Love and Longing

"This heady collection features love poems and prose excerpts by writers including Sappho, Shakespeare, Milton, the Brontes, and Wordsworth. Works are loosely arranged according to chapter headings drawn from particular poems, for instance "Love Is a Sickness" (after Samuel Daniel's poem), creating an engaging interchange of images and ideas, regardless of poet or era. As the title suggests, not every poem ends with a happily ever after; a Charlotte Mew poem reads, 'I so liked Spring last year/ Because you were here..../ This year's a different thing, --/ I'll not think of you.' A collection of classic poetry and prose based on the enduring themes of love and romance, with an introduction by prize-winning children's author Jacqueline Wilson. Includes material from the Romantics, Thomas Hardy, John Milton, Jane Austen, and Emily Bronte as well as Ovid, Catullus, and less well-known authors. Kate Agnew is a previous chair of the Children's Booksellers Association. She has also contributed to the "Cambridge Guide to Children's Books" and has edited several children's books. Jacqueline Wilson, OBE, is an internationally best-selling children's author.