Poetry in English: An Anthology

by Macha Louis Rosenthal

Book Overview

This authoritative, handsomely designed anthology of poetry from the Anglo-Saxon to the contemporary stresses major figures without neglecting minor ones of quality. Meant for survey and genre courses (and for all interested readers), it offers responsible scholarly texts for study in themselves and for seeing both the continuities and the changes in dominant modes over the centuries. The larger aim is to enhance the appreciation of poetic art generally.

Selection is based on excellence, along with certain necessary considerations: how well poems reflect their periods, show the development of a form or genre, illustrate a poet's range, and speak to modern sensibilities. Whenever feasible, complete poems are used.

In addition to headnotes, annotations, and known dates of composition and publication, Poetry in English includes M.L. Rosenthal's introduction, Sally M. Gall's comprehensive essay on versification, and an author/title/first line index. It is the ideal text for students and teachers alike.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195205391
• ISBN13: 9780195205398
• Release Date: October 1987
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 1248 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Library Basic for Anyone Who Loves English Literature

This excellent collection spans from the Middle English ballads to the mid nineteen-eighties, though it is does cover the eighteenth, nineteenth, and first half of the twentieth century most thoroughly. It also is very well footnoted, and these notes helped me to gain a deeper understanding of some of my favorites. I bought it for The Second Coming by Yeats, September 1, 1939 by Auden, Ozymandias by Shelley and Dulce Et Decorum Est by Owens, and it contains all of these. But it also offers so much more. It is my intention to read a poem a day until I cover the whole book.

Excellent all- around introduction..

This anthology is an excellent all- around introduction to English poetry produced by a great scholar and appreciator of poetry.