This magnificent anthology presents the Irish tradition as a unity: verse in Irish and English, usually regarded separately, are shown as elements in a shared and often painful history. The selection begins in pre-Christian times and closes with nineteenth- and twentieth-century verse. Poets featured include Swift, Goldsmith, W. B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, and Seamus Heaney.

Features 100 poems from Irish poets of the 18th and 19th centuries ? Goldsmith, Sheridan, Moore, Wilde ? plus important lesser-known writers: James Clarence Mangan, Sir Samuel Ferguson, Aubrey de Vere, many more.

In 1895 the thirty-year-old W.B. Yeats, already established as one of Ireland's leading poets and folklorists, published this outstanding collection of Irish verse as part of his campaign to establish a tradition of Irish poetry fit for the dawn of a new age in Ireland's history. This Routledge Classics edition, complete with a specially commissioned introduction by acclaimed writer and critic John Banville, is essential reading for all who appreciate good literature.

The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry features the work of the greatest Irish poets, from the monks of the ancient monasteries to the Nobel laureates W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, from Jonathan Swift and Oliver Goldsmith to Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, along with a profusion of lyrics, love poems, satires, ballads and songs. Reflecting Ireland's complex past and lively present, this collection of Irish verse is an indispensable guide to the history, culture and romance of one of Europe's oldest civilizations. In his introduction to this new Penguin Classics edition, Patrick Crotty explores the traditions of poetry in Ireland, and relates the rich variety of the poems to the long and frequently troubled history of the island.

Works by more than 60 Irish poets, from 18th century to modern times, includepoems bySwift, Goldsmith, Moore; Allingham, Yeats, Joyce; plus verses by lesser-known poets."

With its roots in the devotional verse of the early Christian church and the long lyric poems of the Irish bards, Irish poetry has a rich and robust tradition both of engagement and self-reflection. It has grappled long with politics and has provided the most eloquent response to Ireland's turbulent history, mediating and mitigating histories of loyalty and loss; it has soaked itself in the Irish landscape and Celtic myth; it has encompassed religion, so much a part of Ireland's cultural heritage. At the same time Irish poets have given their own original slant to everyday experience and affairs of the heart.Thematically organized and spanning many centuries, this selection also features a section of Gaelic poetry in translation, notably excerpts from the 18th-century epic masterpiece, Brian Merriman's The Midnight Court.

This anthology of modern Irish verse has been expertly selected and edited by the celebrated poet William Butler Yeats. Ranging from classic writers such as Oliver Goldsmith to contemporary poets such as Katharine Tynan Hinkson, this collection is a testament to the richness and diversity of Irish poetry. Yeats provides insightful notes to each poem, illuminating their significance and context. From romantic ballads to political laments, this book is a treasure trove of the finest Irish poetry. Here's an excerpt from one of the poems featured here, 'Mairgréad Ni Chealleadh' by Edward Walsh: "At the dance in the village thy white foot was fleetest / Thy voice in the concert of maidens was sweetest / The swell of thy white breast made rich lovers follow / And thy raven hair bound them, young Mairgréad ni Chealleadh."

Compact anthology features many of the best works by 59 poets writing in English, among them Edmund Spenser, Christina Rossetti, John Milton, Robert Burns, and William Blake.