This volume was first published in 1957 and was intended as an appreciation of poetry, based on the study of authors' corrected manuscripts, revised published versions, transpositions of prose into verse, and contrasted translations. A. F. Scott divides his study into five sections: the first section has photographs of manuscript poems by twenty-four poets. The second section presents for comparison the first published version of eight well-known poems, with the revisions published later. A brief history of the changes is given, so that the making of some of the poems can be followed over the years. The third section gives six poems, with the source used by the poet for his poem. The fourth section gives 34 poetical versions of twelve originals. The fifth and final section contains 120 poems, paired for contrast and comparison, unsigned, and with a specific critical subject suggested for each pair.
