Complete Verse - Softcover

"The verses sing a multitude of memories. The wonder is, in finding them all collected, how profuse and pure a genius is here displayed" (Evelyn Waugh Spectator)

"What he possessed above all, as a versifier, was a remarkable technical adroitness, a ready talent for witty ideas and a gift for ironical and understated phrasemaking. He wears extremely well" (Roy Fuller Daily Telegraph)

Here is the distinctly surreal world of Henry King, who perished through his 'chief defect' of chewing little bits of string; of dishonest Matilda whose dreadful lies led her to death by burning; and of Godolphin Horne who 'held the human race in scorn' and ended as the boy 'who blacks the boots at the Savoy'.

Here too are the beautiful lyrics of longing and loss; the sonnets and epigrams; the hugely enjoyable Bad Child's Book of Beasts - not to mention More Beasts for Worse Children; and The Modern Traveller, one of the finest satirical poems in English.

Complete Verse reveals all of Hilaire Belloc's dazzling range and makes plain why he is one of the most truly popular poets of modern times.