Not My Best Side

The English poet U. A. Fanthorpe (1929–2009) liked to call herself "a middle-aged drop-out," having abandoned a successful teaching career to focus on her poetry, even concealing her Oxford degree so she could find paid work—at Hoover, then as a hospital receptionist. This gave her a chance to study people, which is what her wonderful poems do best.

Fanthorpe's verse is instinctively English, often very moving, frequently funny, invariably rooted in her faith. Fanthorpe and her partner, Rosie Bailey, became Quakers in the 1980s. These poems touch on spiritual matters, dramatize Bible stories, and are underpinned by a profound moral sense. Fanthorpe does not judge; rather, she watches, records, and allows her words to do their work.

When her first small-press collection appeared in 1978, it was an unexpected hit. Penguin brought out an early Selected Poems in 1986, and her poetry began to reach beyond the usual readership, praised by celebrities and even politicians. She found herself on the school exam syllabus, then receiving the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. She was the first woman to be nominated for the Oxford Professor of Poetry. Despite Fanthorpe's domestic success, her work is still largely unfamiliar beyond the UK. In this volume, Not My Best Side: Selected Poems, distinguished poet John Greening selects poems from across her books, adding an introduction and notes. Oxford's current Professor of Poetry, A. E. Stallings, also contributes a brilliant preface.