This year, in conjunction with our partners at The Poetry Society, we asked a handful of Young Critics to dive into the T.S. Eliot Prize archives and explore winning collections from the Prize’s history. Our aim is to reintroduce you to a classic on the Eliot Prize bookshelf.

Our latest recommendation comes from Young Critic Cal O’Reilly, who has reviewed of Anne Carson’s The Beauty of the Husband (Cape Poetry), the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2001.

‘The poems in Anne Carson’s The Beauty of the Husband have all the dramatic tension, eroticism and energy of the tango – voices dance at arms’ length as the distance between husband and wife is laid bare,’ Cal writes.

Read Cal’s review in full on the T. S. Eliot Prize website and the Young Poets Network, and look out for Young Critics’ reviews of other winning collections over the coming weeks.

The Young Critics Scheme, established in 2022, is a prestigious partnership programme devised by The Poetry Society and the T. S. Eliot Prize. Every year, the scheme commissions ten emerging poetry reviewers to produce video reviews of the Prize Shortlist. Look out for the announcement of the 2026 cohort of Young Critics this September.

Cal O’Reilly (he/they), a Young Critic in 2024, is a poet from Wexford. He currently works in a cafe and will begin an MA in poetry this autumn. His debut pamphlet Boyish is forthcoming with fourteen poems.