London in Poetry and Prose

This anthology is a celebration of the city of London: ‘Noisy, stimulating, deadening, filthy, mysterious, tolerant, racist, crime-ridden, saint-haunted, ancient, up-to-the-minute, oppressive, liberating, crowded, lonely, addictive, and green-and-gardened, London is a microcosm of the World.’ These words, from Anna Adams’ Foreword, give a taste of the breadth of subject-matter and tone to be enjoyed in this magnificent illustrated anthology. Writing from the Middle Ages to the present is divided into themes including ‘The Weather in the Streets’, ‘The Poor and the Rich’, ‘The Countryman in Town’, ‘The Recent Wars’ and – unavoidably – ‘London Transport’.

Anna Adams was born in West London in 1926. She studied art at Harrow Art School and Hornsey College of Art, and in 1947 married the painter Norman Adams. She has worked as an art teacher, a casual farm labourer, a pottery designer, and latterly as a freelance writer, while still drawing, painting and making terracottas. She passed away on 3 October 2011.

Foreword	p. 9
Rise Up Thou Monstrous Ant-hill on the Plain	p. 17
It is fearful! It is mad!	p. 19
from Jerusalem	p. 20
London Inside and Outside	p. 21
Londoner	p. 23
The Burial of the Dead, from The Waste Land	p. 27
I behold London, from Jerusalem	p. 28
The Cities	p. 30
The Londoners	p. 31
A Description of a City Shower	p. 35
London Snow	p. 37
London Rain	p. 39
London Wind	p. 39
from Bleak House	p. 40
No!	p. 42
A Rainbow over Brewer Street	p. 43
The Cook's Tale	p. 47
The Chimney Sweeper, from Songs of Innocence	p. 49
The Chimney Sweeper, from Songs of Experience	p. 50
Verses made for Women who cry Apples, etc	p. 51
The Coming of Yams and Mangoes and Mountain Honey	p. 53
from The Confessions of an English Opium Eater	p. 55
from The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers	p. 57
from The Good Clerk	p. 58
Poverty in London, from London	p. 63
Holy Thursday, from Songs of Innocence	p. 64
Holy Thursday, from Songs of Experience	p. 65
The Little Crossing-Sweeper, from Bleak House	p. 66
Thirty Bob a Week	p. 68
The Bitter Cry of Outcast London	p. 71
A Complaint of the Decay of Beggars in the Metropolis	p. 72
Cashpoint Charlie	p. 74
Counting Song	p. 76
Fortunes of War	p. 78
How Pleasant it is to have Money	p. 81
Albion's Angel, from Europe	p. 87
from Peter Bell the Third: Hell	p. 89
from Italy Versus England	p. 93
The Coronation	p. 94
A Refusal	p. 96
from Jerusalem	p. 98
The Fires By the River	p. 101
London Bridge	p. 102
City River Blues	p. 104
Ballad of the Two Tapsters	p. 106
Crossing Hungerford Bridge	p. 109
Christmas in the Elgin Room	p. 113
from A Room of One's Own	p. 115
Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic	p. 118
At Tate Modern	p. 119
In the British Museum	p. 120
from The Prelude	p. 123
This is London!, from Autobiography	p. 124
The Melancholy Death of Lord Byron, from Autobiography	p. 126
Epiphany	p. 127
Island Man	p. 129
To a Tree in London	p. 130
Lucy's Letter	p. 131
The Reverie of Poor Susan	p. 131
London Stone	p. 137
A Soldier Dear to Us	p. 139
Troll's Courtship	p. 142
Rejoice in the Abyss	p. 144
Underground	p. 145
Musa Translated	p. 147
The Streets of Laredo	p. 149
Avondale	p. 153
Kew	p. 154
'All Canal Boat Cruises Start Here'	p. 155
Ode to a Nightingale	p. 157
from Natural History Letters	p. 160
London Magpie	p. 161
London Cousins	p. 162
Neighbours	p. 163
The Philosophers and the Pomes (part 1)	p. 164
My Father's Flat	p. 165
Beyond the Last Lamp	p. 166
Urban Grasses	p. 168
The Stations of King's Cross	p. 171
The Forest	p. 173
Ghost Stations	p. 175
from The Cap and Bells	p. 177
The Taxis	p. 179
from The Life of Dr. Johnson	p. 180
Late Train	p. 182
I Ain't Gauguin Blues	p. 184
Heartmarks	p. 185
from Confessions of an English Opium Eater	p. 189
Goodbye to London	p. 190
Notes on the Writers	p. 192
Acknowledgements	p. 204
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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London in Poetry and Prose

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials