Heaven on Earth: 101 Happy Poems

by Wendy Cope (Editor)

In a gloriously exuberant anthology, Wendy Cope sets out to prove that misery doesn't have all the best lines. What makes us happy? In her introduction the editor says of the subject-matter of these 'A lot of them are about love - of lovers, spouses, children. There are also poems about places, the beauty of the natural world and the changing seasons, about company and solitude, about music, books, food and drink, and the pleasure of taking a shower. And there are some religious poems.' Among the more surprising items are the Chinese Po Chu-l on the advantages of baldness, the eighteenth-century John Dyer on the kindly behaviour of his ox, and an unusually cheerful Thomas Hardy enjoying the sight of seven women laughing as they stagger, arm in arm, down an icy hill, Catullus, Chaucer, Clare, Dickinson, Betjeman and Larkin are among the contributors who help to demonstrate that people who believe that 'happiness writes white' have got it wrong.

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

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

[Zanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wendy Cope compiles poems of joy, pleasure and contentment from a range of authors including Betjeman who regales us with seaside golf, Simon Armitage (on a cricket catch), Carol Ann Duffy (about a sleeping child) and Seamus Heaney (on a rain stick).

As with any anthology of different authors I enjoyed some more than others. Unexpected delights included Connie Bensley's poem 'Soothsayer', a hymn to the tainted pleasures of shopping and the power of good lingerie. Christopher Reid's poem 'The South' captures the bliss of a sun-soaked holiday. Many of these poems have an ecstatic religious tone and I struggled with these, but Paul Durcan's account of a Father's Day Mass achieved a hard-won state of transcendence through earthbound humanity and consciousness.

Soothsayer
by Connie Bensley

I'm sure you will be very happy with this bra, Madam,
She said, her manicure seriously red as she tapped the till.
Of course I did not ask her how she knew.

Who is rude enough to challenge the clairvoyant,
the diagnostician, the prognosticator?
But she was right. As soon as she folded up

the lacy garmet - its ticket swinging insouciantly -
and handed it across the counter
in its raspberry-pink bag, my spirits rose.

Outside, traffic parted for me like the Red Sea:
the sun appeared and gilded passers-by
who nervously returned my random smiles.

The days, the weeks, wore on in a numinous haze
of goodwill. Who knows why? Be cynical if you must:
I only record the sequence of events.

[Amy]

I enjoyed some of the poems, others I didn't like but that is always inevitable with poetry collections and poetry in general.

It made me feel kind of happy though which is probably its aim but it also took me way longer to read than normal, partly because I am not a fan of older poetry. So...

Overall, it was not that bad for a book I didn't mean to buy in the first place!

[Frank Callaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea how long this book has been sitting, part read, by my chair. It's one of those books that from time to time, I dip into and read a few pages.
I enjoy the poetry of Wendy Cope, and although this is not her poetry, but that selected by her, I guess it reflects her taste and style.
It contains something for everybody, and for all moods. There's always something to find to lift the spirits, or maybe, even, deepen the melancholy.
A super little book. Not a lot more to say about it really. An eclectic collection of all sorts of poetry, sort of arranged in themes, and a delightful companion.
Loved it.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, poet Wendy Cope has collected one hundred and one poems that center on lots of different aspects of happiness---nature and love, of course, but also the joy a monk gets from observing his cat, the delight a man feels while hearing church music, Mary Lou's fun in wearing red boots.

Here's one I love:

Jenny Kissed Me
Leigh Hunt

Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I’m growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.

[Rosanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for a book by Wendy, I instead found this at the library. Very enjoyable and, as the title suggest, made me happy.

My favourites:

Held - Michael Donaghy (p35)
My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is - sir Edward dyer (p45)
The Rain Stick - Seamus Heaney (p62)
His Grange, or private wealth - Robbert Herrick (p66)
Spring Hail - Les Murray (p93)
Toast - Sheenagh Pugh (p103)
Untitled - Ōshima Ryōta (p108)
On Taking a Bachelor’s Degree - Christopher Smart (p113)
Red Boots - Kit Wright (p132)

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the theme of this collection as I think that it's a common misconception, particularly among poets, that misery is the only profound subject matter. However, I would have loved it more if it had included some of Cope's own poems, especially because I see her as the queen of 'happy' poetry.

[StephenWoolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some great ones, some clunkers.
"Poem of solitary delights", "Soothsayer", "Intimacy", "On his baldness", "held", "on her way to recovery" were the ones I liked best if I trust the pencil marks I left.

[Miru · Rating 5 out of 5]

these saved me from the pits of despair

[Sibyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather a patchy anthology.

At times I felt I was wading through too many stodgy undistinguished rhymed poems from the 18th and 19th centuries. And given that this is a short anthology I couldn't justify the inclusion one or two decidedly unfunny bits of 'light' verse. The decision to arrange the poems alphabetically, in accordance with their writers' surnames led to some odd juxtapositions.

I felt this selection might please someone who really didn't like much contemporary poetry, but would sample a few pieces gingerly, on the grounds that it might be good for them.

Nevertheless there were some delights. For example the gorgeous poems by Les Murray and Derek Walcott.

But if I was planning to buy - as opposed to borrowing - an anthology, I'd opt for something by Bloodaxe. Where the selection would be more generously eclectic.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully diverse anthology, full of joy, unexpected points of pleasure and some rare foreign poetry, as well as traditional verse from across the globe.
An absolute pleasure - my favourite poem in here is about teh joy of baldness, something which is very dear to my heart and which filled me with happiness.
A collection I will keep returning to.

[Jo]

probably my favourite anthology - also complied by one of my favourite poets