Professing Poetry by John Wain

Professing Poetry

by John Wain

Macmillan, 1977
First edition
Sprayed top foredge (burgundy)
Hardcover, dustjacket

Condition: Very Good
minor edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to corners and covers, minor discolouration at top front cover, a little marking to side foredge.  Dustjacket shows some wear with tears, chips and small parts missing at front (see photographs)

“This many-sided book is built around the first nine lectures given by John Wain as Oxford Professor of Poetry.  In themselves, they are essential reading – tough, lively and varied – for anyone interested int eh state of literature today.  But they are not reprinted here baldly and out of context.  Setting them in ‘a continuum of narrative and reflection’.  John Wain brilliantly conveys ‘what the Oxford Chair is, what it feels like to take it on, what kind of situations and what kind of people the Professor tends to find himself amongst.”