Everyman’s Book of English Verse is, in John Wain’s own words, "an act of homage, an utterance of thanksgiving for the richness and beauty of English poetry, a tribute from an English writer to the great tradition that buoys him up". It contains, of course, all those well-loved treasures without which no anthology would be complete; but in addition to the major voices of English poetry, we hear also those of half-forgotten poets who occasionally achieved a masterpiece – and, indeed, the anonymous voice of the English people in folk-song and ballad.

          John Wain gives us here the full sweep of the English poetic achievement, from the Anglo-Saxons to our own generation. Frequently departing from standard anthological practice, for example by including substantial extracts from longer poems and a selection of the finest passages from the plays of Shakespeare, he has, through the endless variety of its pages, set his own personal seal on this volume.

          This superb and disctinctive anthology is nothing less than a unique self-portrait of a nation, as expressed down the centuries through the medium of its poetry, and inspired and shaped by one of the foremost literary figures of our time.