Wendy Cope: letter perfect

~ jama
“Woman Writing Letter at Desk” by Henry Clive (ca. 1940s).
EXCHANGE OF LETTERS
by Wendy Cope

'Man who is a serious novel would like to hear from a woman who is a poem' (classified advertisement, New York Review of Books).

Dear Serious Novel,

I am a terse assured lyric with impeccable rhythmic flow, some apt and original metaphors, and a music that is all my own. Some people say I am beautiful.

My vital statistics are eighteen lines, divided into three-line stanzas, with an average of four words per line.

My first husband was a cheap romance; the second was Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanac. Most of the men I meet nowadays are autobiographies, but a substantial minority are books about photography or trains.

I have always hoped for a relationship with an upmarket work of fiction. Please write and tell me more about yourself.

         Yours intensely,
         Song of the First Snowdrop

Dear Song of the First Snowdrop,

Many thanks for your letter. You sound like just the kind of poem I am hoping to find. I’ve always preferred short, lyrical women to the kind who go on for page after page.

I am an important 150,000 word comment on the dreams and dilemmas of twentieth-century Man. It took six years to attain my present weight and stature but all the twenty-seven publishers I have so far approached have failed to understand me. I have my share of sex and violence and a very good joke in chapter nine, but to no avail. I am sustained by the belief that I am ahead of my time.

Let’s meet as soon as possible. I am longing for you to read me from cover to cover and get to know my every word.

         Yours impatiently,
         Death of the Zeitgeist

~ from Serious Concerns (Faber and Faber, 1992)

“Writing a Letter” by Roeland Kneepkens (2013).

*

“Snowdrops with a Burst of Spring” by Kerry Bennett.

Ba-da-bing! How clever and delightfully urbane is that?

Love Wendy Cope’s dry compressed wit and take-no-prisoners precision as she carves out the identities of these two correspondents.

I’ve always found epistolary poems interesting; maybe because it’s fun to read other people’s mail — kind of like eavesdropping on an intimate conversation.

Cope’s comparison of men to certain literary genres is brilliant. Haven’t we all met an ‘autobiography’ (they’re all about themselves!)? And what do you think of the Serious Novel’s reply? I don’t think he would appeal to me — sounds a bit pretentious. He considers himself “important” and “ahead of his time.” At 130,000 words, he prefers someone who would not only read him cover to cover, but hang on his every word.

Still, she’s no shrinking violet herself, but quite self assured with “an impeccable rhythmic flow” and a “music that is all my own.” Maybe these two would really hit it off; the terse with the verbose. After all, they say opposites attract.

It’s amusing to speculate, isn’t it? Cope’s poem is an irresistible invitation to analyze the dynamics of male-female relationships and revel in metaphor.

What do you make of this poem? Do you personally know any “upmarket works of fiction”?

*

🎉 BOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER! 🎈

We are pleased to announce that the lucky person who has won a brand new copy of THE FABULOUS FANNIE FARMER: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook by Emma Bland Smith and Susan Reagan is:

*🥁 drum roll, please 🥁*

*** 🎺 trumpet fanfare 🎺 ***

🎂

🍓

🍗

🍪

🥧

🌺 JOANNE CONTE!! 🐻

🍰 Congratulations, Joanne!! 🍓

👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

We know you will thoroughly enjoy the book!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. Enjoyed all your comments.

Next giveaway: Tuesday, February 20. 🙂

*

Lovely and talented Margaret Simon is hosting the Roundup at Reflections on the Teche. Swing on by to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this week. Have a nice weekend!

*Copyright © 2024 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

27 thoughts on “Wendy Cope: letter perfect”

  2. Oooh – tantalizing! My reaction was in the same vein as yours, I think – not sure I’d be particularly attracted to either of the letter-penners, but I love this whole concept & creative approach. (My favorite part is the classified ad itself.) Thanks for sharing. Victoria Magazine has a new volume on “The Art of Correspondence,” and I’m tempted….

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I love the art as well. Spring is definitely near, because we have some snow here in NYC but a daffodil I planted in my yard is coming up. I also love epistolary stories! I just saw that I am the winner of the lovely Fannie Farmer book! Thank you and have a nice weekend!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Our daffodils are popping up too! We had a little snow the last two days but it quickly melted away (not complaining!). Congrats again on winning the giveaway!

      Like

  4. It is such fun to read of someone who writes from a lively personality. Humans could learn from those inanimate objects who have a way all their own, but still as near to humans as can happen, right? Thanks, Jama, love reading these!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. A clever exchange, indeed. It makes me think of doing an exercise with children in which they write letters from the POV of the book rather than a book review.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Long live “dry compressed wit!” It’s my favorite and possibly my strongest evidence that I have British roots. LOL. I’m delighted to learn of Wendy Cope and must find more of her work. I wonder what my husband is…possibly and instruction manual. But, I would be a dark comedy possibly. So much fun spending time with your post. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. I LOVE this! I feel we get to know both of these works of literature in a very short space! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Cope’s correspondence poem is hilarious. I’ve always loved the idea of inhabiting an unexpected character (animal/vegetable/mineral) but taking it a step further to a literary genre is off-the-charts ‘novel’. Thanks for sharing this poem, Jama. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Jama, this was so fun and made me smile from start to finish! (I know a few autobiographies … but I always enjoy a chat with a cookbook!) 

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Serious Novel’s original post would most definitely have attracted me and prompted me to reply, if I were Song of the First Snowdrop. However, like you, Jama, I found his follow-up to be pretentious (and autobiography-leaning.) 🙂 I would have swiped whichever direction I needed to swipe to move on. 😀

    Loved this, thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. And the nerve of him to say he doesn’t like women who go on and on, when that is precisely what he does! Nothing worse than someone who hogs the conversation with boring monologues . . . the type who loves to hear himself talk and never listens.

      Like

Comments are closed.