A Book of English Poetry: Chaucer to Rossetti

by G.B. Harrison (Compiler), Various

Representing English poets from the 14th to the 19th century, this anthology includes over 200 poems by over 60 poets. They are arranged chronologically and early English has been made accessible to the modern reader. Extracts are given, where necessary, so that longer works are not overlooked.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

George Bagshawe Harrison was a British scholar and critic, educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. In 1924 he began lecturing at King's College, University of London, subsequently holding professorships at Queen's University, Ontario, and the University of Michigan. Among his many works on Shakespeare and his period were Shakespeare's Fellows (1923), Elizabethan Plays and Players (1940), and Shakespeare's Critics: From Jonson to Auden (1964); England in Shakespeare's Day (1928) and Shakespeare at Work (1933) are highly regarded as introductions to the social and cultural contexts of Shakespeare's work. He also produced numerous editions of Elizabethan and Jacobean documents, notably Thomas Nashe's Pierce Pennilesse, His Supplication to the Divell, 1592 (1924), An Elizabethan Journal (three volumes, 1928, 1931, 1933), A Jacobean Journal (two volumes, 1941, 1950), and The Letters of Queen Elizabeth I (1935). Harrison was general editor of the Penguin Shakespeare between 1937 and 1959. His other publications included The Day Before Yesterday (1938), a journal for the year 1936; Julius Caesar in Shakespeare, Shaw, and the Ancients (1960); and Profession of English (1962), which reflects on the objectives and procedures of literary studies. '

Reviews

[Sladjana Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY(Chaucer to Rossetti)
🦟Blago sa buvljaka za džabe pare😊
📜Knjiga je zbirka engleske poezije od XIV do XIX veka
📜U početku,moram da priznam,bilo je muka,ali posle postaje lakše,kako se jezik osavremenjuje 😁
📜Zbirka sadrži zaista sve što je najznačajnije i najpriznatije u engleskoj poeziji-od Čoserovih Kanterberijskih priča(fragmenti), preko odlimaka iz dramskih dela i nekih soneta Vilijama Šekspira,delove Miltonovog Izgubljenog raja,pa do imena kao što su Aleksander Poup,Vilijam Blejk,Vordsvort,Bajron,Šeli,Kits,Lord Tenison...
📜Da ne prepisujem stih ponstih,evo drugog od sedam pevanja jedne horor pesme koja je u zbirci štampana u celini,a inspirisala je i ljude poput Steve-a Harrisa i Bruce Dickinsona 🤘
✒The Rime of the Ancient Mariner-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
PART II
The Sun now rose upon the right:

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left

Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day for food or play

Came to the mariner's hollo!

And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work 'em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

That made the breeze to blow!

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,

The glorious Sun uprist:

Then all averred, I had killed the bird

That brought the fog and mist.

'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,

That bring the fog and mist.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free;

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,

'Twas sad as sad could be;

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#7sensesofabook #bookstagram #literature #classicliterature #poetry #knjige #readingaddict

[Levi Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does everyone have to write about death? Were poets emo before emos?

Aside from too much yay deathyness, this were a pretty enjoyable collection of poetry, a good sampling of all poetry by English authors; I guess that’s the project they set out to do but just be aware that if you want to read Scottish or Irish poets or Americans those will not be read here.

I enjoyed getting acquainted with a wide variety of these poets starting all the way back with Chaucer and Spencer and Shakespeare and progressing up through the 1800s. This was a great way to sample many people and get an idea of who you’d like to read more of.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I actually found this book while I was going through the books my Grandfather owned three days after his death. I felt like i lost a piece of my life, as he and i were every bit like minded when it came to books. I knew he treasured this book well as the book was a really old one and its first edition, and that it was in better condition than any of the old or new books he had. This book is one that is close to my heart. A glorious collection of poems."

[Syed Muhammad Hamza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quoting from the back cover: " Here are two hundred poems by over sixty poets from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The poems are arranged chronologically, and early English has been made accessible to the modern reader. Extracts are given, where necessary, so that the reader should not overlook longer works."

[Morgan Holdsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I completely forgot to update this daily and update that I had finished it, but looking back on my notes on the collection I thought it was interesting what was classed as a poem. The collection pulls from other literature often including Hamlet’s famous ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ soliloquy included as a poem. I found myself enjoying the collection more as it progressed further into more modern poems, with particular new favourites such as Farewell to Tobacco, When We Two Parted, The Song of The Shirt and Home thoughts, From Abroad. Overall, this as a vintage pelican will likely become a decorative book on my shelf serving as something nice to look at, instead of something I would pick up again.

[cosmi ₊˚⊹ᰔ]

Another classic book that I thought I would read with ease but had outsmarted me in the end. It took me 5 months to read this book solely because I kept avoiding it, since some poems were ridiculously long and full of unintelligible words.

This poem got stuck in my head, tho. It's called "The Bargain", by Sir Phillip Sidney. Such a beautiful one. Made the entire book for me.

But still, maybe I should take a break from classics. My vocabulary is not rich enough to understand them, and that takes away all the enjoyment I could have while reading the books.

[Jen B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book physically fell apart 0/10

[the69thwave · Rating 3 out of 5]

the great bri'ish mid-off

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most mid-century poetry collections, there's not a single woman in this, which is always pretty shocking by modern standards. Browning makes the cut, but not Barrett. Dante Gabriel but not Christina. God, poetry editors used to be so weird about these things.
At any rate, what I do like in this collection is the number of Early Modern and Restoration poets I hadn't encountered before. I think these older collections are suprisingly telling as cultural artefacts in their own right.

[Ijorabi]

This is a decent collection. A bit random, but it has good stuff.

[Jasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I officially love English Poetry! Chaucer, Marlowe, Devereux... Brilliant!!

[merv · Rating 3 out of 5]

ive read enough descriptions of female body parts to last a lifetime