Paul Muldoon is firmly established as among the most challenging of contemporary poets. His work ranges from explorations of his native Ulster, and his life there, to more esoteric subjects such as the discovery of America by a medieval Welsh prince, and the work of creators and philosophers from Auden to Spinoza.

Personal and public, complex and probing, surprising and attractive, Muldoon's poetry is a microcosm of the concerns of contemporary literature. In this, the first book on Muldoon, Tim Kendall explores his life and writing from his student volume to his present work as a lecturer at Princeton. He devotes a chapter to each of Muldoon's books, placing it in the context of his life, writing in Ireland and contemporary poetry.

In the course of this tour of the Muldoon canon Kendall offers an accessible and distinguished reading of the work, supplemented by a chapter of biography. The resulting study is an indispensable guide to one of the most exciting figures in world poetry.

Tim Kendall is a lecturer in English at the University of Bristol and an authority on the poetry of Ireland. The editor of the literary and critical magazine Thumbscrew, his study of Sylvia Plath was published in 2001 by Faber.