AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE AUTHOR OF STONER Poetry in English as we know it was largely invented in England between the early 1500s and 1630, and yet for many years the poetry of the era was considered little more than a run-up to Shakespeare. The twentieth century brought a reevaluation, and the English Renaissance has since come to be recognized as the period of extraordinary poetic experimentation that it was. Never since have the possibilities of poetic form and, especially, poetic voice—from the sublime to the scandalous and slangy—been so various and inviting. This is poetry that speaks directly across the centuries to the renaissance of poetic exploration in our own time. John Williams’s celebrated anthology includes not only some of the most famous poems by some of the most famous poets of the English language (Sir Thomas Wyatt, John Donne, and of course Shakespeare) but also-—-and this is what makes Williams’s book such a rare and rich resource—the strikingly original work of little-known masters like George Gascoigne and Fulke Greville.

Outstanding anthology features more than 150 English and American masterpieces spanning over 400 years. "Death Be Not Proud," "The Tyger," "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," plus works by Tennyson, Whitman, Dickinson, Yeats, Frost, others. Includes 3 selections from the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Although known best for his sweeping allegorical epic "The Faerie Queen," Edmund Spenser wrote a number of other significant poems. His first major poetical work "The Shepherd's Calendar" begins this collection of his "Selected Shorter Poems." An emulation of Virgil's "Eclogues," "The Shepherd's Calendar" depicts the life of shepherd Colin Clout through the twelve months of his year. The twelve eclogues of the poem, each named after a different month, discuss abuses of the church, offer praise for Queen Elizabeth, and reveal the struggles of a lonely shepherd. Also included in this edition of Spenser's poetry are the following poems: "The Ruins of Time," "Prosopopoia," "Muiopotmos," "Colin Clout's Come Home Again," "Amoretti," and "Epithalamion."

This edition contains all Milton's English poems, with the exception of Paradise Lost, together with translations and texts of all his Latin, Italian and Greek poems. It provides explanatory notes and a summary of modern criticisms for each poem.

This hardcover edition presents an international sampling of classic poetry. It features ancient Greek, Latin, and Persian poets such as Homer, Sappho, and Martial as well as Arabic, Chinese, German, Indian, Japanese, and Yiddish poems from the 12th century BC through the 20th century, plus English, Irish, and American classics by Yeats, Byron, Dickinson, and others.

English-born poet, whose world view developed from youthful rebellion to rediscovered Anglo-Catholicism. In his work Auden reconciled tradition and modernism. Auden is widely considered among the greatest literary figures of the 20th century.

A vital, engaging, and hugely enjoyable guide to poetry, from ancient times to the present, by one of our greatest champions of literature The Times and Sunday Times, Best Books of 2020 “[A] fizzing, exhilarating book.”—Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work—over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. But this Little History is about some that have not. John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world, such as Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Yeats. He also looks at more recent poets, like Derek Walcott, Marianne Moore, and Maya Angelou, who have started to question what makes a poem “great” in the first place. For readers both young and old, this little history shines a light for readers on the richness of the world’s poems—and the elusive quality that makes them all the more enticing.

Including authoritative texts of poems by twenty-three major and minor poets--from John Donne, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson to George Gasciogne and Fulke Greville--and Williams' critical preface, English Renaissance Poetry remains an invaluable introductory anthology of short poems from our first modern poetry.