Spanning four golden centuries of poetry in the English language. This classic Penguin anthology opens with Wyatt, Spenser and Shakespeare and concludes with Dylan Thomas. Along the way, in a kind of royal progress from the reign of the first Elizabeth to that of the second, it takes in metaphysical poetry, romantic poetry and war poetry; verse by the great Americans such as Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost; love songs and lyrics, odes, sonnets and elegies. it contains, altogether, some of the best, the riches and most delightful poetry written in the English language.