The Fifty poems selected for this volume span more than four centuries. Although most are relatively short, some rank among the best works written by their authors and the greatest works of literature in the English language. Many are popular favorites, known to generation of readers. The main subjects of the poems are varied as the poets who wrote them. Love, one of the most popular poetic themes; inspirational poems; poems of death and disillusionment. Some poems are deeply personal, while others are political, serious patriots themes. There are poems expressing private yearning, divine authority. All suggest a world much greater than can be encompassed within their words, and the way in the which they send the reader to that realm is a large part of the pleasure they offer.