pp lxxx351 1994 hardback ISBN 0-7083-1272-1
Idris Davies is among the most important working-class poets to have written in English. He wrote out of the experience of the mining communities of south Wales - the 'angry summer' of 1926, the long depression of the thirties. First published by T.S. Eliot, his work has never been systematically collected. Now, in the first truly comprehensive edition of his work, all Idris Davies's published poetry is presented in chronological order, together with a selection of his unpublished work.
Dafydd Johnston has examined the rich collection of Davies papers
in the National Library of Wales and all published sources. Textually,
therefore, this volume offers the most reliable edition of Davies's
poetry.
'Marvellously, and for the first time really fully, Dafydd Johnston's edition helps us realize the force of the challenge of Idris Davies for the canon of poetry in English.' (Times Literary Supplement)
' . . . the poet who, in his lifetime, was usually treated with condescension and frequently accused of being merely a propagandist for socialism and of writing journalism, is central to the study of Anglo-Welsh poetry - more crucial, in fact, than Dylan Thomas or even R.S. . . . this splendid volume . . . must be saluted: it is surely a major landmark in Anglo-Welsh studies . . . ' (New Welsh Review)
'Dafydd Johnston . . . presents us with a scholarly, but very readable account of Idris Davies's life and includes a substantial critical essay on the development of Davies's poetry . . . a coherent, comprehensive testament to Idris Davies's importance in Welsh literary culture.' (Poetry Wales)
' . . . an impressive publication.' (English in Wales)
' . . . he has a claim to be recognized as one of the outstanding working-class poets of the century . . . an important work of publishing and scholarship . . . ' (Poetry Review)
' . . . an admirable tool for the study of a poet whose work is not, at present, well known or easily available.' (Forum for Modern Language Studies)