Poetry Books

Poetry book sales are bigger this year than ever before, and the form is ‘about to reach many, many more people,’ says the head of the Forward Arts Foundation. Here’s a diagnosis of the year in poetry – and a prescription for years to come  

Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy has inspired countless thinkers and writers since it was first published almost 700 years ago. Here, Dante scholar and author Nick Havely picks the best five books on how one medieval poet had such a lasting impact on world literature, and how Dante’s vitality transmits into modern culture.

The Irish poet and writer finds inspiration in the work of friends and fellow poets who combine relishing the wonders of the physical universe with a mystic, religious side – all best discussed over a few pints

William Wordsworth probably did not get his greatest creative impetus from solitude, but from his extremely close relationship with his sister, suggests Oxford scholar Lucy Newlyn

Who read Byron in his time? How much did a copy of Wordsworth cost? The scholar guides us through the astonishing history of reading in the Romantic period of English literature

The Scottish poet and novelist Jacki Kay chooses a life-affirming anthology and celebrates new female voices, contemporary black British talent and a poet with a quirky take on everything.

It may not have been a good year for many things, but 2016 was a great year for poetry. British poet Helen Mort talks us through her favourite new poetry collections.

According to Graber, poetry demands that readers and thinkers slow down; just as a poem emerges through careful attention, it demands and recreates that kind of attention within the reader

The Dutch army captain whose unit secured Tuzla airbase for the incoming UN aid in 1994 talks about the books he kept with him in Bosnia, and the inspiration for his Yugoslav novel, King of Tuzla