In this delightful homage to the now unfashionable Neapolitan poet, two contemporary poets who share a fascination with his work present their selection of fresh versions from his best-known collection. In their introductions they explore the background to his work and the qualities, literary and human, which drew them to him.

 

Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45-96 AD) was a prize-winning poet whose reputation remained high until well into the Middle Ages. He featured both in Chaucer's House of Fame (as `Stace') and in Dante's Divine Comedy, where he is called `il dolce poeta'.

 

Anthony Howell, born in 1945, is well known as a performance artist and as poet. He has published eleven collections of poetry, several - including his Selected Poems (2000) and Dancers in Daylight (2003) - with Anvil, as well as a novel and other prose works.

 

Bill Shepherd, born in 1935, is a therapeutic counsellor. His Horace: The Complete Odes and Epodes and Propertius: The Poems were published as Penguin Classics in the 1980s. Several collections of his poetry have appeared, including three from Anvil. His most recent is Mother's Milk (Menard, 2006).