This text examines some of the most intriguing questions behind the making of poetry - issues of creativity and the "earning" of success, of judgement, tutorage, rivalry, and ambition. It goes on to discuss issues within the field through the work of various poets.

1. A Lesson from Michelangelo ; 2. Wilfred Owen's Juvenilia ; 3. Philip Larkin: Wounded by Unschrapnel ; 4. Goodbye to All That ; 5. The Orpheus of Ulster ; 6. Becoming Marianne Moore ; 7. The Many Arts of Elizabeth Bishop ; 8. Lady Lazarus ; 9. Men, Women, and Beasts ; 10. Auden on Shakespeare's Sonnets ; 11. Blake Auden and James Auden ; 12. Auden in the End

`Review from previous edition Surprise attack by a quirk of thought or erudition is a pleasing feature of these entertaining, worldly lectures by a former professor of poetry at Oxford University.' The Economist, April 2001 `Anyone put off poetry by university courses...would do well to spend an evening or two with James Fenton's collection of essays. There are no bookish theories here, just plain, old-fashioned attention to the words on the page' Daily Telegraph `The mind that guides this pen is warm and insightful, and even occasionally right...not a word is wasted, not a thought ill-expressed' Independent on Sunday `Fenton on Auden on Shakespeare's sonnets is the most impressive chapter, ... this and the other chapters on Auden make The Strength of Poetry an important book.' Tim Kendall, TLS, April 13 2001 `The collection begins with a dazzling discussion of the relationship between genius and apprenticeship, ... He is brilliant on the juvenilla of Wilfred Owen, doom and gloom in Larkin, what he calls Blake Auden and James Auden and, as a former foreign correspondent, on the imperial impulse in poetry, debunking some familiar arguments and offering fresh and penetrating insights. His formidable intelligence, elegance and dry wit make this a rare beast: a collection of poetry criticism that richly rewards rereading.' Sunday Times, 15/04/01 `James Fenton's lectures as Professor of Poetry at Oxford, collected in The Strength of Poetry, are shrewd and full of wry humour. Anyone who loves Auden and his like will warm to this book. ... half his brilliance is in the force of his lucid prejudices, and in his willingness to consider the irregular libido in his appraisals.' Michael Schmidt, Daily Mail, Fri. 16th March 2001. `Fenton reveals as much about himself as his subjects.' Jonathan Bate, The Sunday Telegraph,February 11 2001 `In the end, however, the overall value of this book lies in the fact that Fenton is a poet who is intimately interested in the craft, art, and effect of poetry. The most wonderfully rewarding moments come when he strips a poem and then in a genial manner reconstructs it for his listener/reader.' Hayden Murphy, The Herald `in fine didactic form he explores the indecent ferment that fuses the poetry of D H Lawrence. This is a sustained literary assault titled Men, Women, and Beasts. In its way it is the most entertaining piece in the book ... It is fascinating to almost hear the barking-mad urges of a near genius being sedated by the purr of a critical predator.' Hayden Murphy, The Herald `Personalities and their obsessions give substance to his title. These are scholarly exposes that avoid becoming academic tracts.' Hayden Murphy, The Herald `Throughout the volume, Fenton the critic and journalist casts a caustic eye over received opinions on art and artists and related commentators.' Hayden Murphy, The Herald `What a good book this turns out to be. Fenton is brilliant on the author who recoiled from his own most dangerous line: "The conscious accpetance of guilt in the necessary murder".' W N Herbert, Scotland on Sunday `entertaining, insightful, instructive' WN Herbert, Scotland on Sunday, `The Oxford University Press has performed a valuable service in publishing the poetry lectures of first Heaney and now his successor in the Chair, James Fenton.' Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph `The three best lectures are about the three Americans who are steadily coming to be recognised as the finest women poets of the 20th century: Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath.' Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph `good throughout on the callow or bumptious antics of adolescent poets' Peter Conrad, Observer

A vivid study of modern poetry, from one of its leading figures A sparkling, opinionated book; immensely readable Examines intriguing questions behind the making of poetry, such as creativity, rivalry, and patronage Assesses the great luminaries of twentieth-century poetry: Lawrence, Larkin, Eliot, Heaney, Yeats, Plath, Hughes, and above all, Auden James Fenton is one of the country's most acclaimed poets and critics, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry and Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1994 to 1999.

James Fenton is one of the country's most acclaimed poets and author of The Memory of War and Children in Exile (1983) and the Whitbread Prize winning Out of Danger (1994). Formerly a critic for New Statesman and The Times, and for many years a far east correspondent for The Independent, Fenton succeeded Seamus Heaney as the Oxford Professor of Poetry in 1994.

A vivid study of modern poetry, from one of its leading figures A sparkling, opinionated book; immensely readable Examines intriguing questions behind the making of poetry, such as creativity, rivalry, and patronage Assesses the great luminaries of twentieth-century poetry: Lawrence, Larkin, Eliot, Heaney, Yeats, Plath, Hughes, and above all, Auden James Fenton is one of the country's most acclaimed poets and critics, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry and Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1994 to 1999.