The ever-shifting parameters of the public and private spheres have exerted strong, though often subtle, pressures on modern life. This collection of 14 critical essays analyzes how British poetry has interacted with the public/private divide since the middle of the twentieth century. In its approach to this central but contested aspect of modern life, this book suggests not only new ways of approaching a poem, but of thinking about what gives a poem its linguistic, textual, and performative singularity.

Resistance is a key concept for understanding the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and for approaching the poetry of the period. This collection of 15 critical essays explores how poetry and resistance interact, set against a philosophical, historical and cultural background. In the light of the upheavals of the age, and the changing perception of the nature of language, resistance is seen to lie at the core of poetic preoccupations, moving poetic language forward. From this perspective, the resistance of poetry is connected with the human call to solidarity, resilience, and,...

The poems of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) are key to understanding 19th, 20th and even 21st century poetry. This collection of fresh essays sheds new light on Hardy's poems--some of which have received little critical attention--from a variety of thematic and analytical approaches, offering a detailed picture of how his works are currently being read. The contributors discuss why Hardy's poetic genius is less and less overshadowed by his career as a novelist and highlight his passionate attention to small details, his delight in "noticing things" and his "eye for...mysteries."