The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry

The Romanticism that emerged after the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 represented a new flowering of the imagination and the spirit, and a celebration of the soul of humanity with its capacity for love. This extraordinary collection sets the acknowledged genius of poems such as Blake’s "The Tyger," Coleridge’s "Kubla Khan," and Shelley’s "Ozymandias" alongside verse from less well known figures and women poets such as Charlotte Smith and Mary Robinson. We also see familiar poets in an unaccustomed light, as Blake, Wordsworth, and Shelley demonstrate their comic skills, while Coleridge, Keats, and Clare explore the Gothic and surreal.

• First time in Penguin Classics
• Includes an introduction, notes, biographies of the poets, and indexes of poets, titles, and first lines
• A major anthology organized by theme

Jonathan Wordsworth is descended from William Wordsworth’s younger brother, Christopher. He is chairman of the Wordsworth Trust and retired professor of English literature at Oxford.