Day-Lewis’s first collection, Beechen Vigil, was
published in 1925, his last, The Whispering Roots,
in 1970, just two years before his death. His style
changed a great deal over those years. In 1951, he
became only the second living writer (after TS Eliot)
to be featured in the popular series of
‘Penguin Poets’ paperbacks. In his introduction,
he wrote: ‘Looking back over my verse of the last
20 years, I was struck by its lack of development
– in the sense of one poetic phase emerging
recognizably from the previous one and leading
inevitably to the next: it would all be much tidier
and more in accordance with critical specifications,
were this not so. But my verse seems to me a series of fresh beginnings rather than a continuous line.’

We here present a very small selection of poems in chronological order to give you a flavour of his writing. Click on each title on the menu to read the full text. On those marked with a * there is an audio panel at the end of the text. Use this to listen to C Day-Lewis's widow, the actress Jill Balcon, introduce and read the poem.

Poem 3 from The Magnetic Mountain (1933)
The Volunteer (1938)
Watching Post (1940)
The Album (1943)
Where Are The War Poets? (1943)
Is It Far To Go? (1944)
*The House Where I Was Born (1957)
*Walking Away (1962)
*My Mother's Sister (1965)
*On Not Saying Everything (1965)
At Lemmons (1972)