Selected Poems

'Softly in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; Talking me back down the vista of years' From early, rhyming works in Love Poems and Others (1913) to the groundbreaking exploration of free verse in Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), the poems of D. H. Lawrence challenged convention and inspired later poets. This volume includes extensive selections from these and other editions, and contains some of his most famous poems, such as 'Piano', a nostalgic reflection on lost youth and love for his mother; 'Snake', exploring human fear of the natural world; the short cutting comment on sexual politics of 'Can't Be Borne'; and the quiet philosophical resignation of 'Basta!' Using revised poems, but in the order in which they appeared in their original collection, this selection offers a fresh perspective that reveals an innovative poet who gave voice to his most intense emotions.

D. H. Lawrence (1895-û1930) is the author of the novels The Rainbow, Sons and Lovers, and Lady Chatterley-'s Lover, among others.

James Fenton is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1994 to 1999.

Christopher Ricks is the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University and a professor of poetry at the University of Oxford.