The leading literary figures of the day Were John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George Herbert, whose work is now known as 'metaphysical'; John Dryden, whose satire still carries a vicious sting; and John Milton, admired by generations of readers.

The seventeenth century was a time of upheaval and change in England as the civil war raged and the monarchy was restored.

The leading literary figures of the day Were John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George Herbert, whose work is now known as 'metaphysical'; John Dryden, whose satire still carries a vicious sting; and John Milton, admired by generations of readers.

From the worldliness of Ben Jonson to the mysticism of Thomas Traheme and the lustiness of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, this collection demonstrates the rich diversity of poetry from this fertile age.

The Pulley, GEORGE HERBERT

'Love bade me welcome', GEORGE HERBERT

The Answer, GEORGE HERBERT

Colossians 3:3, GEORGE HERBERT

A Song, THOMAS CAREW

The Good Morrow, JOHN DONNE

The Spring, THOMAS CAREW

On a Gentlewoman Walking in the Snow, WILLIAM STRODE

The Canonization, JOHN DONNE

The Dream, JOHN DONNE

Song, EDMUND WALLER

Love's Growth, JOHN DONNE

A Nocturnal upon St Lucy's Day, JOHN DONNE

The Vote, RALPH KNEVET

The Sun Rising, JOHN DONNE

Of the Last Verses in the Book, EDMUND WALLER

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, JOHN DONNE

Sonnet 7: 'At the round Earth's imagined corners',

JOHN DONNE

A Hymn to God the Father, JOHN DONNE

Sonnet i4: 'Batter my heart', JOHN DONNE

The Apparition, JOHN DONNE

Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward, JOHN DONNE

Sonnet io: 'Death be not proud', JOHN DONNE

[The Constant Lover], SIR JOHN SUCKLING

Song: to Lucasta, Going to the Wars, RICHARD LOVELACE

The Grasshopper, RICHARD LOVELACE

La Bella Bona Roba, RICHARD LOVELACE

from Lucasta: To Lucasta, RICHARD LOVELACE

My Picture Left in Scotland, BEN JONSON

Song. To Celia, BEN JONSON

from Cynthia's Revels: [Echo's Song], BEN JONSON

from Epicoene: [Clerimont's Song], BEN JONSON

from The New Inn: [Vision of Beauty], BEN JONSON

from The Forest: Ⅱ: To Penshurst, BEN JONSON

from The White Devil, JOHN WEBSTER

An Ode. To Himself, BEN JONSON

L'Allegro, JOHN MILTON

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, ROBERT HERRICK

Corinna's Going a-Maying, ROBERT HERRICK

Delight in Disorder, ROBERT HERRICK

To Blossoms, ROBERT HERRICK

Madrigal 1.3: 'Like the Idalian queen', WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN

[Hymn to Cynthia], BEN JONSON

Sonnet 2. 12: 'As, in a dusky and tempestuous night', WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN

I1 Penseroso, JOHN MILTON

To Meadows, ROBERT HERRICK

The Argument of His Book, ROBERT HERRICK

To Daffodils, ROBERT HERRICK

Upon Julia's Clothes, ROBERT HERRICK

Her Legs, ROBERT HERRICK

Cherry-ripe, ROBERT HERRICK

Upon His Departure Hence, ROBERT HERRICK

The Nightpiece, to Julia, ROBERT HERRICK

To Julia, ROBERT HERRICK

How Roses Came Red, ROBERT HERRICK

'Doing a filthy pleasure is', BEN JONSON

My Beloved is Mine and I am His, FRANCIS QUARLES

Redemption, GEORGE HERBERT

The Agony, GEORGE HERBERT

Life, GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer (Ⅰ), GEORGE HERBERT

Virtue, GEORGE HERBERT

[Sonnet Ⅱ: For the Baptist], WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF

HAWTHORNDEN

The Pilgrimage, GEORGE HERBERT

On the Death of Mr Purcell, JOHN DRYDEN

An Exequy to His Matchless Never-to-be-forgotten Friend

HENRY KING

Sonnet 16: On His Blindness, JOHN MILTON

On Time, JOHN MILTON

The Collar, GEORGE HERBERT

The Sinner, GEORGE HERBERT

from A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634 [Comus]

JOHN MILTON

Lycidas, JOHN MILTON

On Shakespeare, JOHN MILTON

Sonnet 19: 'Methought I saw', JOHN MILTON

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, JOHN MILTON

The Unquiet Grave, ANON.

The Death and Burial of Cock Robbin, ANON.

Sir Patrick Spens, ANON.

Evening Quatrains, CHARLES COTTON

The Definition of Love, ANDREW MARVELL

To His Coy Mistress, ANDREW MARVELL

On a Drop of Dew, ANDREW MARVELL

Tam Lin, ANON.

The Mower to the Glo-worms, ANDREW MARVELL

The Garden, ANDREW MARVELL

Peace, HENRY VAUGHAN

On a Cock at Rochester, SIR CHARLES SEDLEY

The Water-fall, HENRY VAUGHAN

Of Many Worlds in This World, MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE

'They are all gone into the world of light!', HENRY VAUGHAN

The Hunting of the Hare, MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE

Sweet Suffolk Owl, THOMAS VAUTOR

Thomas the Rhymer, ANON.

The True Christmas, HENRY VAUGHAN

News, THOMAS TRAHERNE

A Song of a Young Lady: to Her Ancient Lover, JOHN WILMOT, EARL OF ROCHESTER

Antiquary, JOHN DONNE

Song, JOHN WILMOT, EARL OF ROCHESTER

Song, JOHN DRYDEN

To My Book, BEN JONSON

Song: 'Can life be a blessing', JOHN DRYDEN