On English Poetry

Robert Graves's On English Poetry is a sharp, intimate meditation on what poetry is and why it still matters. Rather than offering a neat theory, Graves presents "irregular" reflections on rhythm, diction, inspiration, humour, rhyme, tradition, and the poet's place in society, arguing that poetry lives in the tension between instinct and craft, emotion and analysis. He defines it as a sudden fusion of conflicting feelings shaped by sound, suggestion, and control, not plain statement, and he contrasts true poetry with bad verse, fake poetry, and merely decorative language. Drawing on dream logic, primitive magic, Elizabethan drama, Coleridge, Housman, Blake, Keats, and Housman, Graves treats the poet as both inspired receiver and conscious transformer, almost a modern witch doctor who channels emotional conflict into form. He shows how great poems conceal meaning like a puzzle or dream, how one word can alter an entire atmosphere, and how even innocent lyrics often contain hidden tensions. At once provocative and playful, the book celebrates poetry's childlike wonder, sensory vividness, and enduring power to make emotion tangible. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.