In Thomas Hardy and British Poetry (1972) Donald David identified how deep and durable a mark the Dorset poet left on the English sensibility. Hardy's formal approach and his distinctive tonalities have – for better or worse – affected the choices of form, the kinds of irony and the contingencies that circumscribe English poetry. How the example of Hardy deflected the enabling force of Modernism is a fascinating theme.

Donald Davie returns to Hardy and his legacy in several major essays. The poet and critic Clive Wilmer presents Thomas Hardy and British Poetry along with writings which clarify the nature of Hardy's poetry and its impact, and explore some of the ways in which British writers have extended and eluded the potent ghost of Hardy's influence.