Complete Verse of Noel Coward (eBook)

Three volumes of his verse were published in Coward's lifetime, but while The Complete Verse features all of the work from these three volumes it also presents previously unpublished material for the very first time.
Coward expert Barry Day has collected together the additional verse which Coward sent to family and friends and which paints a vivid portrait of his more private life. For anyone who has enjoyed the Diaries or the Letters of Noel Coward, The Complete Verse offers further enjoyment and appreciation of Coward's wit, insatiable interest in people and skilful rendering of his public and private lives. Day's linking narrative situates the verse in the events of Coward's life.

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The Complete Verse of No l Coward brings together the three volumes of verse produced during his lifetime together with previously unpublished material for the very first time. For the legions of fans of The Master, this definitive collection of Coward's verse writings will prove irresistible. 'Throughout most of the years of my life, since approximately 1908, I have derived a considerable amount of private pleasure from writing verse . . . It is an inherent instinct in the English character.' Beginning with his youthful verse experiments, The Complete Verse arranges in themed chapters Coward's prolific public and personal verse writings. Chapters bring together his verse on a wide variety of subjects including war, the theatre, love, friends, travel, and God and the infinite. It features the satirical 'cod-pieces' - Chelsea Buns and Spangled Unicorn - and the verse collected in the 1967 volume Not Yet the Dodo. But alongside these are the verses sent to friends and family over many years, in letters, memos and cables, which paint a vivid portrait of his more private life and are published here for the first time. With a linking commentary by editor Barry Day and sprinkled with illustrations throughout, The Complete Verse offers to Coward readers further enjoyment and appreciation of his wit, insatiable interest in people and skilful rendering of his public and private lives.