by John Wain
First published 1991
John Wain assembles four hundred years of English poetry in this comprehensive collection. The anthology begins with Elizabethan poets and traces the evolution of English verse through successive generations to contemporary writers. Wain selects representative works that demonstrate the changing forms, themes, and voices that have shaped English poetry across the centuries. Readers encounter the formal structures of earlier periods alongside the experimental approaches of modern poets. The collection reveals how English poetry has responded to historical changes, social movements, and artistic innovations over four centuries. This anthology provides access to the breadth and diversity of the English poetic tradition, offering both familiar classics and lesser-known works that illuminate the ongoing development of the art form.
Genres: english-literature, anthologies, 20th-century, poetry, 21st-century
Vibes: lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction
Period: Elizabethan, Modern
1482 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press