Chapters in this book

1. Front matter i
2. Epigraph v
3. Dedication vi
4. Contents vii
5. Acknowledgements ix
6. Abbreviations xi
7. 1 ‘Acceptable words’ 1
8. 2 ‘The speechless dead’ 18
9. 3 Poet, lover, liar 27
10. 4 ‘Our love is what we love to have’ 35
11. 5 Things and words 44
12. 6 History as poetry 58
13. 7 The Triumph of Love (1998) 72
14. 8 ‘Beauty is difficult’ 95
15. 9 ‘Here and there I pull a flower’ 108
16. 10 ‘In wintry solstice like the shorten’d light’ 124
17. 11 Afterword 136
18. Notes 138
19. Select bibliography 144
20. Index 149