Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4 educational, natural and social sciences ISSN 2181-1784 Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423 UDC code: 8294 A LIFE IN ART: ROGER MCGOUGH Khakimova Maksadkhon Dilshodbekovna - Teacher Departmentof integrated language skills, Uzbek state worls languages university, Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan Email: [email protected] Abstract: The article devoted to the study of distinctive features of The Liverpool poets, especially Roger McGough, known for his children's poetry as well as his adult writing and performances, McGough has written or appeared in more than 50 books. His recent poem Roots now surrounds the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, combining words, lines and images by London and Lincolnshire primary school children. He is a folk hero in his native Liverpool, where many of his poems and a work of art he created from donated old doors are part of the new Pier Head museum. Key words: The Liverpool poetry, dedication, anthology, Poetry society, Performance poetry, adult writing. Аннотация: Статья посвящена изучению отличительных черт ливерпульских поэтов, особенно Роджера Макгофа, известного своими детскими стихами, а также взрослыми произведениями и выступлениями. Макгоф написал или появился в более чем 50 книгах. Его недавнее стихотворение «Корни» теперь окружает рождественскую елку на Трафальгарской площади, сочетая слова, строки и изображения детей начальной школы Лондона и Линкольншира. Он - народный герой своего родного Ливерпуля, где многие его стихи и произведения искусства, созданные им из подаренных ему старых дверей, являются частью нового музея Пир-Хед. Ключевые слова: ливерпульская поэзия, посвящение, антология, Поэтическое общество, поэзия перформанса, письмо для взрослых. INTRODUCTION Roger McGough was an English poet, journalist and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please, as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one of the leading members of the Liverpool poets, a group of young poets influenced by Beat poetry and the popular music and culture of 1960s 433 w May 2021 www.oriens.uz Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4 educational, natural and social sciences ISSN 2181-1784 Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423 Liverpool. He is an honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University, fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and President of the Poetry Society. Shapcott said McGough was "a wonderful new president", praising his "strong connection with poetry readers, his generosity to other poets and the range and brio of his own work", while Duffy, the poet laureate, described him as a "national treasure". METHODS AND MATERIALS Known for his children's poetry as well as his adult writing and performances, McGough has written or appeared in more than 50 books. His recent poem Roots now surrounds the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree, combining words, lines and images by London and Lincolnshire primary school children. Roots by Roger McGough Like a poem around a tree Like a freedom flag unfurled A homeless refugee I have travelled round the world I remember slanted mountains with dusted white peaks ivory snow and emerald green trees. I remember the tickle going up my spine when birds settled on my branches. The soft footfall of a passing fox. I remember the sweet smell of pine-scented smoke wafting from chocolate log cabins. I remember thinking that there will come a time soon When I will no longer remember any of this: A sickle moon The scrunching sound of footsteps A brutal saw chomping through my bark and the snow slides off me like a silken robe. The squabble of sea birds and an icy deck the savagery of ropes and roller-coasting waves, until eventually, the warm cuddle of sleep. In a clearing in the concrete forest of a city I rise to the noise of pigeons and car horns, Of children laughing and crowds cheering. 434 w May 2021 www.oriens.uz Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4 educational, natural and social sciences ISSN 2181-1784 Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423 With 500 white lights I am adorned. Am excited. Crowned with a star. I am adored and delighted. When the children leave and the music stops And the lights and the words taken down Unlike the tree I have put down roots In London, my new home town Lights, camera, action! A switch is pulled and I light up like an angel. In McGough's poems we find a more extreme and jarring form of surrealism, (see for example, ‘You and Your Strange Ways’) and typographical experiments such as the use of lower case letters throughout a poem, in the manner of e. e. cummings, and the formation of evocative neologisms by the running of words together. you are the under water tree around which fish swirl like leaves [‘What You Are’] Roger McGough (b. 1937) is one of Britain’s best-loved poets, was born and raised in Liverpool, England. A prolific writer, he has published more than 50 books of adult and children’s poetry, as well as several plays, including a recent verse adaptation of Molière’s Tartuffe (2008). Notable poetry collections include Defying Gravity (1992), The Way Things Are (1999), and That Awkward Age (2009). Top- selling The Mersey Sound: Penguin Modern Poets 10 with Liverpool poets Brian Patten and Adrian Henri, hits with Mike McCartney and John Gorman in The Scaffold and college touring with GRIMMS were followed by internationally acclaimed collections of poems and stories, regular broadcasts and edited anthologies. He holds a D.Litt from the University of Hull, and was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2003, and awarded the CBE for services to poetry in 2005. After attending the University of Hull to study French and geography, McGough dabbled as a pop singer and lyricist in the band the Scaffold. Along with his two band mates, including Beatles-brother Mike McCartney, he earned minor fame for his song “Lily the Pink,” which reached number one on the UK charts in 1968. During this same period, McGough earned recognition for work published in the anthology Penguin Modern Poets 10: The Mersey Sound (1967). He contributed to mainstream culture by assisting with the dialogue for the Beatles’ film The Yellow 435 w May 2021 www.oriens.uz Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4 educational, natural and social sciences ISSN 2181-1784 Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423 Submarine (1968), though his name did not appear in the credits. Ultimately, he found more opportunity for expression within poetry. Much travelled and translated, his poetry has gained increasing popularity, especially from its widespread use in schools. A prolific writer, he is twice winner of the Signal Award for best children’s poetry book and recipient of the Cholmondeley Award. McGough is an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and an Honorary Professor at Thames Valley University. He has an MA from the University of Northampton. ‘Funicular Railway’ is a classic McGough poem, creating humour from an unusual experience and the peculiar ways people, including the poet, react to it; ‘Nine to Five’ takes an imagined office life that confuses itself as the poem continues. His reading style is chatty for these poems, but for ‘Oxygen’ he uses a threatening whisper as the element reminds us of the power it has over our lives. This reading is taken from McGough’s live CD Lively, and his enjoyment, and that of his audience, makes clear why The Independent recently described him as “an extraordinary man”. He may choose to depict himself as Mr Ordinary, but there is nothing at all ordinary about his energy or talent.” CONCLUSION Influenced by the Beat culture in the United States, McGough embraces freedom of expression through his poems’ subjects and verse structure. He focuses primarily on the ordinary and every day, and his poetry is both accessible and popular—he is a household name in Britain. Though approachable, McGough’s poetry also exhibits considerable depth. McGough considers poetry a form of subversion. He often uses various forms of humor, particularly wordplay, to confront serious topics in an effort to expose the subjectivity of reality. McGough has twice received the Signal Poetry Award for an outstanding work in children’s poetry: for Sky in the Pie (1983) and for Bad, Bad Cats (1997). He currently hosts the UK radio program Poetry Please. He and his wife live in London. REFERENCES 1. Booth, Martin. British Poetry 1964-84: Driving Through the Barricades. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1985. 2. Cookson, Linda. Brian Patten. Plymouth: Northcote House. 1997. 3. Lindop, Grevel. 'Poetry Rhetoric and the Mass Audience: The case of the Liverpool poets'. British Poetry Since 1960. Ed. G. Lindop and M. Schmidt. London: Carcanet, 1972. 436 w May 2021 www.oriens.uz Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 4 educational, natural and social sciences ISSN 2181-1784 Scientific Journal Impact Factor SJIF 2021: 5.423 4. Lucie-Smith, Edward. ed. The Liverpool Scene. New York: Doubleday. 1968. 5. Penguin Modern Poets 10: The Mersey Sound. Penguin. 1967. 6. Thwaite, Antony. Poetry Today: A critical Guide to British Poetry: 1960-1984. London: Longman. 1985. 437 w May 2021 www.oriens.uz .