Clare records that it was 'a very old custom among villagers in summer time to stick a piece of greensward full of field flowers and place it as an ornament in their cottages which ornaments are called Midsummer Cushions.' This 'cottage custom'suggested the title to him for this collection. The texts of the poems are those which Clare himself wanted to publish in 1832, but for which he could not find a sufficient number of subscribers. Almost a third of the book's 391 poems were published for the first time when this collection first appeared in 1978. These poems, edited by Anne Tibble, a...

If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he's weaving tapestry he had better shut up, says William Morris (1834-1896). He was a brilliant designer, a political thinker and one of the most popular poets of his day. While his designs are still prized, his poetry fell for decades into neglect. Crafted and robust, his verse is something to be enjoyed, like other well-made objects. It is at the heart of his creative vision. This selection contains the best of his short poems, ranging from dramatic narratives with medieval settings to romantic lyrics, to Chants for Socialists. His most popular...

Robert Henryson is the greatest of the English fabulists. His master may have been Aesop, but the voice that speaks the 'Moral Fables'is distinctively that of his place - Scotland - and his chosen tradition. His debt to Chaucer, from whom his best-known work, the 'Testament of Cresseid', clearly derives, is a large one, and he acknowledges it generously. But it is a positive debt, not the kind that might have stifled his native originality. He is as distinctly himself as his contemporaries Dunbar and Douglas are. Little is known of Henryson's life but much can be surmised about his humane...

John Clare was a practitioner of the sonnet form at all periods of his poetic career. This volume contains all the sonnets that Clare wrote at Northborough between 1832 and 1837 with the exception of those included in "The Midsummer Cushion" and "The Rural Muse".

A dual text edition of this work that sets Hilliard's text opposite a modern day translation.

Presented not only in English but also featuringrare Latin verses accompanied by a faithful new translation, this is thedefinitivevolume ofpoems of a neglected figure in sixteenth-century literature.Newtexts are offeredbased on the manuscripts that were circulated in secret among English CatholicsafterSouthwell's death, returning to the poems some of their original purpose of communicating forbidden theologies and doctrines among a criminalized and near-silenced readership of secret groups."

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), 'the first great english lyric poet' has many accomplishments--among them the introduction into English of the sonnet, terza rima and other Italian verse forms and his reputed romantic entangelment with Anne Boleyn. This book contains a representative selection, from the best-loved writings to those lesser known.

Hugh Latimer is remembered as one of the martyrs of the Reformation. He was fearless in an age of persecution, noted more for candour than tact. But he was as much concerned about social evils as theological verities. His sermons communicate his beliefs with assurance.