Background
Patten, Brian was born on February 7, 1946 in Liverpool, England. Son of Ireen Stella Bevan.
(Ben and Mary have got an embarrassing problem, their pare...)
Ben and Mary have got an embarrassing problem, their parents - they're impossible!Ben and Mary's parents are a total embarrassment, whether they're at school for parents' day or at home wanting to become green. And now Mr Norm has entered a poetry competition and claims he's won - surely that's impossible!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1406321869/?tag=2022091-20
('The Mersey Sound is an attempt to introduce contemporary...)
'The Mersey Sound is an attempt to introduce contemporary poetry to the general reader by publishing representative work by each of three modern poets in a single volume, in each case the selection has been made to illustrate the poet's characteristics in style and form'. With this modest brief, The Mersey Sound was conceived and first published in 1967. An anthology which features Roger McGough's work, alongside that of Brian Patten and Adrian Henri (The Liverpool Poets), it went on to sell over half a million copies and to become the bestselling poetry anthology of all time. Irreverent, sardonic, funny and sad, these are the poems that echo the mood of the sixties. A selection of the early work of three Liverpool poets who brought poetry down from the dusty shelf and onto the street.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140585346/?tag=2022091-20
(Hilarious, lyrical, outrageous and serious poems all rub ...)
Hilarious, lyrical, outrageous and serious poems all rub shoulders in this collection. Naughty children with nasty habits, cartoon heroes that come to life, lonely caretakers, unhappy ghosts, fantastical creatures with crazy names, giants, goblins, vampires, mermaids ... there's never a dull moment in this marvellously quirky and refreshing brew!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140319042/?tag=2022091-20
(Ben and Mary's parents have decided to become ecologists ...)
Ben and Mary's parents have decided to become ecologists and are getting it all wrong. First they ditch the television and now they're eating yak cheese. If only their parents could go back to being normally impossible. Then Mary has an idea.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0744559545/?tag=2022091-20
(Jimmy's adventures begin when he meets Mrs Battyhats, who...)
Jimmy's adventures begin when he meets Mrs Battyhats, who has the most wonderful collection of hats, and Uncle Elliot who loves exploring. Soon he finds himself crossing the Indian Ocean in a balloon, and rescuing Mrs Battyhats from the Abominable Snowman. Brian Patten is a popular Liverpool poet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140323953/?tag=2022091-20
(A collection of poetry casting light upon the world we li...)
A collection of poetry casting light upon the world we live in, and upon the darker corners of the self. The book tries to make sense of a world which is chaotic with unemployment, in-and-out affairs, street violence, hip vicars and terrorism among many other themes.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0006547702/?tag=2022091-20
(The Mersey Sound is an anthology of poems by Liverpool po...)
The Mersey Sound is an anthology of poems by Liverpool poets Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri first published in 1967, when it launched the poets into "considerable acclaim and critical fame".It went on to sell over 500,000 copies, becoming one of the bestselling poetry anthologies of all time. The poems are characterised by "accessibility, relevance and lack of pretension",as well as humour, liveliness and at times melancholy. The book was, and continues to be, widely influential with its direct and often witty language, urban references such as plastic daffodils and bus conductors, and frank, but sensitive (and sometimes romantic) depictions of intimacy.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140421033/?tag=2022091-20
(Based on poems from the author's book, Gargling With Jell...)
Based on poems from the author's book, Gargling With Jelly. Sadly, everything in Jimmy's world is grey and boring, because of the evil Doctor Sensible and her terrible medicine which inoculates people against fun. The doctor is poised to sell her medicine worldwide, with only one condition: she must get Jimmy, the last child in Britian to resist her, to take it within four days. He refuses, and as the deadline approaches Dr Sensible becomes more and more cunning...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0573050929/?tag=2022091-20
Patten, Brian was born on February 7, 1946 in Liverpool, England. Son of Ireen Stella Bevan.
Born near the Liverpool docks, Patten 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 on popular music One of his first articles was on Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, two popular-oriented Liverpool poets who later joined Patten in a best-selling poetry anthology called, drawing popular attention to his own contemporary collections (1967) and Notes to the Hurrying Manitoba (1969). Patten received early encouragement from Philip Larkin.
The 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.
Tribune has described Patten as "the master poet of his genre, taking on the intricacies of love and beauty with a totally new approach, new for him and for contemporary poetry." Charles Causley once 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." Patten writes extensively for children as well as adults. He has been described as a highly engaging performer, and gives readings frequently. Over the years he has read alongside such poets as Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, Stevie Smith, Laurie Lee and Robert Lowell.
His books have in recent years been translated into Italian, Spanish, German and Polish.
Together with Roger McGough and the late Adrian Henri, he was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
('I wanted your soft verges But you gave me the hard shoul...)
('The Mersey Sound is an attempt to introduce contemporary...)
(When young Danny Harris knocks a witch into a ditch, she ...)
(Ben and Mary have got an embarrassing problem, their pare...)
(The Mersey Sound is an anthology of poems by Liverpool po...)
(Jimmy's adventures begin when he meets Mrs Battyhats, who...)
(Unfeasibly funny sequel to the popular Impossible Parents...)
(A collection of poems from the author of the poetry colle...)
(A collection of poetry casting light upon the world we li...)
(This witty collection of poems for children is the sequel...)
(Hilarious, lyrical, outrageous and serious poems all rub ...)
(Ben and Mary's parents have decided to become ecologists ...)
(Hilarious, lyrical, outrageous and serious poems all rub ...)
(Based on poems from the author's book, Gargling With Jell...)
(London published Children's Fiction)
(Vanishing Trick Brian Patten)
Member Chelsea Arts Club.