A volume of essays on the theme of the political imagination, covering a range of poets and poetry including: Sean O'Brien, Tony Harrison, Thom Gunn, Paul Durcan, Derek Walcott, Caribbean women poets (including Louise Bennett, Jackie Kay, Jean Binta Breeze, Grace Nichols, Elean Thomas, Valerie Bloom, Merle, Collins, Lorna Goodison, Olive Senior, Christine Craig, Maud Sulter, Amryl Johnson), Metaphysical poetry and masculinity in John Donne.