Tom Paulin's A Secret Life of Poems: A Poetry Primer is an encounter with some of the most celebrated poems in the English language, by one of the most distinguished poet-critics of our time.

The Secret Life of Poems is a primer which offers a poem - or on occasion an excerpt - succeeding with commentary in which rhythm, form, metre and sources are the order of the day, not ethical commentary or descriptive paraphrase. This brief engagement with forty-seven poems is intended for students and readers of poetry, and seeks to explain how poetry works by bringing into view the hidden order of specific poems.