‘Crammed with unpoetic qualia from the world of City and Guilds. Hancock left school at 16 to take up an apprenticeship. Twenty-odd years ago, the former probation officer Simon Armitage founded the Democratic People's Republic of Poetry. Hancock is a citizen – with a commonsense understanding that technical drawing, Halfords, The Dukes of Hazzard, Everton Mints and Frank Spencer can hold their own in poetry.’
– Craig Raine. Guardian Books of the Year, 27 th November 2010
‘Phil Hancock’s insights are precise and authentic – he is part of the great tradition of writers who capture the true spirit of working class life.’
– Ken Loach
‘Philip Hancock’s lyrical ballads have the same invigorating combination of song and drama that give the original Lyrical Ballads their intense liveliness. I’ve always liked his cheeky urban insights and info. They hit the spot others don’t even know exists.’
– Hugo Williams
'True originality: he writes with the sparkling eye of one who has discovered a rich and unaccountably neglected subject for poetic investigation.'
– Christopher Reid
‘Philip Hancock’s poems tap a deep vein of humiliation – humiliations of place and class and aspiration, and also that thudding-in-the-ears fear of being seen. Of being rumbled, almost. It’s a fear that transcends class, but which is also so much to do with being patronised and dealing with rage... Some of these verses are like little parables seen in reverse – as in those paintings where there’s some big Biblical personage in the front, but ordinary household stuff going on in the background, and it’s that stuff that matters.’
– Will Eaves
‘He just shows us things as they are, and is willing to relish them; and it’s that tranquil, lyrical act of attention that is so impressive.’
– John Greening, Times Literary Supplement (full review here)
‘In pushing beyond portrayals of work itself, these poems demonstrate a profound sense of humanity in their expressions of friendship and community … Hancock also shows a refreshing desire to address work directly, the way some might a landscape or painting, stripping it of any excess and allowing its process to tell stories that resonate with honesty, sincerity and even humour … You continually get the sense that no matter the skill and effort involved, the good work of labour is like the good work of poems – never finished, only abandoned.’
– Tarn MacArthur, Poetry London