Catherine Clarke

This is a marvellous idea, quite brilliantly realised. Catherine Clarke takes 25 poems, from Caedmon’s Hymn and The Battle of Maldon to Edward Thomas’s Adlestrop and Geoffrey Hill’s September Song, and uses them as windows into the English past, from politics and plagues to nature and nostalgia. Her book is a winning blend of jolly ballads and melancholy reflections, alive to the ways in which the meanings of England and Englishness are never fixed, always changing

A literary tour through English history... A charming mix of history, travel and literature, inspiring the reader to set forth to discover the English countryside – and to reread the poems aloud at the sites that inspired their creation

History Extra, Best History Books of 2025

Catherine Clarke traces centuries of English thought and poetry, from the time of Beowulf to the protests written in the wake of Brexit. She weaves together the personal and the public with stories of the Danelaw, French nobles, Yorkshire miners, and the heart-rending plight of the 16th-century Protestant martyr Anne Askew. An excellent, all-encompassing read

Catherine Clarke uses an eclectic mix of verse — satirical, scabrous, tragic, lyrical — to tell the English national story… the emotional intimacy of poetry (aided by Clarke’s careful, historically informed analysis) offers valuable insights into great historical events

One to read for anybody who’s ever climbed a lamp-post to put up a flag; or indeed climbed a lamp-post to pull one down again

Clarke's deeply researched book is no mere anthology; it celebrates the power of poems to transport readers to the settings in which they were written (or spoken), from the 7th-century Venerable Bede to a post-Brexit cricket green. Along the way Clarke's reading of the poems casts light on ideas of English history, legacy and identity

An ambitious, thoughtful book that attempts to tell the messy, contested story of the nation... While being lightly written, Clarke’s book is deeply researched, and takes us to some very unexpected places

Offering poetic vantage points on 1,300 years of war, pastoralism and pestilence, it does exactly what it says on the cover... Clarke constantly balances the energies and elegies of our national tale to deliver a wonderfully refreshing book

HOW good to find a historian who values literature, a critic who knows about history! [...] Professor Clarke has laid out her book well with regard to its history, and sensitively in her literary criticism. This is a highly recommendable read for anyone interested in history or literature, and a model of how the two disciplines can be brought together harmoniously, each throwing light on the other

This is the history of England told in a new way: glimpsed through twenty-five remarkable poems written down between the eighth century and today, which connect us directly with the nation’s past, and the experiences, emotions and imaginations of those who lived it. 
 
These poems open windows onto wildly different worlds – from the public to the intimate, from the witty to the savage, from the playful to the wistful. They take us onto battlefields, inside royal courts, down coal mines and below stairs in great houses. Their creators, witnesses to events from the Great Fire of London to the Miners’ Strike, range from the famous to the forgotten, yet each invites us into an immersive encounter with their own time. 
 
A History of England in 25 Poems is a portal to the past; a constant companion, filled with vivid voices and surprising stories alongside familiar landmarks, and language that speaks in new ways on each reading. Catherine Clarke’s knowledge and passion take us inside the words and the moments they capture, with thoughtful insights, humour and new perspectives on how the nation has dreamed itself into existence – and who gets to tell England’s story.

A History of England in 25 Poems

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

sectionTitle

isEnabled

anchor

anchorLabel

prhuk/featured-book

prhuk/praise-section

maxBooks

showViewMore

prhuk/books-section

hideAuthorAlert

formName

iterableDivision

iterableBrand

buttonText

description

heading

legalText

successHeading

successText

image

alignment

variation

prhuk/email-section

prhuk/series-section

prhuk/biography-section

prhuk/articles-section

prhuk-authors

author-hero

author-hero-mobile

author-avatar

author-menu

Little Black Classics Box Set

Penguin Modern Box Set

Doctor Who: Circuit-Breaker

Frankenstein

Catherine Clarke

Praise for A History of England in 25 Poems

This is a marvellous idea, quite brilliantly realised. Catherine Clarke takes 25 poems, from Caedmon’s Hymn and The Battle of Maldon to Edward Thomas’s Adlestrop and Geoffrey Hill’s September ...

A literary tour through English history... A charming mix of history, travel and literature, inspiring the reader to set forth to discover the English countryside – and to reread the poems aloud at the sites that in ...