British Poetry since 1945 is a poetry anthology edited by Edward Lucie-Smith, published in 1970 by Penguin Books, with a second and last edition in 1985. The anthology is a careful attempt to take account of the whole span of post-war British poetry,[1] including poets from The Group, a London-centred workshop that Lucie-Smith himself had once been chairman of, following the departure of founder Philip Hobsbaum.
While the first section, "Sources," includes older poets such as Robert Graves, John Betjeman and Dylan Thomas, the second section "New Voices" includes Seamus Heaney, and also Liverpool poets Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, who at the time were not accepted by mainstream critics (although they were included in the best-selling The Mersey Sound anthology from 1967).
Lucie-Smith wrote in the introduction:
The evidence seems to be in favour of the notion that British poetry is currently in a period of exploration, and that it is not in the thrall of any dominant figure, or even of any dominant literary of political idea. It is for this reason that I have cast my net so wide, and have chosen to represent so many writers.
The first edition of the anthology was reprinted several times. A revised edition appeared in 1985; it omitted some poets and added new ones. The new sections recognised the increasing influence of the Northern Irish and "university" poets.