Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain

Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain, an anthology of poetry, was edited by Michael Horovitz and published by Penguin Books in 1969 (see 1969 in poetry). According to Martin Booth it was "virtually a manifesto of New Departures doctrine and dogma".

Its appearance was a key step in the emergence to some kind of public attention of many of the poets associated with the British Poetry Revival, many of whom were included. It was perhaps the classic "hippie" collection of British poetry, with its self-conscious invocation of William Blake and performance poets. It has also been subject to much criticism, qua anthology of its time, both for its inclusions and exclusions.

Children of Albion was published as a paperback measuring 18 by 11 centimetres (7.1 by 4.3 in). It is 382 pages long and contains a contents list, a dedication to Allen Ginsberg, work by 63 poets in alphabetical order of surname, an essay, "Afterwords" by the editor, and "further reading" and "acknowledgements" sections. The front cover features a detail from Glad Day, an engraving by Blake.

The poets featured in Children of Albion are:

In 1962, Penguin published Al Alvarez's anthology The New Poetry. This marked the beginnings of a backlash against what Alvarez labelled the "gentility" of the Movement poets. Alvarez's favoured alternative were such poets as Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes and others who connected with American confessional poets like Robert Lowell and John Berryman.

...
Wikipedia