British Poetry

I have a friend trying to learn English and loves poetry. I would like to buy him a couple of books to help but can’t think of many. I like Stevie Smith or Possibly Spike Milligan, I thought they might not be too difficult, but who else?
So, who is your favourite British poet, living or dead and can you recommend a good book?

Ta

Sassoon, Owen.

Like music, it’s purely down to personal taste.
As above, get a couple of compilations and let him dive in!

Simon Armitage

tony harrison – bit heavy on dialect maybe

Then: William Wordsworth.

Now: Don Paterson

compilations definitely the way to go. in which case my first stop would be the rattle bag ed by seamus heaney and ted hughes. it’s been in print forever, is ideal as an intro for schools and therefore would be excellent for an english learner.

as anothe plus it’s bound to have at least some poems in it translated form whatever language he/she speaks. as a learner this allows you to get into the mechanics of a language, esp if you already like poetry.

favourite (arguably) british poet – kenneth white

+1 Rattle Bag

2nd Simon Armitage, in particular his translation of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight.

Favourite is Yeats, then I suppose any of the Modernists; Ezra Pound et al. Blow his mind with a bit of Byron, he’ll thank you later. I suppose most modern British poetry has come out of the ‘make it accessible, make it personal’ mould, nothing wrong with that mind, but Heaney, and our current Poet Laureate, carol Ann Duffy should be worth a look, particularly her World’s Wife series.

William Blake

Daljit Nagra

Second Don Paterson. D.J. Enright has a nice turn of phrase. Also Gary Snyder, Roger Mcgough, Benjamin Zephaniah, W.B. Yeats and John Hegley. Not forgetting Edward Lear.

A good compilation makes sense though.

What level is your friend’s English?