Ana Sampson

The perfect book for fans of Edgar Allan Poe and, more widely, for those who love their dark side with a touch of horror. Poetry s fascination with the weird and the macabre has a long literary history, and Sampson sates modern appetites with this curated collection of over 300 of the best poems published on the subject. There is a fine and terrible tradition of poetry of the occult, the macabre, and the sinister, and this anthology will introduce the reader to both celebrated antiheroes like Keats s serpentine Lamia and Christina Rossetti s thirsty goblins, and less well-known figures from nightmare, such as Violet Fane s deadly Victorian siren and Clare Pollard s ultramodern Reynardine. From the gothic dreamscapes of Edgar Allan Poe to Coleridge s unhallowed ocean, explore the mind s dark places with poems that stretch back centuries to the latest terror from today s bards. The sinister but seductive beauty of illustrators such as Harry Clarke accompany the poems in a volume that will speak to those drawn to the dark.

Meet monsters and mythical creatures in this epic poetry collection, perfect for young poetry fans, illustrated throughout in black and white line. Compiled by best-selling anthologist Ana Sampson, illustrated by award-winning former children's laureate Chris Riddell and with an introduction by Natalie Haynes, author of Stone Blind. People all over the world have always told each other stories. And from the very earliest times, many of these stories were told in verse. This collection of poems includes retellings and reimaginings of Roman, Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Aztec, Mayan and Incan mythology. You will meet gods, monsters, tricksters, heroes, magical creatures and objects, magicians and spirits including Medusa, Icarus, Loki, Osiris, the Minotaur, Pegasus, Bunyip, Kukulcan, Cerberus, Beowolf and Mjolnir and there are footnotes to shine a light on the stories themselves. Includes poems from W B Yeats, Kae Tempest, Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare, Benjamin Zephaniah, Joseph Coelho and many more. . . 'Dive into this fantastic collection about gods, goddesses and monsters from all over the world . . . it is beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddell' – Natalie Haynes, The Big Issue

Whether in search of comfort, inspiration or escape, this treasury of celebrated verse brings together half a millennium of familiar and much-loved poetry to cherish.Including the classic poems of Tennyson, Marvell, Byron and Rossetti, alongside the more contemporary voices of Ayres, Larkin and Zephaniah, this special collection is divided into themes to suit every mood. From magic voyages through antique lands to the wonders of nature and the roar of city life, from love and war to those poems we used to know by heart, this volume is a bold and beautiful array of the finest verse from some of our greatest poets.

'Paths of glory', 'Theirs not to reason why', 'When you are old and grey and full of sleep', 'A handful of dust', 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day'.These and many others are famous lines of poetry that often occur in everyday speech. But do you know the rest of the verse, or even the rest of the poem?An anthology to warm the coldest heart or charm the least romantic soul, this is a collection of poems (or in some cases, extracts) that are not only memorable, but lend themselves to being learned by heart.This is the perfect book for anyone with even the vaguest interest in poetry, providing a wonderful opportunity to revisit those much-loved lines remembered from earlier days.