Matthew Mead’s selected poems presents the poet’s choice of his work written over fifty years. In 1975 he wrote: "I have tried not to avoid what has happened in poetry and psycho-politics during this [20th] century. In plain politics the failure of socialism has been important to my verse."

As well as being one of few poets who have responded to the predicaments of post-war Europe, he is also a lyric poet of great beauty and a sharp epigrammatist. His qualities are explored in an Afterword by the poet Dick Davis.

"He can bring off technical feats: triolets and villanelles look easy in his hands; he can write lyrically, epigrammatically, and with biting wit."
Matt Simpson, Stride Magazine

From reviews of earlier books:

"Genuine social vision is still exceptional in English poetry. Matthew Mead... is engaged, wilful, critically aware of inhumane surroundings, but without the remotest hint of pop poetry and deeply conscious of the literary effort he has inherited... He is a good poet, knows the problems, deserves to be read."
Richard Holmes, The Times

"Mead’s poems are carved out of intractable material, unlikely to warp with time. If they have not a permanent place, then the pressure of fashion is greater than one hopes."
Derek Parker, Poetry Review

"His voice is original and genuine and his poems speak soberly of the essential things of our time."
Christopher Middleton

"To sustain rage over half a century is itself a feat but to do so in a wide range of skilful formal measures - ballades, sestinas, and especially villanelles - must be unique."
Eric Ormsby, Times Literary Supplement

Born in Buckinghamshire in 1924, Matthew Mead served in the British Army, 1942-47, including three years in India, Ceylon and Singapore. In the early ’60s he edited Satis magazine. He has lived in Germany since 1962. Word for Word, selected translations with his wife of contemporary German poets, appears simultaneously with this book.