Born on 7th February 1946, Brian Patten was brought up by his mother and maternal grandparents in Wavertree Vale, a working-class area of Liverpool. An important early influence was his neighbour, Frieda, whose book-filled house “became a sanctuary from the crowded and claustrophobic world in which I lived” (Patten, xviii).
Patten began writing poetry at 14. In an interview in 2001, he claimed that “I first realised I could write when I wrote a poem to get off the cross-country run at school” (Wade, 104). French poets such as Rimbaud and Apollinaire were influences: he was “attracted by the immediacy of the language of these poets, and what he saw as their direct relevance to ordinary experience” as well as their youth (Cookson, 5). Academia has never appealed to Patten
1690 words
Citation: Taylor, Helen. "Patten, Brian". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 March 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5936, accessed 23 November 2024.]
