Journal Article

'Looking worse and worse and worse': Humour in the poetry of Fleur Adcock

Lorraine Mariner

2018

Overview

At a reading for Poetry East at the London Buddhist Centre on 6th December 2014, Fleur Adcock was invited to read the work of other poets whom she admired. One of the poems she chose was ‘I Remember’ by Stevie Smith. Following the reading, when Adcock was interviewed by the poet and Buddhist monk Maitreyabandhu, she described going to hear Stevie Smith read in the 1960s, saying how Smith was ‘very funny [...] very tragic’, and Maitreyabandhu pointed out the tragicomic tone of some of Adcock’s own poems. Adcock admitted that once she had got over being ‘solemn and obsessed’ in her youthful poems she had allowed herself to be funny. What first attracted me to Adcock’s poetry was her humour and in this article I will investigate how she uses humour, which has been little studied in her work. I will also examine how reviewers have responded to this aspect of her poetry.

• Publisher: Victoria University of Wellington,Victoria University of Wellington, School of English, Film, Theatre, and Media Studies
• Subject: Absurdism / Adcock, Fleur / Authorship / Children / Death & dying / Emotions / Erotica / Evaluation / Humor / Humorous poetry, New Zealand / Interviewing / Larkin, Philip (1922-1985) / Library collections / Literary devices / Literary influences / Narrative techniques / New Zealand literature / Poetics / Poetry / Poets / Psychological aspects / Publishing / Publishing industry / Readers / Reading / Womens literature / Youthfulness