Poems, 1949-79

This volume (it is not intended to be anything so definitive and final as 'collected poems') spans a period of thirty years, and shows the development of a poet who has consistently broken new ground, found in poetry an essential channel for his intellectual and imaginative vitality. It begins with six major new poems and fifteen that have not hitherto been collected. There are also generous but far from exhaustive selections from all John Wain's books of poetry except for Feng (which needs to be read entire, and is available in print). This first retrospective collection will, he hopes, give' the thoughtful reader enough material to form a judgement on my work as a poet over the last three decades a judgement that will release me from any need to look backward, and set me free for the work that is to come.' John Wain's lasting strength as a poet can be seen from two critical comments, twenty years apart: 'The cumulative effect of Wain's book is one of considerable strength' Samuel French Morse reviewing his first book of poetry, A Word Carved on a Sill 'He seems, unusually for a poet of any importance, to continually move from one kind of work to another, always with new insights, and new ways of growing.' Peter Levi