Empty Nest: Poems for Families

In this stunning anthology Carol Ann Duffy has selected 99 poems exploring parenting.

The special bond between parent and child is both powerful and unique. And yet there is a time when that bond must ease, where our grip on that dear one must loosen, when we must let them go whether we are ready to or not.

In Empty Nest, a beautiful selection of modern and classic poems range along the tender line between parent and child, covering growing old, the deep love of a parent, the everyday of family life and leaving home to live an independent life, but also unthinkable grief, loss and estrangement. Some of our very favourite poets feature in the selection, such as Elizabeth Bishop, Jackie Kay, Simon Armitage, Shakespeare, Imtiaz Dharker, Seamus Heaney and Don Paterson.

These poems are by turns wry, affecting, profound, melancholy and wise; they will console and comfort those suddenly facing a house that’s much cleaner but also much quieter than it was. There is something here for every reader to treasure.