From the civilization of the Lower Nile to that of the Lower Hudson, more poets have written more convincingly, more poignantly about love than about any other subject. This selection of love poems features work by 190 poets, and the poems are some of the most note-worthy in the English language.

Funny, sad, tender, and erotic, by jilted lovers and new lovers, lovers celebrating the love that has sustained them over long years, lovers looking for their ideal love, these poems demonstrate many emotions inspired by love. Stallworthy arranged the book thematically, beginning with the dawning of young love and ending with the "long look back" of older writers. These poems demonstrate our changeless responses to the changing seasons of the heart.

From the civilization of the Lower Nile to that of the Lower Hudson, more poets have written more convincingly, more poignantly about love than about any other subject. Jon Stallworthy has here selected some of the most moving, funny, shameless, and erotic love poems in the English language. Representing the work of more than 190 poets, from Sappho to Byron and Browning, from Rossetti to Wordsworth and E.E. Cummings, he offers a startling collection of love poetry down through the ages. Arranged thematically, beginning with the first drawings of young love and ending with the "long look back" of the aged, and revealing love in all its different aspects and perversities, this anthology demonstrates vividly man's changeless responses to the changing seasons of the heart. "Stallworthy's book of love poetry, ranging across more than twenty centuries of writing about love 'till the stars have run away' establishes beyond the eye-shadow of a doubt that love is, has been and always will be blind."-Christian Science Monitor "A very thorough job...eccentric and entertaining."-Times Literary Supplement (London)