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A History of England in 25 Poems

byCatherine Clarke

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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.

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

Dominic Sandbrook, The Times, Best Books of the Year 2025

About Catherine Clarke

Catherine Clarke is a Professor at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and Director of the Victoria County History of England. She was previously Professor of English Literature at the University of Southampton, where she remains a Visiting Professor.
Details
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • ISBN: 9780241765982
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Dimensions: 242mm x 35mm x 162mm
  • Weight: 620g
  • Price: £25.00
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