"Views and Distances" is Vernon Scannell's first collection of poems to be published since "The Black and White Days" in 1996. Although he is one of our most senior poets, this volume shows no diminution in the wit, technical skill and sheer imaginative and emotional range that characterise his work. In his new book there are poems that celebrate the durability of love in its various manifestations and others that revel in the lucid possibilities of language. A number of classical forms are employed, including the sonnet, villanelle and sestina, but Scannell always maintains an easy colloquial voice, even in the most eloquent and lyrical pieces.