own accord in ages.
I loved some of the poems, mostly the funny and sad ones. I didn't really get the ones in which she parodies the male poetry cannon, but that's because I know nothing about it. I'll be reading more Cope in the future.

[Gerry]

A super poetry book with pastiches of many of the great poets such as T S Eliot, William Wordsworth and Allen Ginsberg but overall enjoyable like a modern day Thomas Hood.

I particularly liked the poem 'Emily Dickinson'.

[Caroline]

Thanks to Warwick for bringing this to my attention. So many different things here, all enjoyable.

[Lucy]

Wendy cope supremacy.
Library procrastination is starting to get out of hand, might have to delete goodreads.

[Amy Biggart]

Wendy Cope has such a smart sense of humor, it’s a delight to read her poetry. I think as it compares to Serious Concerns, another of hers I’ve read, this one was a bit harder to engage with. I’m too much of a poetry novice to know if it was too highly referential of 1980’s England, if my American-ness was a blocker, or if it in fact wasn’t as well crafted as Serious Concerns (or perhaps it was just more complex poetry in this one). There were still some gems in here, just fewer ones that made me laugh out loud.

[Lulufrances]

Multiple editions of this were tucked away, unsorted, in one of my favourite secondhand bookshops in a lovely seaside town in Suffolk. I read a couple of poems on the spot and some lines and passages reminded me of a friend, whom I am going to pass this on to, so I bought it.

Brilliant and witty and Wendy Cope will have to be read more by future moi.
Just my cup of tea. (Cocoa?)

[Morgan Holdsworth]

As part of my new years resolution to read 5 poems a day I picked this up and Wendy Cope is truly a wonderful poet. If you like somewhat humorous poetry definitely give her works a read, this collection is full of funny little poems perfect for a short read. My favourites were ‘An all purpose poem for state occasions’, ‘9: spring onions’, ‘Giving up smoking’ and ‘Manifesto’.

[Eloise]

Funny and clever and somehow much more serious than I expected (although ending the collection with the titular poem was the chef's kiss joyful ending.)

"For he sometimes makes me sleep on the wrong side of my own bed."

Eff me up, Wendy Cope. One million stars.

[Stephen Robert Kuta]

I read this many years ago, and remember it well. This book of verse is an enjoyable read.

[Caleb Barron]

Wendy Cope's wit and playfulness shine in this collection. She's constantly finding ways to surprise and delight you with words. Will return to this often I imagine.

[zb]

Really didn’t work for me; I should’ve known better as Serious Concerns also didn’t click at all.

[Georgia]

Yayyy thank you Poppy for lending me this I really enjoyed it

[Mali]

3.5

[Jane Branson]

Wendy Cope is famously rather grumpy. Maybe she really doesn't want to be Poet Laureate, and maybe she has a point about her poems being available for free on the internet. Anyway, I think her grumpiness is hilarious. Also, she has an amazing way with jarring juxtapositions and edgy parodies. I'd read a lot of these poems before, but I'm not very good at reading poetry collections. I'm glad I've read this one properly now. There are so many lines that would sum it up, but I'll choose these, on the benefits of reading poetry on trains:

"Recent research in railway sociology
Shows it's best to read the stuff aloud:
A few choice bits from Motion's new anthology
And you'll be lonelier than any cloud.
This strategem's a godsend to recluses
And demonstrates that poetry has its uses."

[Kara Naomi]

Love love love Wendy. Haven’t laughed out loud at so many poems in one collection before - she’s so clever.

Only four stars because I think I need some to percolate a bit longer, and a couple relied on a fair amount of contextual info which I couldnt be bothered to google so I will need to re-read to draw a more certain conclusion.

[Elizabeth]

It's fashionable to be snobby about Wendy Cope. But she makes me smile, over and over again. Why ask for more?

[Emma Darragh]

I am in love with Wendy Cope's poetry.

[Ai-sha]

picked this up on a whim from the library yesterday and enjoyed giggling through the witty poems last night (raucous Friday night for a woman in her twenties)