Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599) was an English Renaissance poet often considered to be the foremost poet of his time by many of his contemporaries. His early career, much like Virgil's, was spent writing pastoral and elegiac verse, but The Faerie Queene is his masterpiece, an unfinished allegorical epic intended to depict Aristotle's twelve moral virtues (twelve also being the number of books subsequently divided into twelve cantos for a proper epic), though he was only able...

I Lo! I the man, whose Muse whylome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly shephards weeds, Am now enforst, a farre unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds, And sing of knights and ladies gentle deeds; Whose praises having slept in silence long, Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds To blazon broade emongst her learned throng: Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song. II Helpe then, O holy virgin, chiefe of nyne, ...

George Herbert, 1593 – 1633, was a British poet whose work has become increasing significant in the English language poetic. Influenced greatly by the metaphysical conceits of John Donne, Herbert applied the ideas of extended and imaginative metaphors infused with a highly precise language to create musical lyrics—Herbert had a great love and knowledge of music—that were entirely devoted to his Christian beliefs. While politically ambitious as a young man, Herbert fully ...

The Pulley When God at first made Man, Having a glasse of blessings standing by; Let us (said he) poure on him all we can: Let the worlds riches, which dispersed lie, Contract into a span. So strength first made a way; Then beautie flow’d, then wisdome, honour, pleasure: When almost all was out, God made a stay, Perceiving that alone of all his treasure Rest in the bottome lay. ...

The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth collects the entirety of Wordsworth's verse, presenting it more or less chronologically and, as carefully as possible, the way was intended to be heard by the author, complete with the variety of word emphases that have been either represented by scare quotes or italics.

“The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this ...

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was worn in Edinburgh, Scotland, and suffered from frail health all through childhood, an affliction that would follow him into adulthood and manifest itself ultimately as tuberculosis. He initially set out to be a lawyer and was admitted to the bar in 1875, though he never practiced. He is best known for his tales Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, though he wrote a number of other stories, excellent es...

The Land of Nod From breakfast on through all the day At home among my friends I stay, But every night I go abroad Afar into the land of Nod.   All by myself I have to go, With none to tell me what to do— All alone beside the streams And up the mountain-sides of dreams.   The strangest things are there for me, Both things to eat and things to see, And many frightening sights abroad Till morning in the land of Nod.   Try as I like to find the way, I nev...

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is widely considered to be the best poet of the Augustan age, and perhaps English verse’s best satirist ever. Pope was mostly self-taught having been denied a formal protestant education because of his family’s Roman Catholic beliefs; he also suffered from the effects of Pott’s disease his entire life, which left him deformed and of small stature never growing past the height of four feet six inches. Despite these challenges, Pope flourished in...

from "Essay on Criticism" “Tis hard to say if greater want of skill Appear in writing or in judging ill; But of the two less dangerous is th’ offence To tire our patience than mislead our sense: Some few in that, but numbers err in this; Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss; A fool might once himself alone expose; Now one in verse makes many more in prose.     ’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own. In Poe...

A complete collection of the poems of William Blake. Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, engraver, and painter. Early in his life, his unique and deceptively simple poems marked the beginning of Romanticism, particularly those from his volumes Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). Later work evolved into long mythological pieces informed by visions Blake claimed to have throughout his life. This volume collects all his poetic output, including thos...

The Tyger Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?   In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes! On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?   And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet?   What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy...

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential of all American poets. The first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS, his sole book which he would continue to revise over the course of his life expanding and rewriting it until the year of his death, appeared in 1855. This volume endeavors to recreate that debut edition as much as an e-book’s virtual typesetting will allow.

I celebrate myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.   I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass.   Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.   The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . ....

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is widely considered to be the greatest and most influential of all American poets. LEAVES OF GRASS, Whitman's sole book published at his own expense, represents almost the entirety of his poetical output. The first edition of LEAVES OF GRASS, which he would continue to revise over the course of his life expanding and rewriting it until the year of his death, appeared in 1855. This volume represents the final edition, commonly referred to as the ...

O Captain! My Captain! O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;                     But O heart! heart! heart!                          O the bleeding drops of red,                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,                                    Falle...

A complete collection of the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was born on January 19th in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809, and died in his adopted home of Baltimore, Maryland on October 7th, 1849, making him the first American writer in this series. The critical estimation of Poe’s work has increased dramatically over the course of my lifetime, which has been satisfying to observe, as he was for me—as I believe for so many lovers of literature—an early favorite, particula...

Annabel Lee It was many and many a year ago,     In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know     By the name of Annabel Lee;— And this maiden she lived with no other thought     Than to love and be loved by me. She was a child and I was a child,     In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love—     I and my Annabel Lee— With a love that the wingéd seraphs of Heaven     Coveted her and me. And thi...

A thoroughly representative selection of the poetry of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. Rochester (1647–1680) was among the worst (best?) of the Restoration rakes, and also one of the period’s best satirists employing a direct language rife with plenty of four-letter words and an obsessive indulgence of the most vulgar vernacular used on behalf of satirical shredding, scatological humor, and sexual candor. Volume 7 in The Reader's Library Series. ISBN: 978-1-932023-49...

A Rodomontade on His Cruel Mistress Trust not that thing called woman: she is worse Than all ingredients crammed into a curse. Were she but ugly, peevish, proud, a whore, Poxed, painted, perjured, so she were no more, I could forgive her, and connive at this, Alleging still she but a woman is. But she is worse: in time she will forestall The Devil, and be the damning of us all.

A complete and unabridged e-edition of the collected verse of John Donne. Donne, 1572–1631, was born in London, England, and, as evidenced by the verse collected here, is one of the great English language poets and thinkers in modern history illuminating the human condition through a verse marked for its argument, metaphysical conceit, metaphorical illuminations, and deep passions, whether they be focussed on love, God (two of Donne's favorite foci), or some other theme....

"Batter my heart, three person’d God..." Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you As yet but knock, breath, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o’rthrow me,’and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurpt Town, to another due, Labour to admit you, but oh, to no end. Reason your Viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue, Yet dearly’I love you and would be lov’d fain, But am b...

A meticulously edited edition of John Keats’ verse collecting all of his poems sans his two long verse plays. Keats was born in London, England, on October 31, 1795. He dedicated his short life to the creation of poetry characterized by its sensuous and vivid imagery, classical themes, technical mastery and sincere and authentic emotional tenor. He died tragically young in 1821 of tuberculosis, a disease that had plagued his life since he took a walking tour of the Lake ...

Ode to a Nightingale I My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains     My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains     One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: ’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,     But being too happy in thine happiness,—         That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,             In some melodious plot     Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,         Singest of summer in full-th...

An e-edition of Paradise Lost based on the 1674 and 1667 editions, and Paradise Regained based on its original 1671 edition, both meticulously edited for faithfulness to the originals. Volume 4 in The Reader's Library Series. ISBN: 978-1-932023-46-6. https://www.facebook.com/williamralpheditions

from Book I of Paradise Lost “Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time. The mind is its own place, and in it self Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less then he Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us henc...

A complete collection of the poems and poetic fragments of the great English language stylist and Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889). Volume 3 of The Reader's Library Series. ISBN: 978-1-932023-45-9. https://www.facebook.com/williamralpheditions

Spring and Fall to a young child   Márgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leáves, líke the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Áh! ás the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By and by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; And yet you wíll weep and know why. Now no matter, child, the name: Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same. Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed What heart heard of,...

A selection of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's essential poems. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798 with co-author William Wordsworth, marked the beginning for all intents and purposes of English Romanticism and included “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Other notable poems include "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison," “Christabel” and “Kubla Khan.” Volume 2 in The Reader's Library Series, ISBN: ...

Kubla Khan Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.   In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. But...

A new edition of the sonnets of William Shakespeare complete and unabridged. ISBN: 978-1-932023-43-5. https://www.facebook.com/williamralpheditions

138: When My Love Swears That She Is Made of Truth When my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she lies, That she might think me some untutored youth, Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties. Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, Although she knows my days are past the best, Simply I credit her false speaking tongue: On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed. But wherefore says she not she is unjust? And where...