Called "the flour of Cities all," London has long been understood
through the poetry it has inspired. Now poet Mark Ford has
assembled the most capacious and wide-ranging anthology of poems
about London to date, from Chaucer to Wordsworth to the present
day, providing a chronological tour of urban life and of English
literature. Nearly all of the major poets of British literature
have left some poetic record of London: Chaucer, Spenser,
Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Johnson, Wordsworth,
Keats, Byron, and T. S. Eliot. Ford goes well beyond these figures,
however, to gather significant verse of all kinds, from Jacobean
city comedies to nursery rhymes, from topical satire to anonymous
ballads. The result is a cultural history of the city in verse, one
that represents all classes of London's population over some seven
centuries, mingling the high and low, the elegant and the
salacious, the courtly and the street smart. Many of the poems
respond to large events in the city's history-the beheading of
Charles I, the Great Fire, the Blitz-but the majority reflect the
quieter routines and anxieties of everyday life through the
centuries. Ford's selections are arranged chronologically, thus
preserving a sense of the strata of the capital's history. An
introductory essay by the poet explores in detail the cultural,
political, and aesthetic significance of the verse inspired by this
great city. The result is a volume as rich and vibrant and diverse
as London itself.
General
Imprint: |
The Belknap Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
November 2015 |
Editors: |
Mark Ford
|
Dimensions: |
156 x 227 x 44mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
784 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-674-08804-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-674-08804-2 |
Barcode: |
9780674088047 |
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