“Glyn Maxwell covers a greater distance in a single line than most people do in a poem.”
New and Selected Poems
by Glyn Maxwell
One of England’s most celebrated poets, described by James Wood as “the major poet of his generation,” Glyn Maxwell is the author of ten volumes of poetry, along with numerous plays, essays, libretti, and fiction. Steeped in the tradition of English verse, with a mastery of its prosodic possibilities, Maxwell’s verse sounds an utterly contemporary note. Over decades, Maxwell has honed a voice capable of the tenderest elegies and the sharpest political satire. Mercurial — playful one minute, sober as sunlight the next — Maxwell’s poems surge on sustained by urgent rhythms, their piercing intelligence modulated by an urbane wit: The other side took everything we know is true / and twisted it and why they pull the shit they do / we cannot fathom friend it’s why we’re asking you. This volume collects the very best of Maxwell’s work to date, and gives us a precious glimpse of what the future holds.
Glyn Maxwell’s collection, New and Selected Poems, is comprised of work that spans from 1990 to the present. The sections do not appear in chronological order; instead, they follow a path that suggests the form of many of his poems throughout; winding, challenging, at times mysterious and lyric, and at others, wryly funny. The poems beckon to the reader, inviting them to connect, to follow, and to enjoy the journey.~Carlene Gadapee, MicroLit
Glyn Maxwell
Glyn Maxwell was born in 1962 in Hertfordshire, England, to Welsh parents. He is a poet, playwright, critic, and teacher. He has won several awards for his poetry, and his plays have been frequently staged in the UK and the USA. His critical guidebook On Poetry, a general reader’s guide to the craft, is widely read in schools and universities. His latest book, Silly Games To Save The World, is published on his Substack site of the same name. Maxwell studied under Derek Walcott at Boston University, and later edited Walcott’s Collected Poems. During a ten-year spell in the States he taught at Amherst, Columbia, Princeton, NYU and The New School and served as Poetry Editor of The New Republic. He is currently Head of Studies on the MA at The Poetry School at Somerset House in London, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
“A master stylist... constantly erudite and exhilarating.”
—Carol Ann Duffy
“Maxwell fully deserves to be called into the company of Auden…”
—Adam Newey,
The Guardian
“Robert Frost himself would have liked the way Glyn Maxwell ‘gets things right’.”
—Anthony Hecht
