This masterpiece of eighteenth-century English poetry tells the epic tale of a sailor who endures a fate worse than death for killing an albatross. After callously shooting an albatross with his crossbow, a sailor is doomed to a nightmarish voyage from the Antarctic to the Equator before returning home as the sole survivor of the journey. When the haunting figure Life-in-Death wins his soul in a game of dice, the sailor is doomed to forever roam the...

Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of "Shakespeare's Sonnets" (1609). Featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare, it is a must for classical poetry enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Shakespeare's collection of 154 sonnets beautifully explore the age-old human themes of love and beauty, time and mortality, and contain some of the most revered lines in poetry such as, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's...

A visionary of eighteen-century English society, William Blake produced a vast collection of poetry, mythology, satires, political pieces, and prophetic works, in addition to his famous etchings and engravings. Although largely unknown during his own lifetime and often rejected as a madman for claims of hearing voices and later having visions, Blake has achieved enduring fame for his innovative and extraordinarily imaginative work and is widely viewed...

Loosely based on the Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King, "The Waste Land", which first appeared in 1922, is a landmark work of Modernist poetry. Containing hundreds of allusions and quotations from other works, The Waste Land is marked by a disjointed structure which moves between voices and imagery without a clear delineation for the reader, a hallmark of Modernist literature. Arguably Eliot's most famous work, the theme of the...

A collection of poems evoking the world and feelings of childhood, including "The land of Counterpane," "My Shadow," "The Swing," "The Moon," and "Looking Forward," complemented by digitally restored, retro-style illustrations by two Caldecott Medalists.

Considered the bridge between romanticism and modernism, Matthew Arnold wrote verse that is simple, unadorned and straightforward. From the hypnotic and beautiful lines of Dover Beach, to the pastoral narrative of The Scholar Gipsy, Arnold cast a gaze at the main intellectual issues of the nineteenth century while giving a timeless insight into man and nature. This collection covers his major poetic works, including the narrative poems, sonnets and...