The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse (Oxford Books of Verse)

About this book

Succinctly called "a book of tales of various kinds romantic humorous ghostly and gory written at any time over the past six hundred years" by the compilers Iona Opie and the late Peter Opie this universally-appealing collection of 59 poems presents a comprehensive literary tradition of narrative verse from Chaucer to Auden. The anthology includes Popes "The Rape of the Lock " Coleridges "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner " Tennysons "The Lady of Shalott " Poes "The Raven " and Carrolls "The Hunting of the Snark " along with such twentieth-century narrative classics as G.K. Chestertons "Lepanto " Robert Frosts "The Code " Marriott Edgars "The Lion and Albert " and W.H. Audens "The Ballad of Barnaby." Abridgements and extracts from book-length narratives such as Spensers The Faerie Queen and Miltons Paradise Lost add to the richness and variety of the collection. The Opies also provide extensive notes which trace the source of the poets inspiration whether fact or fiction and demonstrate how the creative process has transformed that source into a work of art.