Although modern English and Irish poetry arises from the different cultures of the two countries these poets have shared - throughout this century - the same editors and publishers, competed for the same prizes, and been judged, ostensibly, by the same standards. This book examines contexts for these exchanges over four decades - tracing the lineages of Yeats and Hardy from their meeting in 1912 through WWI, the 30s, the 60s, and the 90s, - to see what influences and ideas are exchanged and how poetic value accrues.

DILLON JOHNSTON teaches modern British and Irish poetry at Wake Forest University where he directs the university press which is the major publisher of Irish poetry in the U.S. He is the author of numerous essays and of Irish Poetry After Joyce (1985) which was revised and extended in 1997.