Ranging over some 1,200 years of poetic achievement, the Imperium Anthology of English Verse presents the greatest poems in our native tongue, “at once so earthy and so noble.” Beginning with the Old English scops and ending in the 20th century, the volume you hold in your hands includes many dialect poems as well as long poems in their entirety, and is sure to delight the newcomer to poetry and to surprise the enthusiast.

This anthology includes an introduction by Benjamin Afer that reflects on what makes the English language such a marvelous vehicle for poetry, and the lessons our poetic tradition has to teach us today.

Delve into this anthology and be proud of your language without a shred of trepidation. To be born to the English tongue is surely one of the greatest privileges of birth there is.