The First Poems in English

Jul 19, 2025 4:40 PM

Author:Michael Alexander

This selection of the earliest poems in English comprises works from an age in which verse was not written down, but recited aloud and remembered. Heroic poems celebrate courage, loyalty and strength, in excerpts from Beowulf and in The Battle of Brunanburgh, depicting King Athelstan’s defeat of his northern enemies in 937 AD, while The Wanderer and The Seafarer reflect on exile, loss and destiny. The Gnomic Verses are proverbs on the natural order of life, and the Exeter Riddles are witty linguistic puzzles. Love elegies include emotional speeches from an abandoned wife and separated lovers, and devotional poems include a vision of Christ’s cross in The Dream of the Rood, and Caedmon’s Hymn, perhaps the oldest poem in English, speaking in praise of God.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this ... well written with amusing one-liners and great characters

—— Elizabeth Blandford, Blandford Books, Broadway

This clever and funny novel is great as a Sunday afternoon read

—— The Sun

Morrison has an easy wit which also reads nicely - rarely does a page pass without a decent quip. This is a fun, absorbing debut that doesn't take itself too seriously. Morrison is onto a winner.

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—— Tony Parsons

A big, ambitious book...carefully structured, intelligently developed

—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday Times

This is Morrison breaking free: being populist and literary, simultaneously, and showing in the process that he can do something entirely different

—— Peter Stanford , Independent

A satisfying chunky novel set mainly during New Labour's first government

—— Ludovic Huntley-Tilney , Financial Times

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—— Roger Perkins , Sunday Telegraph

An accessible romp, ripe for the summer market

—— Observer

A scintillating read

—— GQ

A work that is often very funny, constantly vigorous, always intelligent and enjoyable

—— Scotsman

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton

A triumph

—— Hello

Top marks. Fantastic

—— Heat

Lovely

—— Daily Telegraph

Moving and intelligent

—— Independent

Magnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners

—— Cosmopolitan

Jewell's readability and emotional intelligence make her the cream of pop fiction

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Fans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into

—— Sunday Telegraph

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