'It really is a tremendously good book, and should be read by anyone who writes poetry and anyone who's interested in how and why poetry is written… this is the best book about poetry I've ever read' Adam Newey, Guardian

'Glyn Maxwell’s 'On Poetry', on the execution and philosophy of the art, is probably going to be a modern classic' The Spectator

'A cogent, engaging, elegantly structured, and, at times, inspiring account and defence of the poet’s art and calling.' Times Literary Review

'There are a handful of books about writing that I count among my indispensible texts: by Guy Davenport, Randall Jarrell, Durs Grünbein, Keats, Pound, Brodsky, Virginia Woolf, Fanny Burney, Eliot. I knew on about page two that this book was one of them' Katy Evans-Bush, Poetry Review

'Emergent or fledged, formalist or free, you should buy this book to encounterits beautifully put argument. I've given away two copies already, but am holding tight to my third.' Poetry London

'There are certain books which transcend their status as collections of words on paper (or quantum splodges in e-space) and, like kaleidoscopes, benignly shatter and transform their reader's perspectives.  With these books, one is sent on extraordinary journeys of thought, perception and experience, and one's soul is tinged with enduring magic. This is very much the case for me with one of last year's surprise literary best-sellers, On Poetry by Glyn Maxwell' David Birkett