The appearance of Philip Larkin's second prose collection - reviews and critical assessments of writers and writing; pieces on jazz, mostly uncollected; some long, revealing and often highly entertaining interviews given on various occasions - was a considerable literary event. Stamped by wit, originality and intelligence, it was vintage Larkin throughout: 'Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.' 'I see life more as an affair of solitude diversified by company than as an affair of company diversified by solitude.' Q. 'How did you arrive upon the image of a toad for work or labour?' A. 'Sheer genius.'

The 126 poems in this superb collection of 19th and 20th century British and American verse range from famous poets such as Wordsworth, Tennyson, Whitman, and Frost to less well-known poets. Includes 10 selections from the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Now at the ten-year anniversary of her death, Kenyon's Collected Poems assembles all of her published poetry in one book.