The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

an indispensable companion. (John Sutherland, The Sunday Times {Culture})

an essential and enjoyable guide to ... the disorderly garden of English-language poetry (The Guardian)

Review from previous edition The field covered by this well-researched volume is enormous ... There are intriguing poet-as-critic sections (Jon Stallworthy, for example, writing about Rupert Brooke, or Seamus Heaney on Robert Lowell - the American poet - an analysis which is wonderfully revealing). (Richard Edmonds, The Birmingham Post)

Ian Hamilton, the editor, succeeds, on the whole triumphantly, in his declared aim of providing a map of modern poetry in English ... a collection which contains many excellent essays ... This volume serves a very good purpose. (Stephen Spender, The Times)

marvellously peopled Companion ... it's the massive rehearsal here of the peculiarities of poetry in English which holds out almost endless delightful knowledge to all poetry readers (Valentine Cunningham, The Observer)

This is a provocative Companion ... essential for anyone interested in coming to terms with modern poetry ... it does entertain pugnaciously as well as inform (Alan Bold, The Herald)

a wonderful litany of bizarre names, all belonging to poets, all included in Ian Hamilton's massive Companion To Twentieth Century Poetry. The Companion is a book bulging with spleen and fascinating titbits. (Val Hennessy, The Daily Mail)

The strength of this Companion lies in its comprehensiveness: 1,500 poets from all five continents ... this is a fine and useful compendium. (William Scammell, Independent on Sunday)

The book is compact, legible and excellent value. (Grey Gowrie, Daily Telegraph)

a Herculean achievement with lively pen portraits on 1,500 poets plus entries on movements, concepts and critical terms ... This book should quickly establish itself as an essential work of reference. (Richard Foster, Yorkshire Evening Post)

This impressive volume provides over 1,500 thoroughly revised and updated entries on modern poets active from 1910 to the present day. An extensive guide to the lives of influential poets writing in English, in Britain and around the world, this companion helps to illuminate the influences, inspirations, and movements that have shaped the lives and works of our best-loved poets.

First published in 1994 as the Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry in English and compiled by a team of 230 experts, including famous poets such as Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion, this edition also includes new biographical entries on more contemporary poets such as Don Paterson, Anne Carson, John Kinsella, and Leslie Marmon Silko. It also contains insightful entries by well-known peers, such as Seamus Heaney on Robert Lowell and Anne Stevenson on Sylvia Plath.

The A-Z biographies are complemented by new appendices including coverage of poetry groups and movements and lists of anthologies and important poetry prizes and prize-winners. In addition, many entries include details of in-depth supplementary material available online on the dedicated companion website. This superb reference work is the ideal companion for students of English Literature, Language, and Creative Writing, as well as for anyone with an interest in modern poetry.