For sharing their favourites or offering their help, I am grateful to Susan and John Barber, Stephen Brown, Florence and Ian Knapp, Kevin Jackson and Olivia McCannon. And at Penguin, I must thank Adam Freudenheim for his generosity in making this modest poetic proposal, and Rachel Love for her assistance in making it happen.
I dedicate this book to Matilda and Finn, whose heads are full of magic words and who always remember the next line.
LB
The editor and publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to reprint copyright material in this book as follows:
EMILY DICKINSON: ‘This World is not Conclusion’ reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst College, from The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, Ralph W. Franklin, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
ROBERT FROST: ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ from The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. Edward Connery Lathem, published by Jonathan Cape and reprinted by permission of the Random House Group Ltd. And copyright 1969 by Henry Holt and Company and reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC:.
TED HUGHES: ‘Wind’ from Collected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2005). By permission of the publisher.
LOUIS MACNIECE: ‘Snow’ from Collected Poems published by Faber & Faber. By permission of David Higham Associates Ltd.
JOHN MASEFIELD: ‘Sea-Fever’ from Collected Poems (William Heinemann, 1923), permission granted by the Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of John Masefield.
SIEGRIED SASSOON: ‘Everyone Sang’ from Collected Poems, published by Faber & Faber; copyright © Siegfried Sassoon, used by kind permission of George Sassoon.
DYLAN THOMAS: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ from Collected Poems, published by J. M. Dent. By permission of David Higham Associates Ltd.
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS: ‘This Is Just To Say’ from Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Volume 1: 1909–1939, edited by A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan (2000) by permission of Carcanet Press Limited.
W. B. YEATS: ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’ by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd on behalf of Gráinne Yeats, Executrix of the Estate of Michael Butler Yeats.
Every effort has been made to trace and contact the copyright holders prior to publication. If notified, the publisher undertakes to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity.