The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry was a poetry anthology edited by Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion, and published in 1982 by Penguin Books.
The traditional claims made—and recognised as such in the introduction—about a new British poetry generation taking over the "mainstream", were greeted in this case by more than the usual controversy. Poets in the 1962 Al Alvarez anthology, The New Poetry, were excluded. The inclusion of Irish poet Seamus Heaney led to him warning - "Be advised, my passport's green/ No glass of ours was ever raised/ To toast the Queen"
Poets included in the book were:
- Fleur Adcock - Douglas Dunn - James Fenton - Tony Harrison - Seamus Heaney - Michael Longley - Derek Mahon - Medbh McGuckian - Paul Muldoon - Tom Paulin - Craig Raine - Christopher Reid - Carol Rumens - Peter Scupham - Penelope Shuttle - Anne Stevenson - David Sweetman - Jeffrey Wainwright - Hugo Williams
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