Roger McGough - Poetry

Poetry

As a poet, McGough came to national prominence through the publication of The Mersey Sound in 1967. The Mersey Sound is an anthology of poetry by three Liverpool poets: McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri. It went on to sell over 500,000 copies, becoming one of the bestselling poetry anthologies of all time; remaining in continuous publication, it was revised in 1983 and again in 2007. The title of the anthology was a concious association of the three Liverpool poets with the musical phenomenon caused by the eruption of The Beatles and associated bands from the same city, known collectively as the "Mersey Sound", on the world.

One of McGough's early poems, Let Me Die a Youngman's Death, was included in a BBC anthology of the British nation's hundred favourite poems. McGough has been nicknamed 'the patron saint of poetry' by Carol Ann Duffy.

The poetry of McGough has been the subject of academic study. It has been characterised, at least from its early examples, as being reliant on play with words and their meanings. It has also been noted to exhibit a stylised wit, and, at times, a sadness based on themes of lost youth, unfulfilled relationships and the downside of city life. The form of some of his verse, it has been claimed, has been influenced by his experience of writing song lyrics. A major critical examination of McGough's poetry was published in 2006, authored by Ben Wright. The author's stated aim was "to examine and evaluate the accessibility of Roger McGough's message to a wide, general readership, as well as appraising it by the most rigorous literary standards." McGough's popularity, commercial success, use of humour and the lack of pretension of his verse has tended to restrict appreciation of his work as "serious poetry." Wright's study challenges this under-appreciation.