A Letter to Lao Tze is the fifth collection of poems by one of the most readable of the younger English poets. Richard Church has singled him out for special praise and the late L. A. G. Strong, in a comprehensive article on his work, wrote: "With Charles Causley's, whom John Smith in certain ways resembles, this poetry has made a deeper impression on me than any in the past ten years." In 1953 he was awarded the first Adam International Review prize, and his last collection of poems Excursus in Autumn was a Poetry Book Society Choice.

We confidently expect this new volume to advance his reputation still further. Here are love lyrics of a fresh simplicity rare in present-day verse; poems of a delicious irony; and two substantial "anti-philosophical" poems of great strength.

John Smith is not a "poet's poet"; his work should appeal to all readers who have an ear for the beauty of English poetry.