Michael Longley's Man Lying on a Wall might almost be a photograph album of a family holiday in the country: the poet is seen swimming, plucking a goose, carrying water, admiring a view, sailing, etc—some of the poems are like extended haikus where natural objects are seen with clarity and affection, but Mr Longley is seldom content just to describe and allow the reader to make connections between the objects of the poem and the feelings they arouse. It is as if the photographs were each supplied with a caption that sought to turn a snapshot into a statement….

Nowadays poets don't like to be thought of as writing light verse, though it is a respectable genre with a long history. The title poem of Mr Longley's collection describes a man, dressed in a city suit complete with bowler hat, lying on a wall, and wonders whether...