The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry (Oxford Paperback Reference)

This impressive volume provides over 1,500 thoroughly revised and updated entries on modern poets active from 1910 to the present day. An extensive guide to the lives of influential poets writing in English, in Britain and around the world, this companion helps to illuminate the influences, inspirations, and movements that have shaped the lives and works of our best-loved poets.

First published in 1994 as the Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry in English and compiled by a team of 230 experts, including famous poets such as Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion, this edition also includes new biographical entries on more contemporary poets such as Don Paterson, Anne Carson, John Kinsella, and Leslie Marmon Silko. It also contains insightful entries by well-known peers, such as Seamus Heaney on Robert Lowell and Anne Stevenson on Sylvia Plath.

The A-Z biographies are complemented by a new appendix including coverage of poetry groups and movements and lists of anthologies and important poetry prizes and prize-winners. In addition, many entries include details of in-depth supplementary material available online on the dedicated companion website.

Ian Hamilton was the editor of The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. He was a well-established literary critic and wrote extensively on poetry, including The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold (1998), and Against Oblivion (2002). He was also a poet and essayist, and published many works including Steps (1997) and The Trouble with Money (1998).

Jeremy Noel-Tod is lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He was previously Director of Studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His works on modern poetry and creative writing include articles on W. H. Auden and W. S. Graham. He also reviews poetry for the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph, and is the founder of Landfill, a poetry pamphlet press, and an Associate Editor of Eggbox Publishing.

Ian Hamilton was the editor of The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. He was a well-established literary critic and wrote extensively on poetry, including The Poetic Life of Matthew Arnold (1998), and Against Oblivion (2002). He was also a poet and essayist, and published many works including Steps (1997) and The Trouble with Money (1998).