New Collected Rhymes

Andrew Lang, the Scottish polymath who gave the world the fairy tales we still read today, proves his own verse deserves equal reverence. "New Collected Rhymes" gathers poems written with the wit of a man who reviewed nearly every major work of his era, combined with the heart of a Scotsman who never stopped mourning certain lost causes. The collection ranges from tender Jacobite ballads that ache for Culloden and the Bonnie Banks to playful verses dissecting literature and art, from whimsical takes on daily life to surprisingly devoted cricket poems that would make any Victorian gentleman smile. Lang writes with deceptive ease, his rhythms effortless, his rhymes cunning, his observations sharp enough to pierce but never cruel. These are poems for quiet hours, for readers who appreciate language that does double duty - entertaining while it provokes, nostalgic while it winks.