5 Comments

Thanks for reminding me of Roger McGough, I remember listening to his poetry in the long ago 60’s!

I have come late to recording poetry & the writings of others that I can relate to, mainly to remind me that that there have always been good people in this sad world.

Would that their voices could still be heard above the hate & violence.

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Thanks for this heartfelt reminder of what a love poet MacNeice can be. There’s less romance in his later long poem, Autumn Sequel (1954), which everyone says is awful, but which I really admire: he’s wonderfully honest about middle age, full of inventive rhyming, and sharply observant of Britain in the Fifties.

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MacNeice could be quite hilarious too…the Iceland Diaries spring to mind. But I agree with you about the “littered with kisses” line. For some reason it reminds me of the first snow.

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Oct 6Liked by Sarah Harkness

My mum had a copy of The Mersey Sound and I read it in my teens. I thought it was fantastic. The three of them were so good.

Great to learn more about Louis MacNeice, too. Thanks, I enjoyed this!

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I think Brian Patten might need a whole Substack...

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