Wendy Cope Biography

British poet, born in Erith, Kent, educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She became a schoolteacher in London. Her early publications include Across the City (1980) and Hope and the 42 … (1984). Her Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (1986) enjoyed considerable success; the book is most notable for its many parodies of the works of well-known poets, including T. S. Eliot, Ted Hughes, Craig Raine, and Seamus Heaney. In these, the highly developed technical facility and wit Cope possesses are masterfully combined with her sensitivity to the styles of her subjects, producing results that have earned her comparisons with Max Beerbohm. Her subsequent publications include Men and Their Boring Arguments (1988) and Serious Concerns (1992), which features more reflective poetry on a wide range of topics. Cope also edited Is That the New Moon? (1989, illustrated by Christine Roche), an anthology of works by modern women poets. Twiddling Your Thumbs (1988) is a work for children illustrated by Christine Roche.