Each entry in this book contains a few selected works by some of the great poets of modern times, from the twentieth century onwards. Hardy, Housman, Yeats, Kipling, Robert Frost, D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin, Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney and many others are featured. For each of them, Michael Schmidt has provided an insight into their themes and the background to their work, opening for the reader a greater understanding and enjoyment of these extraordinary poems.