CLIVE WILMER was born in Harrogate in 1945, grew up in London and was educated at King's College, Cambridge. He now teaches English at Cambridge, where he is a Bye-Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, a Fellow-Commoner of Sidney Sussex College and an Honorary Fellow of Anglia Ruskin University. The Mystery of Things is his fifth Carcanet collection, the last being Selected Poems (1995). He has also published one volume with the Worple Press, The Falls (2000). Clive Wilmer is an authority on John Ruskin and his contemporaries, having edited selections of Ruskin, William Morris and, for Carcanet's Fyfield series, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. At present he is planning the Carcanet Brantwood edition of Ruskin's works; he is also a Director of the Guild of St George (founded by Ruskin) and Principal Tutor on 'The Ruskin Journey'. He has edited the essays of Thom Gunn and, in two Carcanet volumes, Donald Davie. With George Gomori, he has translated widely from modern Hungarian poetry, notably the works of Miklos Radnoti and Gyorgy Petri. An occasional broadcaster, he fronted BBC Radio 3's Poet of the Month programmes and his interviews are published by Carcanet as Poet Talking. He is a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, PN Review and other journals.