This work investigates the capacity of poetry to provide a necessary counterweight to the harsh realities of the political and social world. Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Prize-winning poet, utilizes his position as Professor of Poetry at Oxford to articulate a defense of the art form. He argues that poetry serves as a form of redress, balancing the scales of human experience by offering imaginative space and linguistic precision against the pressures of historical and personal circumstance.

Critics and scholars frequently cite this collection as a vital articulation of Heaney's aesthetic philosophy. The text is noted for its accessible, conversational tone, which avoids academic jargon while maintaining a rigorous intellectual focus on the mechanics of poetic influence.