Walter Savage Landor was born in Warwick, in 1775, and died in Florence in 1864. His output in prose and poetry was prodigious. 'No English writer — no English poet — of equal size and quality has been less attended to in the last fifty years' wrote Geoffrey Grigson in 1964, and though three selections appeared in the next eight years, this remains broadly true. Most editors have mixed verse and prose, doing him dubious service. This short and lively selection of Landor's poetry concentrates on the lyrical and epigrammatic poems in which, Maurice Craig believes, his greatest strength lay. Landor is fortunate in his editor, who shares much of his wide learning and whose eagerness to transmit his understanding and life-long admiration for Landor is reflected in this fresh collection. New readers will discover in Landor a remarkable poet; those who already know him well will welcome this charming anthology and Maurice Craig's thoughtful and perceptive introduction.
