The Times Book of English Verse - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000472450X ISBN 13: 9780004724508

Publisher: Times Books, 2004

Synopsis

The most comprehensive survey of English Verse available, covering seven centuries, from Chaucer to Heaney, and including longer poems – such as Paradise Lost and The Prelude – in their entirety.

Seven centuries of English Verse, attractively laid out and lightly annotated: from anonymous medieval lyrics to the finest contemporary poets, and also embracing ballads, dialect poems and important translations. Compiled by one of Britain’s leading anthologists, this is the poetry collection for all the family.
From the Introduction by Harold Bloom: ‘The full range of English poetry is extraordinary, both in its diversity and in its splendor.This anthology remarkably is able to suggest something of both that variety and that magnificence...And yet one might assert that the special excellence of the English tradition in poetry transcends the linguistic instrument. Whatever the theology or the metaphysics or the aesthetics of individual poets, there is an enduring capacity in most of the major figures for what Blake termed Vision. Vision, in this sense, is the gift of seeing the objects of sense
perception charged with a higher degree of spiritual intensity than normally is available to our sensibilities. Because, in their very different ways,
the English poets have had this impulse towards Vision, they have inspired generation after generation of readers to at least approach the threshold of transcendental possibilities.’

About this title

From the Publisher:

Seven centuries of English Verse, attractively laid out and lightly annotated: from anonymous medieval lyrics to the finest contemporary poets, and also embracing ballads, dialect poems and important translations. Compiled by one of Britain’s leading anthologists, this is the poetry collection for all the family.
From the Introduction by Harold Bloom: ‘The full range of English poetry is extraordinary, both in its diversity and in its splendor.This anthology remarkably is able to suggest something of both that variety and that magnificence...And yet one might assert that the special excellence of the English tradition in poetry transcends the linguistic instrument. Whatever the theology or the metaphysics or the aesthetics of individual poets, there is an enduring capacity in most of the major figures for what Blake termed Vision. Vision, in this sense, is the gift of seeing the objects of sense
perception charged with a higher degree of spiritual intensity than normally is available to our sensibilities. Because, in their very different ways,
the English poets have had this impulse towards Vision, they have inspired generation after generation of readers to at least approach the threshold of transcendental possibilities.’

Includes the highlights of seven centuries of verse, from Chaucer to Heaney

Includes the whole texts of such masterpieces as Wordsworth’s great journey of self-discovery, The Prelude

The one poetry collection anyone need buy, whether for individual browsing or as a classic work of reference for the family

Compiled and lightly annotated with clear explanations by a highly regarded authority

Introduced by one of the world’s greatest literary critics, Harold Bloom

Includes introductions to their favourite poems by top columnists from The Times, including Philip Howard on Milton’s ‘Lycidas’, Libby Purves on Hardy’s ‘The Darkling Thrush’, Caitlin Moran on Dylan Thomas’s ‘Poem in October’, and editor Peter Stodhard on Chaucer’s ‘Nun’s Priest’s Tale’.

From the Author:

The Times Book of English Verse is an attempt to provide more than is usual with poetry anthologies. It is probably the most comprehensive survey of the English poetic tradition ever attempted in one volume and offers what amounts almost to a poetry library for the family bookshelf. In place of the conventional selection of short lyrics and brief extracts, the Times anthology ranges widely over the rich variety of English verse and includes many larger works like Paradise Lost, The Rape of the Lock and The Prelude in their entirety.

About this edition

• Publisher: Times Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 000472450X
• ISBN 13: 9780004724508
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 700
• Editor: Leeson Edward