If I Don't Know

The comedy and formal skills of Wendy Cope's poetry is much in evidence in this collection of poems. But there is also a softer, more lyrical voice, as Wendy writes about the contentment and the poignancy of having something to lose.

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The comic brilliance and formal skills for which Wendy Cope's poetry is known (eg MAKING COCOA FOR KINGSLEY AMIS and SERIOUS CONCERNS is much in evidence here. But there is also a softer, more lyrical voice in some of the poems, as Cope writes about contentment and the poignancy of having something to lose. The collection ends with a longer poem, a moving narrative called The Teacher's Tale.