Nigel Foxell's first and scholarly book,
Ten Poems Analysed
(Pergamon Press, 1966), concluded with his study of Gerard Manley Hopkins' masterpiece, 'The Wreck of the Deutschland', that "magisterially eccentric work of genius" in the phrase of Geoffrey Hill. Over fifty years on, this is the chapter Foxell has chosen to reprint.
Along with the poem, the new book contains his Introduction to the poem from 1966 as well as detailed notes, which have been corrected where necessary and occasionally updated. One of the great long poems in the English language, 'The Wreck of the Deutschland'' deserves and requires close and subtle attention from the imagination and intellect of critics. A new generation of readers will be grateful to Nigel Foxell, poet, novelist and scholar, for the diligence and love he has brought to bear on this formidable task.