Stephen Regan (Author) Stephen Regan's books include Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 (2004) and The Sonnet (2019). He has taught at Ruskin College, Oxford; Royal Holloway, University of London; and Durham University, where he is Professor Emeritus. He is currently a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne.Andrew Motion (Author) Andrew Motion's most recent collection is New and Selected Poems 1977-2022 (2023). He was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009, is co-founder of The Poetry Archive and Poetry by Heart, and since 2015 has lived in Baltimore, where he is Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University.

• ContentsIntroductionA Note on the TextAnonymousCock RobinThe Corpus Christi CarolThe Three RavensSir Patrick SpensThe Wife of Usher’s Wellfrom PearlDahn the Plug’oleRaymond Antrobus (1986–)Sound MachineMatthew Arnold (1822–1892)Memorial VersesW. H. Auden (1907–1973)In Memory of W. B. YeatsWilliam Barnes (1801–1886)The Music o’ the DeadThe Wife a-LostWoak HillPaul Batchelor (1977–)Pit PoniesHilaire Belloc (1870–1953)MatildaGwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981)EpitaphJohn Berryman (1914–1972)Dream Song 155The King James Bible (1611)2 Samuel 1Ecclesiastes 3Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)For the FallenBion (c . 120– 57 BCE)Lament for AdonisElizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)North HavenWilliam Blake (1757–1827)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Innocence)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)Ma lika Booker (1970–)Death of an OverseerElizabeth Boyd (c . 1710–1745)On the Death of an Infant of Five Days OldAnne Bradstreet (1612–1672)In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth BradstreetKa mau Brathwaite (1930–2020)Elegy for RositaRobert Bridges (1844–1930)On a Dead ChildCharlotte Brontë (1816–1855)On the Death of Emily Jane BrontëEmily Brontë (1818–1848)RemembranceRupert Brooke (1887–1915)The SoldierJericho Brown (1976–)The TraditionWilliam Browne (c. 1590–1645)On the Countess Dowager of PembrokeElizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)Felicia HemansL. E. L.’s Last QuestionMother and PoetBasil Bunting (1900–1985)from BriggflattsRobert Burns (1759–1796)Epitaph for James SmithLament for James, Earl of GlencairnGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824)Stanzas for Music‘Remember thee! Remember thee!’On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth YearElegy on ThyrzaChristian Campbell (1979–)Rudical (Derek Bennett, killed by the police)Thomas Campion (1567–1620)O Come Quickly!Thomas Carew (c . 1595–1640)An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of Paul’s, Dr John DonneEpitaph for Maria WentworthCiaran Carson (1948–2019)In MemoryElizabeth Carter (1717–1806)On the Death of Mrs RoweCatullus (c . 84– 54 BCE)Elegy on the SparrowCatullus 101Charles Causley (1917–2003)Eden RockC. P. Cavafy (1863–1933)For Ammonis, Who Died Aged 29 in 610Jane Cave (1754–1812)An Elegy on a Maiden NamePaul Celan (1920–1970)DeathfugueAmy Clampitt (1920–1994)A Procession at CandlemasJohn Clare (1793–1864)The Lament of Swordy WellI AmLucille Clifton (1936–2010)the lost baby poemSamuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)EpitaphTony Connor (1930–)Elegy for Alfred HubbardAbraham Cowley (1618–1667)On the Death of Mr William HerveyWilliam Cowper (1731–1800)Epitaph on a HareThe Poplar FieldHart Crane (1899–1932)At Melville’s TombRichard Crashaw (1613–1649)A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint TeresaAn Epitaph upon Husband and WifeCountee Cullen (1903–1946)Colored Blues SingerThrenody for a Brown GirlWalter de la Mare (1873–1956)Fare WellToi Derricotte (1941–)Elegy for My HusbandEmily Dickinson (1830–1886)‘Because I could not stop for Death’‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers’‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’Maura Dooley (1957–)I’ve Been Thinking a Lot About HeavenJohn Donne (1572–1631)A Funeral ElegyLord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945)The Dead PoetKeith Douglas (1920–1944)Simplify Me When I’m DeadVergissmeinnichtJohn Dryden (1631–1700)Upon the Death of the Lord HastingsTo the Memory of Mr OldhamPaul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)A Death SongWilliam Dunbar (1459–1520)Lament for the MakarisDouglas Dunn (1942–)The KaleidoscopeLady Katherine Dyer (c . 1585–1654)‘My dearest dust could not thy hasty day’T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)from The Waste Land (Death by Water)Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)from ThrenodyVicki Feaver (1943–)GorillaCaleb Femi (1990–)The Story of Damilola TaylorJames Fenton (1949–)At the KerbSarah Louisa Forten (1814–1883)The Grave of the SlaveRobert Frost (1874–1963)Nothing Gold Can StayRobert Garioch (1909–1981)ElegyJohn Gay (1685–1732)My Own EpitaphAllen Ginsberg (1926–1997)from KaddishOliver Goldsmith (1728–1774)RetaliationLorna Goodison (1947–)For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength)Barnabe Googe (1540–1594)An Epytaphe of the Death of Nicolas GrimoaldW. S. Graham (1918–1986)Lines on Roger Hilton’s WatchRobert Graves (1895–1985)The Untidy ManThomas Gray (1716–1771)On the Death of Richard WestElegy Written in a Country ChurchyardOde on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of GoldfishesThom Gunn (1929–2004)LamentIvor Gurney (1890–1937)To His LoveSongCotswold WaysStrange HellsThomas Hardy (1840–1928)Drummer HodgeThoughts of PhenaA Singer AsleepThe GoingThe VoiceAt Castle BoterelAfter a JourneyDuring Wind and RainLying AwakeTony Harrison (1937–)Book EndsTerrance Hayes (1971–)American Sonnet for My Past and Future AssassinSeamus Heaney (1939–2013)The Strand at Lough BegFelicia Hemans (1793–1835)The Grave of a PoetessEdward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1587–1648)Elegy Over a TombGeorge Herbert (1593–1633)VirtueMary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621)If Ever Hapless Woman Had a CauseRobert Herrick (1591–1674)Upon HimselfGeoffrey Hill (1932–2016)September SongMichael Hofmann (1957–)For Gert Hofmann, died 1 July 1993Thomas Hood (1799–1845)I Remember, I RememberGerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)Binsey PoplarsSpring and FallFelix RandalHorace (67–8 BCE)Odes 3.30A. E. Housman (1859–1936)To an Athlete Dying Young‘Is my team ploughing’‘Far in a western brookland’Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries‘Crossing alone the nighted ferry’Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)An Excellent Epitaph of Sir Thomas Wyatt‘Norfolk sprung thee, Lambeth holds thee dead’Langston Hughes (1902–1967)SilhouetteTed Hughes (1930–1998)SheepLeigh Hunt (1784–1859)On the Death of His Son VincentMick Imlah (1956–2008)Stephen Boyd (1957–95)Major Jackson (1968–)FergusonLINTON Kwesi Johnson (1952–)Reggae fi DadaSamuel Johnson (1709–1784)An Epitaph on Claudy Phillips, a MusicianOn the Death of Dr Robert LevetEbenezer Jones (1820–1860)The Poet’s DeathBen Jonson (1572–1637)EpitaphsTo the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William ShakespeareJackie Kay (1961–)Burying My African FatherJohn Keats (1795–1821)When I Have Fears That I May Cease to BeHenry King (1592–1669)Exequy on His WifeRudyard Kipling (1865–1936)The AppealYusef Komunyakaa (1947–)Elegy for TheloniousCharles Lamb (1775–1834)The Old Familiar FacesLetitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)Stanzas on the Death of Mrs HemansFelicia HemansWALTER SAVAGE Landor (1775–1864)Rose AylmerPhilip Larkin (1922–1985)The ExplosionFrancis Ledwidge (1887–1917)Thomas MacDonaghAmy Levy (1861–1889)EpitaphHenry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)The Cross of SnowMichael Longley (1939–)WoundsRobert Lowell (1917–1977)Sailing Home from RapalloLucretius (c . 99–55 BCE)from On the Nature of ThingsLouis MacNeice (1907–1963)The SuicideDerek Mahon (1941–2020)A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordAndrew Marvell (1621–1678)from A Poem upon the Death of His Late Highness the Lord ProtectorPaula Meehan (1955–)Child BurialHerman Melville (1819–1891)MonodyCharlotte Mew (1896–1928)The Farmer’s BrideEdna St Vincent Millay (1892–1950)BurialJohn Milton (1608–1674)Lycidas‘When I consider how my light is spent’‘Methought I saw my late espousèd saint’Marianne Moore (1887–1972)W. S. LandorMoschus (fl. 150 BCE)Lament for BionAndrew Motion (1952–)SerenadePaul Muldoon (1951–)IncantataLes Murray (1938–2019)Midsummer IceThomas Nashe (c . 1567–1601)Adieu, Farewell, Earth’s BlissBernard O’Donoghue (1945–)The Day I Outlived My FatherFrank O’ Hara (1926–1966)The Day Lady DiedSharon Olds (1942–)The Exact Moment of His DeathAlice Oswald (1966–)from MemorialOvid (c. 43 BCE–18 CE)Tristia 3.3Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)Anthem for Doomed Youth‘I saw his round mouth’s crimson’FutilityKatherine Philips (1632–1664)On the Death of My First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips’Tis True, Our Life is But a Long DiseaseTom Pickard (1946–)Spring TideSylvia Plath (1932–1963)Electra on Azalea PathAlexander Pope (1688–1744)Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate LadyThree Epitaphs on John Hewet and Sarah DrewEpitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster AbbeyPeter Porter (1929–2010)An ExequyEzra Pound (1885–1972)from Hugh Selwyn MauberleyPropertius (c . 50– 15 BCE)from The Elegies (2.28)Sir Walter Raleigh (c . 1554–1618)‘Even such is time’Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1852–1916)Toussaint L’OuvertureGareth Reeves (1947–)The Great FireChristopher Reid (1949–)A ScatteringDenise Riley (1948–)A Part SongRainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)The Ninth ElegyEdward Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)Reuben BrightChristina Rossetti (1830–1894)SongRememberRestElizabeth Rowe (1674–1737)Upon the Death of Her HusbandTadeusz Ró Żewicz (1921–2014)The SurvivorSonia Sanchez (1934–)for our ladySiegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)Suicide in the TrenchesAnna Seward (1742–1809)An Old Cat’s Dying SoliloquyAnne Sexton (1928–1974)The Truth the Dead KnowWilliam Shakespeare (1564–1616)Sonnet 71Sonnet 73‘When that I was’‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’‘Full fathom five’Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)To Wordsworthfrom AdonaisJames Shirley (1596–1666)Epitaph on the Duke of BuckinghamJohn Skelton (1463–1529)from Phillip SparrowStevie Smith (1902–1971)ScorpionTracy K. Smith (1972–)Wade in the WaterLayli Long Soldier (1976–)38Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895–1915)‘When you see millions of the mouthless dead’Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)AstrophelWallace Stevens (1879–1955)The Emperor of Ice-CreamAnne Stevenson (1933–2020)OrcopRobert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)A Martial Elegy for Some Lead SoldiersRequiemHannah Sullivan (1979–)from The Sandpit After RainJonathan Swift (1667–1745)A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous Generalfrom Verses on the Death of Dr SwiftAlgernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)from Ave atque ValeA Forsaken GardenAlfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)from In Memoriam5: I sometimes hold it half a sin . . .7: Dark house by which once more I stand . . .11: Calm is the morn without a sound . . .19: The Danube to the Severn gave . . .50: Be near me when my light is low . . .70: I cannot see the features right . . .91: When rosy plumelets tuft the larch . . .100: I climb the hill: from end to end . . .115: Now fades the last long streak of snow . . .Crossing the BarWilliam Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)The Sorrows of WertherTheocritus (c . 310– 250 BCE)Idyll 1 (Lament for Daphnis)Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London‘Do not go gentle into that good night’Edward Thomas (1878–1917)TearsIn Memoriam (Easter, 1915)RainAs the Team’s Head-BrassChidiock Tichborne (1562–1586)Elegy for HimselfTomas Tranströmer (1931–2015)After Someone’s DeathFrederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821–1873)‘An upper chamber in a darkened house’Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)They Are all Gone into the World of Light!Virgil (70–19 BCE)from Eclogue 5 (The Death of Daphnis)from Georgics Book 4 (Orpheus and Eurydice)from The Aeneid, Book 2 (The Death of Priam)Derek Walcott (1930–2017)Sea CanesMargaret Walker (1915–1998)For Malcolm XPhillis Wheatley (1753–1784)On the Death of the Rev. Mr George WhitefieldJames Monroe Whitfield (1822–1871)Lines on the Death of John Quincy AdamsWalt Whitman (1819–1892)O Captain! My Captain!Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’dOscar Wilde (1854–1900)RequiescatHelen Maria Williams (1761–1827)Elegy on a Young ThrushWilliam Carlos Williams (1883–1963)The Last Words of My English GrandmotherCharles Wolfe (1791–1823)The Burial of Sir John Moore after CorunnaWilliam Wordsworth (1770–1850)Remembrance of CollinsOld Man TravellingWe Are SevenThere was a BoyThe Two April Mornings‘A slumber did my spirit seal’‘She dwelt among the untrodden ways’‘I travelled among unknown men’Elegiac StanzasElegiac Verses in Memory of My Brother, John WordsworthSir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton’s WifeKit Wright (1944–)The Boys Bump-starting the HearseW. B. Yeats (1865–1939)September 1913To a ShadeThe Wild Swans at CooleIn Memory of Major Robert GregoryEaster 1916In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con MarkiewiczBeautiful Lofty ThingsAndrew Young (1885–1971)A Dead MoleNotesAcknowledgementsIndex of First LinesIndex of Titles

If you have any weakness for poetry at all this book will draw you in then devastate you

Stephen Regan (Author) Stephen Regan's books include Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 (2004) and The Sonnet (2019). He has taught at Ruskin College, Oxford; Royal Holloway, University of London; and Durham University, where he is Professor Emeritus. He is currently a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne.Andrew Motion (Author) Andrew Motion's most recent collection is New and Selected Poems 1977-2022 (2023). He was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009, is co-founder of The Poetry Archive and Poetry by Heart, and since 2015 has lived in Baltimore, where he is Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University.

• ContentsIntroductionA Note on the TextAnonymousCock RobinThe Corpus Christi CarolThe Three RavensSir Patrick SpensThe Wife of Usher’s Wellfrom PearlDahn the Plug’oleRaymond Antrobus (1986–)Sound MachineMatthew Arnold (1822–1892)Memorial VersesW. H. Auden (1907–1973)In Memory of W. B. YeatsWilliam Barnes (1801–1886)The Music o’ the DeadThe Wife a-LostWoak HillPaul Batchelor (1977–)Pit PoniesHilaire Belloc (1870–1953)MatildaGwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981)EpitaphJohn Berryman (1914–1972)Dream Song 155The King James Bible (1611)2 Samuel 1Ecclesiastes 3Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)For the FallenBion (c . 120– 57 BCE)Lament for AdonisElizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)North HavenWilliam Blake (1757–1827)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Innocence)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)Ma lika Booker (1970–)Death of an OverseerElizabeth Boyd (c . 1710–1745)On the Death of an Infant of Five Days OldAnne Bradstreet (1612–1672)In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth BradstreetKa mau Brathwaite (1930–2020)Elegy for RositaRobert Bridges (1844–1930)On a Dead ChildCharlotte Brontë (1816–1855)On the Death of Emily Jane BrontëEmily Brontë (1818–1848)RemembranceRupert Brooke (1887–1915)The SoldierJericho Brown (1976–)The TraditionWilliam Browne (c. 1590–1645)On the Countess Dowager of PembrokeElizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)Felicia HemansL. E. L.’s Last QuestionMother and PoetBasil Bunting (1900–1985)from BriggflattsRobert Burns (1759–1796)Epitaph for James SmithLament for James, Earl of GlencairnGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824)Stanzas for Music‘Remember thee! Remember thee!’On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth YearElegy on ThyrzaChristian Campbell (1979–)Rudical (Derek Bennett, killed by the police)Thomas Campion (1567–1620)O Come Quickly!Thomas Carew (c . 1595–1640)An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of Paul’s, Dr John DonneEpitaph for Maria WentworthCiaran Carson (1948–2019)In MemoryElizabeth Carter (1717–1806)On the Death of Mrs RoweCatullus (c . 84– 54 BCE)Elegy on the SparrowCatullus 101Charles Causley (1917–2003)Eden RockC. P. Cavafy (1863–1933)For Ammonis, Who Died Aged 29 in 610Jane Cave (1754–1812)An Elegy on a Maiden NamePaul Celan (1920–1970)DeathfugueAmy Clampitt (1920–1994)A Procession at CandlemasJohn Clare (1793–1864)The Lament of Swordy WellI AmLucille Clifton (1936–2010)the lost baby poemSamuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)EpitaphTony Connor (1930–)Elegy for Alfred HubbardAbraham Cowley (1618–1667)On the Death of Mr William HerveyWilliam Cowper (1731–1800)Epitaph on a HareThe Poplar FieldHart Crane (1899–1932)At Melville’s TombRichard Crashaw (1613–1649)A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint TeresaAn Epitaph upon Husband and WifeCountee Cullen (1903–1946)Colored Blues SingerThrenody for a Brown GirlWalter de la Mare (1873–1956)Fare WellToi Derricotte (1941–)Elegy for My HusbandEmily Dickinson (1830–1886)‘Because I could not stop for Death’‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers’‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’Maura Dooley (1957–)I’ve Been Thinking a Lot About HeavenJohn Donne (1572–1631)A Funeral ElegyLord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945)The Dead PoetKeith Douglas (1920–1944)Simplify Me When I’m DeadVergissmeinnichtJohn Dryden (1631–1700)Upon the Death of the Lord HastingsTo the Memory of Mr OldhamPaul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)A Death SongWilliam Dunbar (1459–1520)Lament for the MakarisDouglas Dunn (1942–)The KaleidoscopeLady Katherine Dyer (c . 1585–1654)‘My dearest dust could not thy hasty day’T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)from The Waste Land (Death by Water)Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)from ThrenodyVicki Feaver (1943–)GorillaCaleb Femi (1990–)The Story of Damilola TaylorJames Fenton (1949–)At the KerbSarah Louisa Forten (1814–1883)The Grave of the SlaveRobert Frost (1874–1963)Nothing Gold Can StayRobert Garioch (1909–1981)ElegyJohn Gay (1685–1732)My Own EpitaphAllen Ginsberg (1926–1997)from KaddishOliver Goldsmith (1728–1774)RetaliationLorna Goodison (1947–)For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength)Barnabe Googe (1540–1594)An Epytaphe of the Death of Nicolas GrimoaldW. S. Graham (1918–1986)Lines on Roger Hilton’s WatchRobert Graves (1895–1985)The Untidy ManThomas Gray (1716–1771)On the Death of Richard WestElegy Written in a Country ChurchyardOde on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of GoldfishesThom Gunn (1929–2004)LamentIvor Gurney (1890–1937)To His LoveSongCotswold WaysStrange HellsThomas Hardy (1840–1928)Drummer HodgeThoughts of PhenaA Singer AsleepThe GoingThe VoiceAt Castle BoterelAfter a JourneyDuring Wind and RainLying AwakeTony Harrison (1937–)Book EndsTerrance Hayes (1971–)American Sonnet for My Past and Future AssassinSeamus Heaney (1939–2013)The Strand at Lough BegFelicia Hemans (1793–1835)The Grave of a PoetessEdward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1587–1648)Elegy Over a TombGeorge Herbert (1593–1633)VirtueMary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621)If Ever Hapless Woman Had a CauseRobert Herrick (1591–1674)Upon HimselfGeoffrey Hill (1932–2016)September SongMichael Hofmann (1957–)For Gert Hofmann, died 1 July 1993Thomas Hood (1799–1845)I Remember, I RememberGerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)Binsey PoplarsSpring and FallFelix RandalHorace (67–8 BCE)Odes 3.30A. E. Housman (1859–1936)To an Athlete Dying Young‘Is my team ploughing’‘Far in a western brookland’Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries‘Crossing alone the nighted ferry’Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)An Excellent Epitaph of Sir Thomas Wyatt‘Norfolk sprung thee, Lambeth holds thee dead’Langston Hughes (1902–1967)SilhouetteTed Hughes (1930–1998)SheepLeigh Hunt (1784–1859)On the Death of His Son VincentMick Imlah (1956–2008)Stephen Boyd (1957–95)Major Jackson (1968–)FergusonLINTON Kwesi Johnson (1952–)Reggae fi DadaSamuel Johnson (1709–1784)An Epitaph on Claudy Phillips, a MusicianOn the Death of Dr Robert LevetEbenezer Jones (1820–1860)The Poet’s DeathBen Jonson (1572–1637)EpitaphsTo the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William ShakespeareJackie Kay (1961–)Burying My African FatherJohn Keats (1795–1821)When I Have Fears That I May Cease to BeHenry King (1592–1669)Exequy on His WifeRudyard Kipling (1865–1936)The AppealYusef Komunyakaa (1947–)Elegy for TheloniousCharles Lamb (1775–1834)The Old Familiar FacesLetitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)Stanzas on the Death of Mrs HemansFelicia HemansWALTER SAVAGE Landor (1775–1864)Rose AylmerPhilip Larkin (1922–1985)The ExplosionFrancis Ledwidge (1887–1917)Thomas MacDonaghAmy Levy (1861–1889)EpitaphHenry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)The Cross of SnowMichael Longley (1939–)WoundsRobert Lowell (1917–1977)Sailing Home from RapalloLucretius (c . 99–55 BCE)from On the Nature of ThingsLouis MacNeice (1907–1963)The SuicideDerek Mahon (1941–2020)A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordAndrew Marvell (1621–1678)from A Poem upon the Death of His Late Highness the Lord ProtectorPaula Meehan (1955–)Child BurialHerman Melville (1819–1891)MonodyCharlotte Mew (1896–1928)The Farmer’s BrideEdna St Vincent Millay (1892–1950)BurialJohn Milton (1608–1674)Lycidas‘When I consider how my light is spent’‘Methought I saw my late espousèd saint’Marianne Moore (1887–1972)W. S. LandorMoschus (fl. 150 BCE)Lament for BionAndrew Motion (1952–)SerenadePaul Muldoon (1951–)IncantataLes Murray (1938–2019)Midsummer IceThomas Nashe (c . 1567–1601)Adieu, Farewell, Earth’s BlissBernard O’Donoghue (1945–)The Day I Outlived My FatherFrank O’ Hara (1926–1966)The Day Lady DiedSharon Olds (1942–)The Exact Moment of His DeathAlice Oswald (1966–)from MemorialOvid (c. 43 BCE–18 CE)Tristia 3.3Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)Anthem for Doomed Youth‘I saw his round mouth’s crimson’FutilityKatherine Philips (1632–1664)On the Death of My First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips’Tis True, Our Life is But a Long DiseaseTom Pickard (1946–)Spring TideSylvia Plath (1932–1963)Electra on Azalea PathAlexander Pope (1688–1744)Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate LadyThree Epitaphs on John Hewet and Sarah DrewEpitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster AbbeyPeter Porter (1929–2010)An ExequyEzra Pound (1885–1972)from Hugh Selwyn MauberleyPropertius (c . 50– 15 BCE)from The Elegies (2.28)Sir Walter Raleigh (c . 1554–1618)‘Even such is time’Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1852–1916)Toussaint L’OuvertureGareth Reeves (1947–)The Great FireChristopher Reid (1949–)A ScatteringDenise Riley (1948–)A Part SongRainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)The Ninth ElegyEdward Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)Reuben BrightChristina Rossetti (1830–1894)SongRememberRestElizabeth Rowe (1674–1737)Upon the Death of Her HusbandTadeusz Ró Żewicz (1921–2014)The SurvivorSonia Sanchez (1934–)for our ladySiegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)Suicide in the TrenchesAnna Seward (1742–1809)An Old Cat’s Dying SoliloquyAnne Sexton (1928–1974)The Truth the Dead KnowWilliam Shakespeare (1564–1616)Sonnet 71Sonnet 73‘When that I was’‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’‘Full fathom five’Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)To Wordsworthfrom AdonaisJames Shirley (1596–1666)Epitaph on the Duke of BuckinghamJohn Skelton (1463–1529)from Phillip SparrowStevie Smith (1902–1971)ScorpionTracy K. Smith (1972–)Wade in the WaterLayli Long Soldier (1976–)38Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895–1915)‘When you see millions of the mouthless dead’Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)AstrophelWallace Stevens (1879–1955)The Emperor of Ice-CreamAnne Stevenson (1933–2020)OrcopRobert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)A Martial Elegy for Some Lead SoldiersRequiemHannah Sullivan (1979–)from The Sandpit After RainJonathan Swift (1667–1745)A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous Generalfrom Verses on the Death of Dr SwiftAlgernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)from Ave atque ValeA Forsaken GardenAlfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)from In Memoriam5: I sometimes hold it half a sin . . .7: Dark house by which once more I stand . . .11: Calm is the morn without a sound . . .19: The Danube to the Severn gave . . .50: Be near me when my light is low . . .70: I cannot see the features right . . .91: When rosy plumelets tuft the larch . . .100: I climb the hill: from end to end . . .115: Now fades the last long streak of snow . . .Crossing the BarWilliam Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)The Sorrows of WertherTheocritus (c . 310– 250 BCE)Idyll 1 (Lament for Daphnis)Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London‘Do not go gentle into that good night’Edward Thomas (1878–1917)TearsIn Memoriam (Easter, 1915)RainAs the Team’s Head-BrassChidiock Tichborne (1562–1586)Elegy for HimselfTomas Tranströmer (1931–2015)After Someone’s DeathFrederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821–1873)‘An upper chamber in a darkened house’Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)They Are all Gone into the World of Light!Virgil (70–19 BCE)from Eclogue 5 (The Death of Daphnis)from Georgics Book 4 (Orpheus and Eurydice)from The Aeneid, Book 2 (The Death of Priam)Derek Walcott (1930–2017)Sea CanesMargaret Walker (1915–1998)For Malcolm XPhillis Wheatley (1753–1784)On the Death of the Rev. Mr George WhitefieldJames Monroe Whitfield (1822–1871)Lines on the Death of John Quincy AdamsWalt Whitman (1819–1892)O Captain! My Captain!Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’dOscar Wilde (1854–1900)RequiescatHelen Maria Williams (1761–1827)Elegy on a Young ThrushWilliam Carlos Williams (1883–1963)The Last Words of My English GrandmotherCharles Wolfe (1791–1823)The Burial of Sir John Moore after CorunnaWilliam Wordsworth (1770–1850)Remembrance of CollinsOld Man TravellingWe Are SevenThere was a BoyThe Two April Mornings‘A slumber did my spirit seal’‘She dwelt among the untrodden ways’‘I travelled among unknown men’Elegiac StanzasElegiac Verses in Memory of My Brother, John WordsworthSir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton’s WifeKit Wright (1944–)The Boys Bump-starting the HearseW. B. Yeats (1865–1939)September 1913To a ShadeThe Wild Swans at CooleIn Memory of Major Robert GregoryEaster 1916In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con MarkiewiczBeautiful Lofty ThingsAndrew Young (1885–1971)A Dead MoleNotesAcknowledgementsIndex of First LinesIndex of Titles

If you have any weakness for poetry at all this book will draw you in then devastate you

Stephen Regan (Author) Stephen Regan's books include Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 (2004) and The Sonnet (2019). He has taught at Ruskin College, Oxford; Royal Holloway, University of London; and Durham University, where he is Professor Emeritus. He is currently a Research Associate at the University of Melbourne.Andrew Motion (Author) Andrew Motion's most recent collection is New and Selected Poems 1977-2022 (2023). He was UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009, is co-founder of The Poetry Archive and Poetry by Heart, and since 2015 has lived in Baltimore, where he is Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University.

• ContentsIntroductionA Note on the TextAnonymousCock RobinThe Corpus Christi CarolThe Three RavensSir Patrick SpensThe Wife of Usher’s Wellfrom PearlDahn the Plug’oleRaymond Antrobus (1986–)Sound MachineMatthew Arnold (1822–1892)Memorial VersesW. H. Auden (1907–1973)In Memory of W. B. YeatsWilliam Barnes (1801–1886)The Music o’ the DeadThe Wife a-LostWoak HillPaul Batchelor (1977–)Pit PoniesHilaire Belloc (1870–1953)MatildaGwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981)EpitaphJohn Berryman (1914–1972)Dream Song 155The King James Bible (1611)2 Samuel 1Ecclesiastes 3Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)For the FallenBion (c . 120– 57 BCE)Lament for AdonisElizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)North HavenWilliam Blake (1757–1827)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Innocence)Nurse’s Song (Songs of Experience)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)Ma lika Booker (1970–)Death of an OverseerElizabeth Boyd (c . 1710–1745)On the Death of an Infant of Five Days OldAnne Bradstreet (1612–1672)In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth BradstreetKa mau Brathwaite (1930–2020)Elegy for RositaRobert Bridges (1844–1930)On a Dead ChildCharlotte Brontë (1816–1855)On the Death of Emily Jane BrontëEmily Brontë (1818–1848)RemembranceRupert Brooke (1887–1915)The SoldierJericho Brown (1976–)The TraditionWilliam Browne (c. 1590–1645)On the Countess Dowager of PembrokeElizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)Felicia HemansL. E. L.’s Last QuestionMother and PoetBasil Bunting (1900–1985)from BriggflattsRobert Burns (1759–1796)Epitaph for James SmithLament for James, Earl of GlencairnGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824)Stanzas for Music‘Remember thee! Remember thee!’On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth YearElegy on ThyrzaChristian Campbell (1979–)Rudical (Derek Bennett, killed by the police)Thomas Campion (1567–1620)O Come Quickly!Thomas Carew (c . 1595–1640)An Elegy upon the Death of the Dean of Paul’s, Dr John DonneEpitaph for Maria WentworthCiaran Carson (1948–2019)In MemoryElizabeth Carter (1717–1806)On the Death of Mrs RoweCatullus (c . 84– 54 BCE)Elegy on the SparrowCatullus 101Charles Causley (1917–2003)Eden RockC. P. Cavafy (1863–1933)For Ammonis, Who Died Aged 29 in 610Jane Cave (1754–1812)An Elegy on a Maiden NamePaul Celan (1920–1970)DeathfugueAmy Clampitt (1920–1994)A Procession at CandlemasJohn Clare (1793–1864)The Lament of Swordy WellI AmLucille Clifton (1936–2010)the lost baby poemSamuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)EpitaphTony Connor (1930–)Elegy for Alfred HubbardAbraham Cowley (1618–1667)On the Death of Mr William HerveyWilliam Cowper (1731–1800)Epitaph on a HareThe Poplar FieldHart Crane (1899–1932)At Melville’s TombRichard Crashaw (1613–1649)A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint TeresaAn Epitaph upon Husband and WifeCountee Cullen (1903–1946)Colored Blues SingerThrenody for a Brown GirlWalter de la Mare (1873–1956)Fare WellToi Derricotte (1941–)Elegy for My HusbandEmily Dickinson (1830–1886)‘Because I could not stop for Death’‘Safe in their Alabaster Chambers’‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain’Maura Dooley (1957–)I’ve Been Thinking a Lot About HeavenJohn Donne (1572–1631)A Funeral ElegyLord Alfred Douglas (1870–1945)The Dead PoetKeith Douglas (1920–1944)Simplify Me When I’m DeadVergissmeinnichtJohn Dryden (1631–1700)Upon the Death of the Lord HastingsTo the Memory of Mr OldhamPaul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)A Death SongWilliam Dunbar (1459–1520)Lament for the MakarisDouglas Dunn (1942–)The KaleidoscopeLady Katherine Dyer (c . 1585–1654)‘My dearest dust could not thy hasty day’T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)from The Waste Land (Death by Water)Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)from ThrenodyVicki Feaver (1943–)GorillaCaleb Femi (1990–)The Story of Damilola TaylorJames Fenton (1949–)At the KerbSarah Louisa Forten (1814–1883)The Grave of the SlaveRobert Frost (1874–1963)Nothing Gold Can StayRobert Garioch (1909–1981)ElegyJohn Gay (1685–1732)My Own EpitaphAllen Ginsberg (1926–1997)from KaddishOliver Goldsmith (1728–1774)RetaliationLorna Goodison (1947–)For My Mother (May I Inherit Half Her Strength)Barnabe Googe (1540–1594)An Epytaphe of the Death of Nicolas GrimoaldW. S. Graham (1918–1986)Lines on Roger Hilton’s WatchRobert Graves (1895–1985)The Untidy ManThomas Gray (1716–1771)On the Death of Richard WestElegy Written in a Country ChurchyardOde on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of GoldfishesThom Gunn (1929–2004)LamentIvor Gurney (1890–1937)To His LoveSongCotswold WaysStrange HellsThomas Hardy (1840–1928)Drummer HodgeThoughts of PhenaA Singer AsleepThe GoingThe VoiceAt Castle BoterelAfter a JourneyDuring Wind and RainLying AwakeTony Harrison (1937–)Book EndsTerrance Hayes (1971–)American Sonnet for My Past and Future AssassinSeamus Heaney (1939–2013)The Strand at Lough BegFelicia Hemans (1793–1835)The Grave of a PoetessEdward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1587–1648)Elegy Over a TombGeorge Herbert (1593–1633)VirtueMary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621)If Ever Hapless Woman Had a CauseRobert Herrick (1591–1674)Upon HimselfGeoffrey Hill (1932–2016)September SongMichael Hofmann (1957–)For Gert Hofmann, died 1 July 1993Thomas Hood (1799–1845)I Remember, I RememberGerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)Binsey PoplarsSpring and FallFelix RandalHorace (67–8 BCE)Odes 3.30A. E. Housman (1859–1936)To an Athlete Dying Young‘Is my team ploughing’‘Far in a western brookland’Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries‘Crossing alone the nighted ferry’Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)An Excellent Epitaph of Sir Thomas Wyatt‘Norfolk sprung thee, Lambeth holds thee dead’Langston Hughes (1902–1967)SilhouetteTed Hughes (1930–1998)SheepLeigh Hunt (1784–1859)On the Death of His Son VincentMick Imlah (1956–2008)Stephen Boyd (1957–95)Major Jackson (1968–)FergusonLINTON Kwesi Johnson (1952–)Reggae fi DadaSamuel Johnson (1709–1784)An Epitaph on Claudy Phillips, a MusicianOn the Death of Dr Robert LevetEbenezer Jones (1820–1860)The Poet’s DeathBen Jonson (1572–1637)EpitaphsTo the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William ShakespeareJackie Kay (1961–)Burying My African FatherJohn Keats (1795–1821)When I Have Fears That I May Cease to BeHenry King (1592–1669)Exequy on His WifeRudyard Kipling (1865–1936)The AppealYusef Komunyakaa (1947–)Elegy for TheloniousCharles Lamb (1775–1834)The Old Familiar FacesLetitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)Stanzas on the Death of Mrs HemansFelicia HemansWALTER SAVAGE Landor (1775–1864)Rose AylmerPhilip Larkin (1922–1985)The ExplosionFrancis Ledwidge (1887–1917)Thomas MacDonaghAmy Levy (1861–1889)EpitaphHenry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)The Cross of SnowMichael Longley (1939–)WoundsRobert Lowell (1917–1977)Sailing Home from RapalloLucretius (c . 99–55 BCE)from On the Nature of ThingsLouis MacNeice (1907–1963)The SuicideDerek Mahon (1941–2020)A Disused Shed in Co. WexfordAndrew Marvell (1621–1678)from A Poem upon the Death of His Late Highness the Lord ProtectorPaula Meehan (1955–)Child BurialHerman Melville (1819–1891)MonodyCharlotte Mew (1896–1928)The Farmer’s BrideEdna St Vincent Millay (1892–1950)BurialJohn Milton (1608–1674)Lycidas‘When I consider how my light is spent’‘Methought I saw my late espousèd saint’Marianne Moore (1887–1972)W. S. LandorMoschus (fl. 150 BCE)Lament for BionAndrew Motion (1952–)SerenadePaul Muldoon (1951–)IncantataLes Murray (1938–2019)Midsummer IceThomas Nashe (c . 1567–1601)Adieu, Farewell, Earth’s BlissBernard O’Donoghue (1945–)The Day I Outlived My FatherFrank O’ Hara (1926–1966)The Day Lady DiedSharon Olds (1942–)The Exact Moment of His DeathAlice Oswald (1966–)from MemorialOvid (c. 43 BCE–18 CE)Tristia 3.3Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)Anthem for Doomed Youth‘I saw his round mouth’s crimson’FutilityKatherine Philips (1632–1664)On the Death of My First and Dearest Child, Hector Philips’Tis True, Our Life is But a Long DiseaseTom Pickard (1946–)Spring TideSylvia Plath (1932–1963)Electra on Azalea PathAlexander Pope (1688–1744)Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate LadyThree Epitaphs on John Hewet and Sarah DrewEpitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster AbbeyPeter Porter (1929–2010)An ExequyEzra Pound (1885–1972)from Hugh Selwyn MauberleyPropertius (c . 50– 15 BCE)from The Elegies (2.28)Sir Walter Raleigh (c . 1554–1618)‘Even such is time’Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1852–1916)Toussaint L’OuvertureGareth Reeves (1947–)The Great FireChristopher Reid (1949–)A ScatteringDenise Riley (1948–)A Part SongRainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)The Ninth ElegyEdward Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)Reuben BrightChristina Rossetti (1830–1894)SongRememberRestElizabeth Rowe (1674–1737)Upon the Death of Her HusbandTadeusz Ró Żewicz (1921–2014)The SurvivorSonia Sanchez (1934–)for our ladySiegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)Suicide in the TrenchesAnna Seward (1742–1809)An Old Cat’s Dying SoliloquyAnne Sexton (1928–1974)The Truth the Dead KnowWilliam Shakespeare (1564–1616)Sonnet 71Sonnet 73‘When that I was’‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’‘Full fathom five’Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)To Wordsworthfrom AdonaisJames Shirley (1596–1666)Epitaph on the Duke of BuckinghamJohn Skelton (1463–1529)from Phillip SparrowStevie Smith (1902–1971)ScorpionTracy K. Smith (1972–)Wade in the WaterLayli Long Soldier (1976–)38Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895–1915)‘When you see millions of the mouthless dead’Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)AstrophelWallace Stevens (1879–1955)The Emperor of Ice-CreamAnne Stevenson (1933–2020)OrcopRobert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)A Martial Elegy for Some Lead SoldiersRequiemHannah Sullivan (1979–)from The Sandpit After RainJonathan Swift (1667–1745)A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous Generalfrom Verses on the Death of Dr SwiftAlgernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)from Ave atque ValeA Forsaken GardenAlfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)from In Memoriam5: I sometimes hold it half a sin . . .7: Dark house by which once more I stand . . .11: Calm is the morn without a sound . . .19: The Danube to the Severn gave . . .50: Be near me when my light is low . . .70: I cannot see the features right . . .91: When rosy plumelets tuft the larch . . .100: I climb the hill: from end to end . . .115: Now fades the last long streak of snow . . .Crossing the BarWilliam Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)The Sorrows of WertherTheocritus (c . 310– 250 BCE)Idyll 1 (Lament for Daphnis)Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London‘Do not go gentle into that good night’Edward Thomas (1878–1917)TearsIn Memoriam (Easter, 1915)RainAs the Team’s Head-BrassChidiock Tichborne (1562–1586)Elegy for HimselfTomas Tranströmer (1931–2015)After Someone’s DeathFrederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821–1873)‘An upper chamber in a darkened house’Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)They Are all Gone into the World of Light!Virgil (70–19 BCE)from Eclogue 5 (The Death of Daphnis)from Georgics Book 4 (Orpheus and Eurydice)from The Aeneid, Book 2 (The Death of Priam)Derek Walcott (1930–2017)Sea CanesMargaret Walker (1915–1998)For Malcolm XPhillis Wheatley (1753–1784)On the Death of the Rev. Mr George WhitefieldJames Monroe Whitfield (1822–1871)Lines on the Death of John Quincy AdamsWalt Whitman (1819–1892)O Captain! My Captain!Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’dOscar Wilde (1854–1900)RequiescatHelen Maria Williams (1761–1827)Elegy on a Young ThrushWilliam Carlos Williams (1883–1963)The Last Words of My English GrandmotherCharles Wolfe (1791–1823)The Burial of Sir John Moore after CorunnaWilliam Wordsworth (1770–1850)Remembrance of CollinsOld Man TravellingWe Are SevenThere was a BoyThe Two April Mornings‘A slumber did my spirit seal’‘She dwelt among the untrodden ways’‘I travelled among unknown men’Elegiac StanzasElegiac Verses in Memory of My Brother, John WordsworthSir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton’s WifeKit Wright (1944–)The Boys Bump-starting the HearseW. B. Yeats (1865–1939)September 1913To a ShadeThe Wild Swans at CooleIn Memory of Major Robert GregoryEaster 1916In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con MarkiewiczBeautiful Lofty ThingsAndrew Young (1885–1971)A Dead MoleNotesAcknowledgementsIndex of First LinesIndex of Titles

If you have any weakness for poetry at all this book will draw you in then devastate you