This is an anthology of poetry, with one or two prose excerpts, which explores the world on nonsense, fantasy and satire from the Middle ages to the present day, revealing its place in English poetry. It is intended to be fun, extending the definition of nonsense and including some surprising and perhaps challenging items. Although most of the work is by English poets, there are also poems from America, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and Spain which are mostly in translation. Hugh Haughton has edited Gustav Janouch's Conversations with Kafka and Rudyard Kipling's Wee Willie Winkie.