This landmark book celebrates two decades of poetry by women from Britain and Ireland, covering all the major figures, from Fleur Adcock to Carol Ann Duffy. It charts the irrepressible growth and flowering of women’s poetry, showing how the women’s movement bestowed a permission and confidence on these many distinctive female voices: no longer apologetic, often courageous, always powerful. The older generation is represented in the work of poets such as Stevie Smith, Ruth Pitter, E.J. Scovell and Elizabeth Jennings, re-forging the missing link in the continuing chain of work in which inner and outer worlds are shown from a woman’s perspective.

Anne Stevenson has written: ‘No artist can be optimistic in days of spiritual decay, but it is possible to be honest . And joyful.’ Honesty and vitality combine to produce a remarkable energy and spirit, contained and celebrated in this selection, from the measured and lyrical in the work of Freda Downie to the passionate and primitive in Deborah Randall’s tooth and claw. Kathleen Jamie weaves a fierce intelligence and keen intuition into the subtle and highly original rhythms of her work. The poems of Carol Ann Duffy dramatise a broad repertoire of voices, while Medbh McGuckian’s exquisitely patterned imagery draws together the diverse threads of male and female, thought and feeling, pain and pleasure. In the world of U.A. Fanthorpe the menace of darkness is illuminated by bright sparks of humour, an engaging sense of fun. Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.