Oxford Book of English Verse

Oxford Book Of English Verse

The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900 is an anthology of English poetry, edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch, that had a very substantial influence on popular taste and perception of poetry for at least a generation. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1900; in its india-paper form it was carried widely around the British Empire and in war as a 'knapsack book'. It sold close to 500,000 copies in its first edition. In 1939, the editor revised it, deleting several poems (especially from the late 19th century) that he regretted including and adding poems published up to 1918.

The second edition is now available online.

Various successors have subtly differentiated titles. See Oxford poetry anthologies.

The fictional lawyer Horace Rumpole is known to have this book near at hand at almost all times, and he quotes from many of its poems both in and out of court.

Dedication

"To the President and Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College Oxford / a house of learning; ancient, liberal, humane, and my most kindly nurse"

Read more about Oxford Book Of English Verse:  Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1918 (1939 Edition)

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    From alle wymmen mi love is lent
    And lyht on Alysoun.
    —Unknown. Alison. . .

    Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250–1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New ed., rev. and enl., 1939)

    From alle wymmen mi love is lent
    And lyht on Alysoun.
    —Unknown. Alison. . .

    Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250–1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New ed., rev. and enl., 1939)

    I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all ... like an opera.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the universal favor with which the New Testament is outwardly received, and even the bigotry with which it is defended, there is no hospitality shown to, there is no appreciation of, the order of truth with which it deals. I know of no book that has so few readers. There is none so truly strange, and heretical, and unpopular. To Christians, no less than Greeks and Jews, it is foolishness and a stumbling-block.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.
    Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    Show me a man who feels bitterly toward John Brown, and let me hear what noble verse he can repeat. He’ll be as dumb as if his lips were stone.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)