The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse

by Iona Opie and Opie et al

Book Overview

Succinctly called "a book of tales of various kinds, romantic, humorous, ghostly, and gory, written at any time over the past six hundred years" by the compilers, Iona Opie and the late Peter Opie, this universally-appealing collection of 59 poems illuminates the literary tradition of narrative verse from Chaucer to Auden.
The anthology includes Pope's "The Rape of the Lock," Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Tennyson's "The Lady...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192822438
• ISBN13: 9780192822437
• Release Date: April 1989
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Oxford Book of Narrative Verse

Thus is a useful collection of longer poems for those in search of longer poems which are not generally found in anthologies.

Could include more light-hearted poems

This book of narrative verse is one of the best collections out in the market. The popular poems are included, from "The Pied Piper" to "Horatius," and the reader will be very pleased with this book. All the poems are presented in their entirety, but poems like Horatius have been shortened mercilessly. However, there is one negative point about this book. Most of the poems are serious poems and I think that the authors should include more light-hearted stuff, especially two narrative poems from T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," the inspiration for the hit musical "Cats." These two poems are "Growltiger's Last Stand" and "The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles." These are the two poems that can make the book more light-hearted.