This new volume gathers together the finest of Ruth Pitter's poems, which in Kathleen Raine's judgement 'will survive as long as the English language, with whose expressiveness in image and idea she has kept faith, remains'. In the introduction Elizabeth Jennings - herself among the most distinguished of contemporary poets - pays tribute to Pitter's 'acute sensibility and deep integrity' and refers to her precision in observing Nature, her skill with verse forms and the frequency with which she achieves a 'beautifully communicated vision'. 'O give me before I die, The grace to see With eternal, ultimate eye, The Bird and the Tree. The song in the living green, The Tree and the Bird - O have they ever been seen, Ever been heard' - from "The Bird in the Tree".

This new volume gathers together the finest of Ruth Pitter's poems, which in Kathleen Raine's judgement 'will survive as long as the English language, with whose expressiveness in image and idea she has kept faith, remains'. In the introduction Elizabeth Jennings - herself among the most distinguished of contemporary poets - pays tribute to Pitter's 'acute sensibility and deep integrity' and refers to her precision in observing Nature, her skill with verse forms and the frequency with which she achieves a 'beautifully communicated vision'. 'O give me before I die, The grace to see With eternal, ultimate eye, The Bird and the Tree. The song in the living green, The Tree and the Bird - O have they ever been seen, Ever been heard' - from "The Bird in the Tree".