A major account of modern poetry, from one of its leading figures. James Fenton examines issues of creativity and the 'earning' of success, of judgement, tutorage, rivalry, and ambition. He considers the juvenilia of Wilfred Owen, the 'scarred' lines of Philip Larkin, the inheritance of imperialism, and issues of 'constituency' in Seamus Heaney. The book contains insights into the work of Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, D. H. Lawrence, and W. H. Auden.