Irish Poetry After Yeats, edited by Maurice Harmon (Wolfhound, £6.99)

Published originally in 1979, this anthology includes a wide range of poems by Austin Clarke, Patrick Kavanagh, Denis Devlin, …

Published originally in 1979, this anthology includes a wide range of poems by Austin Clarke, Patrick Kavanagh, Denis Devlin, Richard Murphy, Thomas Kinsella, John Montague, Seamus Heaney. The Kavanagh choice does not duck or scorn popular favourites such as A Christmas Childhood, though Kinsella's long, musing poem Nightwalker is scarcely an ideal piece for an anthology and probably is better read in isolation and on its own terms. A certain percentage of the work included, to speak quite frankly, has already begun to acquire a period flavour and Devlin's verse in particular, with all due tribute to his wide culture and fine intellect, remains bookish and eclectic at core. There is a thoughtful introduction by the editor.