This is the most authoritative and up to date survey of contemporary British poetry. It is the third version of a successful survey that first appeared in 1973, and provides a succinct and accessible overview of British poets, movements and themes. The study begins with the poetry of Robert Graves and considers such influential figures as John Betjeman, W. H. Auden, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, but much of the book focuses on the work of poets who have come into prominence recently, including Wendy Cope, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Sean O'Brien, and the 1995 Nobel prize winner for literature Seamus Heaney. Anthony Thwaite has completely updated and expanded his earlier version.