At the time of my writing this study Brian Patten is 50 years old, and almost thirty years have passed since the publication in 1967 of his first poetry collection, Little Johnny's Confession, and the inclusion of a selection of his work, along with work by Adrian Henri and Roger McGough, in Penguin Modern Poets No. 10: The Mersey Sound. Patten was 21 years old when these collections first appeared. Much of the poetry included in them had been written by the time he was 19.

The Mersey Sound went on to sell some 400,000 copies, and all three of ‘The Liverpool Poets’ have continued to write and perform successfully – both together and apart – over the intervening decades. They can be credited with having been at the very forefront of the movement to bring poetry to wider audiences, and have in turn influenced a whole new generation of ‘performance poets’. In chapter 1 of this study, I review the events that led up to this extraordinary phenomenon.

My main aim, however, is to seek to evaluate Patten's achievement as a distinctive poet in his own right, rather than solely as a so-called ‘Liverpool Poet’ linked inextricably to his fellow-contributors to The Mersey Sound and also by extension to the sixties. In chapter 2 I suggest that Patten's work has always been markedly different from that of his peers, and in the succeeding chapters I aim to trace the poetic development that has occurred since his earliest work was published.

In chapter 2 I also suggest that Patten's work – while always popular with the public – has often been undervalued in the past by literary critics. My contention in this study is that the recent publication of Armada, his first adult poetry collection for eight years, marks a crucial stage in his maturity as a poet. I believe that the time is now right for a major re-evaluation of his achievement, and I hope that in its small way this study may begin to pave the way for this.

My primary focus is on Patten's career as a serious writer for adults. He is also, however, equally well known as a best-selling writer for children. I have therefore included an Afterword to the study, which offers a necessarily brief overview of this area of Patten's work and achievement.