Gate of Lilacs

James writes with exquisite perception and surgical precision; he is a poet of powerful argument and emotional force The Times A writer whose commanding voice contains a constant variety of colour and tone -- Robert McCrum Observer After writing poems for 50 years, his technique is deft and assured Independent on Saturday He is a unique figure, a straddler of genres and a bridger of the gaps between high and low culture. He will be seen, I think, as one of the most important and influential writers of our time -- Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times Part of a great burst of late fruition ... graceful in its thought, moving in its insights, and often written with a fluidity that makes me wish he had done more of this sort of thing. I'll also put it on my students' reading list to remind them that, whatever the universities tell us, we can't understand something until we have responded to it creatively New Statesman