The New Poetry in Wales

Ian Gregson maintains that the most exciting poetry in Britain is being written in Wales. In this book, he demonstrates how contemporary Welsh poets, including Robert Minhinnick, Gwyneth Lewis, Oliver Reynolds and Stephen Knight and many others, have evolved techniques to explore the most pressing issues in today's culture; for example, their poems express their anxieties about environmental issues and the damage inflicted on the third world by global capitalism. It also explores how questions about language have acquired such significance, a particularly urgent theme for Welsh poets. Nevertheless, these poets also draw upon the traditional themes of poetry, often using traditional poetic forms such as rhyming stanzas which are given a vivid and modern slant through their use of contemporary language.