The original "Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse" was published nearly 60 years ago, in 1932. The literary taste that informed it was more Edwardian or late Victorian than modern, and in particular it reflected the lyricizing preferences of Palgrave's influential "Golden Treasury" (1861). In so doing, an image of the Elizabethan period as one of dainty pastorals and pretty love songs was reinforced, and a whole range of writing was ignored. Emrys Jones aims to rectify this imbalance in his new anthology by doing full justice to the great variety of poetic forms, including satirical, personal, topical and sometimes "difficult" poems. The 16th century was an age of transition, and in the realm of poetry, forms and styles change so radically that it is impossible to think of it as a literary entity. At the beginning of the century, Skelton looks back to Chaucer, while at the end of it, poets are writing social satires in heroic couplets that anticipate Dryden and Pope. In between come such different and distinct poets as Wyatt, Spenser, Sidney, Lyly, Ralegh, Harington, Shakespeare, Campion, Nashe, Donne, Marston, and Dekker. The texts are presented chronologically in order of composition, and extensive glossing helps to convey the richness of the language.