Penguin's Poems for Love

Laura Barber is not a poet, but she has spent the last few years completely immersed in verse. As the editor of Penguin's Poems for Life and Penguin's Poems by Heart, she has lived, breathed and dreamed poetry - in libraries and on lawns, on beaches and in bed - and can testify to the profound effect that poetry can have on your life. More prosaically, she also publishes contemporary literature and is writing a book. She lives in London.

Here are poems to take you on a journey from the 'suddenly' of love at first sight to the 'truly, madly, deeply' of infatuation and on to the 'eternally' of love that lasts beyond the end of life, along the way taking in flirtation, passion, fury, betrayal and broken hearts. Bringing together the greatest love poetry from around the world and through the ages, ranging from W. H. Auden to William Shakespeare, John Donne to Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning to Roger McGough, this new anthology will delight, comfort and inspire anyone who has ever tasted love - in any of its forms.

Penguin's Poems by Heart

Laura Barber is not a poet, but she has spent the last few years completely immersed in verse. As the editor of Penguin's Poems for Life and Poems for Love, she has lived, breathed and dreamed poetry - in libraries and on lawns, on beaches and in bed - and can testify to the profound effect that poetry can have on your life. More prosaically, she also publishes contemporary literature and is writing a book. She lives in London.

Learning by heart is the best way to experience a poem, but the method has fallen from favour as part of the educational system. This small collection of the best English poems offers the reader the chance to re-engage with poetry. Filled with favourites, and thoughtfully selected by Laura Barber (editor of Penguin's Poems for Life and the forthcoming Penguin's Poems for Love) this anthologoy is an essential addition to everyone's repertoire.

Penguin's Poems for Life

First paperback publication of this much-loved anthology of poems to take you from birth to death, and a little beyond ...

Laura Barber is former editorial director for Penguin Classics and now publishes contemporary literature. She lives in London. 
 
 
Laura Barber is former editorial director for Penguin Classics and now publishes contemporary literature. She lives in London.

Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare&rsquo;s idea of the &ldquo;seven ages&rdquo; of a human life, this new anthology brings together the best-loved poems in English to inspire, comfort and delight readers for a lifetime. Beginning with babies, the book is divided into sections on childhood, growing up, making a living and making love, family life, getting older, and approaching death, ending with poems of mourning and commemoration. 
 
Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life &ndash; whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes &ndash; when only a poem will do.

Laura Barber

Books by Laura Barber

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