This comprehensive anthology of English poetry, from the Elizabethan age to the Restoration, places canonised poets such as Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, Herbert along with poets not usually found in anthologies – Margaret Cavendish, Isabella Whitney, Mary Wroth, among others. The collection offers poetry of science, religious poetry, the country-house poem and courtly poetry and has a comprehensive introduction which presents the socio-political and intellectual backgrounds to the literature of this era Traditional and new readings of this poetry are listed in a full bibliography at the end of the introduction. Biographical notes introduce each poet, while selective annotation explains some of the more obscure references and contextual implications of the poems.