'...written and argued with enviable subtlety and acuity.' TLS '...one of our best academic critics of contemporary poetry, and this book will serve to enhance his reputation. It is a lucid and intelligent account of a number of Irish poets, from Yeats, through Austin Clarke, Padraic Fallon and Louis MacNeice, to Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon and Tom Paulin, Derek Mahon, Michael Longly and Ciaran Carson.' PQR