One of New Zealand's leading poets, Elizabeth Smither has published many collections and has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry. Her poems are characteristically slim, so the substantial selection of her work gathered in The Tudor Style has a striking effect. As Bill Manhire says, Smither's poems 'wave to one another, open doors and climb through windows'. This subtle and witty interconnectedness is a distinctive quality in her work. The poems show a delight in image, epigram and unexpected anecdotes. These swift darting poems return to themes such as women friends, gardens, figures of legend and story, religious experience and conversations. They form a striking and original whole, revealing Smither as a distinguished poet.