The day-to-day format of the anthology invites readers to make poetry a part of their daily routine, and makes sure that they discover something inspirational, life affirming, provocative, moving or entertaining each and every day. I listened to this as an audio book I had borrowed from the library and would listen to a few poems each day. I’m not really a fan of the format; each piece of information could have been in separate lines or columns.

Overall it was very enjoyable to read 1 poem a night with my mum - something we have been doing for atleast 3 years now.Seamus Heaney had the idea to form a personal selection of poems from across the entire arc of his writing life, small yet comprehensive enough to serve as an introduction for all comers. This soul-enhancing book is the perfect gift that will last the whole year, with a little bit of magic to read every day. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain. This year has been a very busy and at times stressful year so reading a poem every day has helped me to cope and put me in a good place at the beginning of each day. I loved it unreservedly and it’s one of my books of the year because it brings human connection and joy to the reader.

However, one minor point is that there was some overlap with 'A Poem for Every Night of the Year', which I think should've been avoided, considering it's the same editor publishing these anthologies. A great habit to be cultivated throughout a year, for once if you want to broaden yourselves in poetry and for other to pick up books in general mire often. He never managed to do this himself, and no other edition exists which has such a broad range, drawing from first to last of his prize-winning collections.

Sometimes I did feel a few of the poems were overly long with too much description but most were short and easy to read. I don’t want to spoil the discovery for others but she raises some interesting questions about context and the balance between poet and poem in the reader’s consideration that had me thinking when I wasn’t dipping in to the poems. Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Christina Rossetti and Emily Bronte sit alongside Roger McGough, Wendy Cope, Imtiaz Dharker, Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Plath and Ocean Vuong. dh A Poem For Every Day of the Year is a magnificent collection of 366 poems compiled by Allie Esiri, one to share on every day of the year.