<p><b>Clive James read, learned and recited poetry aloud for most of his life. In this, the last book he completed before his death, the much-loved poet, broadcaster and author offers a selection of his favourite poems and a personal commentary on each.</b><br><br>In the last months of his life, his vision impaired by surgery and unable to read, Clive James explored the treasure-house of his mind: the poems he knew best, so good that he didn't just remember them, he found them impossible to forget. <i>The Fire of Joy</i> is the record of this final journey of recollection and celebration.<br><br>Enthralled by poetry all his life, James knew hundreds of poems by heart. In offering this selection of his favourites, a succession of poems from the sixteenth century to the present, his aim is to inspire you to discover and to learn, and perhaps even to speak poetry aloud.<br><br>In his highly personal anthology, James offers a commentary on each of the eighty or so poems: sometimes a historical or critical note on the poem or its author, sometimes a technical point about the poem's construction from someone who was himself a poet, sometimes a personal anecdote about the role the poem played in his own life.<br><br>Whether you're familiar with a poem or not &ndash; whether you're familiar with poetry in general or not &ndash; these chatty, unpretentious, often tender mini-essays convey the joy of James's enthusiasm and the benefit of his knowledge. His urgent wish was to share with a new generation what he himself had loved. This is a book to be read cover to cover or dipped into: either way it generously opens up a world for our delight.<br><br><b>'Clive James's joyous farewell . . . from Thomas Wyatt to Carol Ann Duffy' &ndash; <i>Guardian</i>, Best Poetry of 2020<br><br>Clive James</b> (1939&ndash;2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His acclaimed poetry includes the collection <i>Sentenced to Life</i> and a translation of Dante's <i>The Divine Comedy</i>, both <i>Sunday Times</i> bestsellers.</p>