Poetry written in English is uniquely powerful and suggestive in its capacity to surprise, unsettle, shock, console, and move. The Cambridge History of English Poetry offers sparklingly fresh and dynamic readings of an extraordinary range of poets and poems from Beowulf to Alice Oswald. An international team of experts explores how poets in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland use language and to what effect, examining questions of form, tone, and voice; they comment, too, on how formal choices are inflected by the poet's time and place. The Cambridge History of English Poetry is the most comprehensive and authoritative history of the field from early medieval times to the present. It traces patterns of continuity, transformation, transition, and development. Covering a remarkable array of poets and poems, and featuring an extensive bibliography, the scope and depth of this major work of reference make it required reading for anyone interested in poetry. "Michael O'Neill's The Cambridge History of English Poetry contains nine chapters relevant to the Romantic period. Each of them is written with intelligence and insight. The collection, by leading scholars, gives an important overview of the state of the field." The Year's Work in English Studies A literary-historical account of English poetry from Anglo-Saxon writings to the present. Michael O'Neill is Professor of English at Durham University.