The New Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1950

by Helen Gardner (Editor)

An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here

The New Oxford Book of English Verse is now firmly established as a classic anthology of English poetry. Chosen by the distinguished scholar and critic, Dame Helen Gardner, the book makes available in one volume the full range and variety of English non-dramatic verse. Dame Helen Gardner reflected the critical consensus of the day in broadening her choices beyond those of Quiller-Couch's lyrical tastes, and the anthology balances poems that deal with public events and historic occasions with poems of private life, and religious, moral or political verse with satire and light verse. All the major poets are fully represented, and there are also superb works by lesser known poets, and many surprises among the favourites.

Genres: Poetry, Reference, Classics, Fiction, Literature, Anthologies, Poetry Plays

974 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Helen Louise Gardner, Professor of English Literature with distinguished critical work on John Donne and T.S. Eliot. First woman to hold the Merton Professor of English Literature chair at Oxford (1966-1975).
Wikipedia

Reviews

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only four stars because it doesn't have the Donne poem, "To my mistress, on going to bed," with the spectacular line, "Oh America, My New Found Land!" Dear lord, if only someone would cry that out to me between the sheets, what a night that would be!

Still, someday, my children will have a high school English project, and I will have this book at hand, and will be able to show them the Robert Herrick poem, "When as in silks my Julia goes, / Then, then, me thinks, how sweetly flows / the liquefaction of her clothes!" etc. Still, these Oxford collections are very handy to have around, especially when gotten cheaply at second-hand bookshops.

[Chuck King]

700 years of selected English poetry, read in one year. A rewarding pastime and an impetus to read more poetry every year!

[tara bomp]

I cannot comment on the poetry content because I am bad at poetry but I'll say a few things about the anthology.

The glosses provided for obscure words are too rare - this is particularly a problem with the earliest poems. The spelling has sometimes been modernised but sometimes not and it leaves some words very confusing and the whole poem near impossible to understand.

There are no meaningful notes on meaning or context and for many poems there's no comment on source. Poems aren't ever given a year of composition which makes context even harder to discern sometimes.

There's no contents or an index of poem titles - I realise this isn't always possible but it'd still be useful. There's just an index of poets and first lines. Which is useful! But sometimes you need other things too.

The book feels like it REALLY overweights earlier poets from Elizabethan times etc. There *feels* like there's fewer modern poets than you'd expect. Maybe I'm wrong on that. The entirety of the Wasteland is reproduced so that's something I guess. I dunno

I know books like these rarely have notes etc but still. It's hard for a poetry newbie to get into some of this stuff.

I didn't exactly finish but maybe read like 20%? Which I think isn't unreasonable. I find poetry hard to get into but yeah there are obviously good poems here. Not gonna rate because I can't really judge but keeping the above criticisms in mind it's probably not ideal if you're not good with poetry

[Rory Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets better near the end!
A large and effective history of poetry in the British Isles (also including Ezra Pound). It consists of a selection of Gardner's favourites of the various poets from 1250-1950. Some have are represented by only one poem and others span many pages.
Useful for an introduction to English poetry in general however it does only lightly cover the individual poets and many of the longer poems are simply extracts which may lose some of it's quality.

[Rob Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been working through this over the past year. Some really great, and some, well, not so great.

[Dan Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, I raised my children reading this book. I treasury it.

[Ashwani Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology sat on my bookshelf for 20 years before I picked it up and decided to race through it in an effort to become acquainted with the work of well known poets (beyond the usual Keats, Coleridge, Gray...) whom I had only encountered tangentially.

From Chaucer and Spenser to Wilfred Owen and Dylan Thomas, the anthology has an excellent selection from 700 years of English poetry for this kind of broad exploration, so you can decide what you want to explore in depth.

A side benefit of reading across such a wide expanse of time is that one can spot certain 'fashions' in poetry, e.g. biblical themes in the Middle Ages, the extensive (and highly annoying) use of Greek imagery after the Renaissance, and more secular/universal/humanistic themes after the Enlightenment.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to many poets which most anthologies today would completely pass over

[Cathy Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my poetry books for April this year, going for the type of poems I deemed "too scary" last year. I don't hate Shelley and Shakespeare and all those guys, nothing like that; it's just that they're up on such a pedestal, it's hard to just read one of their poems and say, "Huh, that was kind of good," or, "I didn't like that much." It's like some vampire English teacher is sitting up there somewhere, waiting to divebomb you and suck you dry if you say Milton is boring.

Taking a poet a day, I rediscovered a few poets I've always liked (Yeats, Blake), and found a few new favorites I hadn't much read before (Auden, Dryden, Tennyson). That's where this kind of anthology fishing expedition can be really handy. I'll be exploring further. Still, a lot of it is that kind of "Alas, fair Xanthrope, when I gaze into thy azure orbs, thou casteth me nigh unto Methushaleph's lorbs" stuff that temps me to dislike poetry.

Still, even the poems that didn't end up being favorites helped on nights when I woke up at midnight and had trouble getting back to sleep. Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" plus a cup of peppermint tea put me right out.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book to keep on your nightstand. There is a poem for every day, every mood, every situation of your life. I wouldn't be without this book!
The dates that I have read and read this book are daily - and that is not enough. Very soothing and comforting -
The Masters of poetry within the covers of this book!!

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this compilation! It has my favorite poem of all, 'She walks in beauty' by Byron, in it. It also has amazing works by Keats (Bright Star is great!), Shelley, Wordsworth, Milton, Shakespeare, Drayton, Yeats. Really an amazing book to look through. Definitely worth having in your library, especially if you love language and the powerful use of language.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mum had this book (with a much more attractive cover. I have removed my dust jacket) and then she bought it for me. It is slightly different to hers. I know it so well that I sorely miss not having some of the poems she does.
Often dragged out. Lives on my special lounge room bookcase reserved for very special books!

[sch · Rating 4 out of 5]

May 2020. Summertime reading. This is the second edition; I liked the third, edited by Christopher Ricks.

Finished, and while I prefer the third edition for several reasons, it was good to read more poems from fewer poets in Gardner's edition.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this one for a class at UCSC, and I am a big fan of poetry collections so I've held on to it. I don't refer to it as often as I do the 2nd volume.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually poetry and verse.

This volume begins in 1250 and represents the full range of English non-dramatic verse over the next seven centuries.

[Troy]

Reading selections of greats; Donne, Watts, Eliot, Hopkins, etc.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Love this book, there is a wide ranging selection of poems and it is a great compilation to be able to drop in and out of.