The Liverpool Poets are a number of influential 1960s poets from Liverpool, England, influenced by 1950s Beat poetry. They were involved in the 1960s Liverpool scene that gave rise to The Beatles, during a time when the city was termed by US beat poet Allen Ginsberg "the centre of the consciousness of the human universe".
Their work is characterised by its directness of expression, simplicity of language, suitability for live performance and concern for contemporary subjects and references. There is often humour, but the full range of human experience and emotion is addressed.
| “ | The kids didn't see this poetry with a capital p, they understood it as modern entertainment, as part of the pop-movement. (Roger McGough) | ” |
Contents |
The poets most commonly associated with this label are Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten. They were featured in a 1967 book The Liverpool Scene edited by Edward Lucie-Smith, with a blurb by Ginsberg and published by Donald Carroll.
Although he was born in Sussex, Adrian Mitchell shared many of the concerns of the Liverpool poets and is often linked with them in critical discussion.
Other related poets include the Londoner Pete Brown (who wrote lyrics for Cream), Pete Morgan and Alan Jackson (both associated with the 1960s Edinburgh poetry scene), Tom Pickard and Barry MacSweeney (both from Newcastle), Spike Hawkins, Jim Bennett, Heather Holden, Mike Evans, Pete Roche and Henry Graham.
The poets generally came from a working class background and went to art college rather than university. There was a strong allegiance with pop music, and the values and effectiveness of that in reaching out to a wide audience informed the poetry. Readings took place in a pub or club environment.
The anthology The Mersey Sound was published by Penguin in 1967, containing the poems of Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, and has remained in print ever since, selling in excess of 500,000 copies. It brought the three poets to "considerable acclaim and critical fame",[1] and has been widely influential. In 2002 they were given the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
The Liverpool Scene was a poetry band, which included Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Mike Evans, Mike Hart, Percy Jones and Brian Dodson. It grew out of the success of The Incredible New Liverpool Scene, a CBS LP featuring Henri and McGough reading their work, with accompaniment by the guitarist Roberts. Liverpool DJ John Peel, who was then working on the pirate radio station Radio London, picked up on the LP and featured it on his influential late-night Perfumed Garden show. After Radio London closed down, Peel visited Liverpool and met the band; as a consequence, they were featured in session on his BBC Top Gear and Night Ride shows, and in 1968 he produced their first LP. Four LPs were issued with Henri's poetry heavily featured.
Despite Peel's support the albums achieved little success, although the band did become popular on the UK university and college circuit. Their public performances included a 1969 tour when they opened for Led Zeppelin; they also toured the USA but did not attract much acclaim from US critics and audiences. Henri was described in performance as "bouncing thunderously and at risk to audience and fellow performers, the stage vibrating out of rhythm beneath him."[2]
The albums were:
There were at least 3 "best of" albums and a single Love Is/Woo-Woo.
The best-known band to emerge was The Scaffold (1963–1974), which featured John Gorman, Mike McCartney (brother of Paul McCartney) and Roger McGough. Initially Adrian Henri was a member, when they were known as The Liverpool, One Fat Lady, All Electric Show. ("One Fat Lady" is the bingo term for 8, and they mostly lived in the Liverpool 8 district.)
In December 1967 Thank U Very Much (sung with a Liverpool accent) reached number 4 in the charts. A year later Lily the Pink reached number 1. Ringo Starr's bass drum was used; also featured were Jack Bruce from Cream, Graham Nash from The Hollies and Reg Dwight, later renaming himself Elton John. Both hits were in the spirit of cheery and humorous drinking songs.
A short-lived touring ensemble Grimms (1973-4) contained a changing cast of Adrian Henri, Brian Patten, Roger McGough, John Gorman, Mike McCartney, George `Zoot' Money, Neil Innes, Michael Giles, Kate Robbins, John Megginson, Andy Roberts, David Richards, Peter `Ollie' Halsall, Norman Smedles, Brian Jones, Ritchie Routledge, Valerie Movie, Gerry Conway, Pete Tatters and Timmy Donnell.
S.N. Radhika Lakshmi observes "the Liverpool poets' approach to poetry differs from that of other poets in that they consistently give the impression of being real people getting to grips with real and pressing situations." He continues:
Adrian Henri was described by Lucie-Smith as "the theoretician of the group" and asserted the need to be in touch with contemporary life, following T. S. Eliot's dictum "to purify the dialect of the tribe" and pointing out that his tribe included everyone from motor-bike specialists through consultant gynaecologists and Beatles fans to admen and peeping toms. His conclusion was:
The emergence of the Liverpool poets as pioneers of "pop poetry" in the UK engendered hostility from the literary establishment. Ian Hamilton said:
Alan Alvarez wrote about "the fashion for the diluted near-verse designed for mass readings and poetry-and-jazz concerts", linking it with pop lyrics as "the logic of a traditional form at its weariest", scolding "the poet resigns his responsibilities" and concluding, "what he offers is not poetry", a criticism remarkably similar to that made by F. Dalton in The Times Literary Supplement, on 31 June 1917 about "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr. Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry...".
The Liverpool poets paved the way for a subsequent flourishing of performance and pop-based work by poets such as John Cooper Clarke, Attila the Stockbroker, John Hegley and Benjamin Zephaniah.
The Liverpool poets were a strong influence on the late 1970s Kent group The Medway Poets (some of whom later founded the Stuckists art group), and were also involved in reading with them.
Alan Bleasdale said, "The poetry of Henri, Patten and McGough has stayed with me for 35 years. The beauty is its accessibility." [5]