Patten, Brian (1946– )

English poet and playwright. One of the ‘Liverpool Poets’ with Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, he collaborated on the highly successful anthology Penguin Modern Poets No. 10 (1967, 1974, 1983), named the Mersey Sound. Considered the closest of the three to earlier English tradition, his collections include Notes to the Hurrying Man (1969) and Walking Out: The Early Poems of Brian Patten (1970).

Never academically pompous, his The Eminent Professors and the Nature of Poetry as Enacted Out By Members of the Poetry Seminar One Rainy Evening (1972) gently mocks literary pretension. Later volumes include The Unreliable Nightingale (1973), Love Poems (1981), Storm Damage (1988), Grinning Jack (1990), and Armada (1996). He has also written for the theatre and poetry for children, including Gargling with Jelly (1985) and Juggling with Gerbils (2000).