A leading light in the renaissance of Irish poetry, JOHN MONTAGUE was born in Brooklyn and "returned" to County Tyrone at age of four. After graduating from University College, Dublin, he worked as a journalist from the Irish Times before publishing Poisoned Lands, his first book of verse. Montague taught in French and American universities before taking a chair at University College, Cork, where he remained for 16 years. He now divides his time between his home in Cork and the States, where he is Distinguished Professor in the Writers Institute of SUNY-Albany.

"The best Irish poet of his generation."—Derek Mahon

". . .there is in poetry something that surprises itself rather that proclaims itself; and Montague's often shows this gift."—John Bayley, New York Review of Books

"In Mr. Montague's fine, firm poems loving force is always made real by being felt as threatened by the angers of Ireland and of this Irishman."—Christopher Ricks, New York Times Book Review