Two young editors, who are also friends, decided to make a selection, or sampler, of my work over several decades. Their argument was that in each of my books there were lyrics which tend to be obscured by the larger structures. So here a few are set free, to strut their paces.
                                            — John Montague

New Selected Poems draws on eight collections, which include the celebrated sequences, The Rough Field and The Dead Kingdom.
It features seminal works such as 'Like Dolmens Round my Childhood, the Old People', perfect lyrics ('Herbert Street Revisited') and magisterial meditations ('The Hill of Silence'). Together they demonstrate the author's tribal preoccupations beneath his deep involvement with the landscape of Ireland and his more personal struggles, in intimate relationships and in the effort to affirm values and order in the face of change.

New Selected Poems reveals one of the most prophetic, generous and moving voices of our time.