THOSE who already possess a poetry library might well have virtually every poem in this book somewhere or other.

Still there is something to be said for having the likes of the Highwayman (Alfred Noyes), Vita Lampada (Sir Henry Newbolt, “There’s a breathless hush in the Close tonight”) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson) in a single volume. And the range stretches far beyond these pot boilers – all the way from Ducks’ Ditty (Kenneth Grahame) and Greensleaves (Anon), through Cargoes (John Masefield) and Adelstrop (Edward Thomas) to Stop All the Clocks (Auden) and Warning (Jenny Joseph).

Printed in type that won’t strain the eye, and with an index of both poets and first lines, this is excellent value.