The Song of Deeds

David Jones's long poem "The Anathemata" first published in 1952, has always been admired, particularly by other poets. Eliot thought it the "remarkable" work of a writer "of major importance," and Auden described it as "the greatest long poem written in English in this century." Neil Corcoran's study is concerned with the critical task of suggesting the nature, scope and significance of David Jones's achievement. It explores the affinities between Jones's work and that of other modernists, particularly Eliot and Joyce; and it attempts to trace Jones's importance in the history and development of modern British poetry.