In collecting these essays Roland Mathias uses for his subjects the symbol of a wood, virtually unexplored, and until recently considered to be on the edge of a map of English literature.

Mathias, as he puts it, is in 'possession of a different map, one on which the wood appears much closer to the centre', and A Ride Through the Wood is an unusual selection of essays on Anglo-Welsh writers by a critic who shares their particular background and is knowledgeable about it.

Roland Mathias was born at Talybont-on-Usk in 1915. Having taught in various parts of Britain, he retired in 1969, to live in Brecon. Roland Mathias helped to found Dock Leaves, later the Anglo-Welsh Review, which he edited from 1961 to 1976. A poet, he has published seven volumes, including Burning Brambles (1983), his 'selected poems'. He has also written a collection of short stories, and books on Vernon Watkins and John Cowper Powys, as well as editing books on David Jones, an anthology of short stories and Anglo-Welsh Poetry 1480-1980, with Raymond Garlick.