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A History of England in 25 Poems
- Author
- Catherine Clarke
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 4 September 2025
- Run Time
- 12 hours 49 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
A delightful, thoughtful and original new way to understand England's history
This is the history of England told in a new way: glimpsed through twenty-five remarkable poems written down between the eighth century and today, which connect us directly with the nation’s past, and the experiences, emotions and imaginations of those who lived it.
These poems open windows onto wildly different worlds – from the public to the intimate, from the witty to the savage, from the playful to the wistful. They take us onto battlefields, inside royal courts, down coal mines and below stairs in great houses. Their creators, witnesses to events from the Great Fire of London to the Miners’ Strike, range from the famous to the forgotten, yet each invites us into an immersive encounter with their own time.
A History of England in 25 Poems is a portal to the past; a constant companion, filled with vivid voices and surprising stories alongside familiar landmarks, and language that speaks in new ways on each reading. Catherine Clarke’s knowledge and passion take us inside the words and the moments they capture, with thoughtful insights, humour and new perspectives on how the nation has dreamed itself into existence – and who gets to tell England’s story.
'Catherine Clarke traces centuries of English thought and poetry, from the time of Beowulf to the protests written in the wake of Brexit. She weaves together the personal and the public with stories... an excellent, all-encompassing read.' - The Idler
© Catherine Clarke 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
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This is a marvellous idea, quite brilliantly realised. Catherine Clarke takes 25 poems, from Caedmon’s Hymn and The Battle of Maldon to Edward Thomas’s Adlestrop and Geoffrey Hill’s September Song, and uses them as windows into the English past, from politics and plagues to nature and nostalgia. Her book is a winning blend of jolly ballads and melancholy reflections, alive to the ways in which the meanings of England and Englishness are never fixed, always changing
The Times, Best Books of the Year 2025
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A literary tour through English history... A charming mix of history, travel and literature, inspiring the reader to set forth to discover the English countryside – and to reread the poems aloud at the sites that inspired their creation
History Extra, Best History Books of 2025
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Catherine Clarke traces centuries of English thought and poetry, from the time of Beowulf to the protests written in the wake of Brexit. She weaves together the personal and the public with stories of the Danelaw, French nobles, Yorkshire miners, and the heart-rending plight of the 16th-century Protestant martyr Anne Askew. An excellent, all-encompassing read
The Idler
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Catherine Clarke uses an eclectic mix of verse — satirical, scabrous, tragic, lyrical — to tell the English national story… the emotional intimacy of poetry (aided by Clarke’s careful, historically informed analysis) offers valuable insights into great historical events
The Times
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One to read for anybody who’s ever climbed a lamp-post to put up a flag; or indeed climbed a lamp-post to pull one down again
Times Radio
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Clarke's deeply researched book is no mere anthology; it celebrates the power of poems to transport readers to the settings in which they were written (or spoken), from the 7th-century Venerable Bede to a post-Brexit cricket green. Along the way Clarke's reading of the poems casts light on ideas of English history, legacy and identity
The FT Weekend
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An ambitious, thoughtful book that attempts to tell the messy, contested story of the nation... While being lightly written, Clarke’s book is deeply researched, and takes us to some very unexpected places
The FT
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Offering poetic vantage points on 1,300 years of war, pastoralism and pestilence, it does exactly what it says on the cover... Clarke constantly balances the energies and elegies of our national tale to deliver a wonderfully refreshing book
Country Life
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HOW good to find a historian who values literature, a critic who knows about history! [...] Professor Clarke has laid out her book well with regard to its history, and sensitively in her literary criticism. This is a highly recommendable read for anyone interested in history or literature, and a model of how the two disciplines can be brought together harmoniously, each throwing light on the other
Church Times
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I couldn't put it down
BBC Radio 6
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Catherine Clarke
- Narrator
- Catherine Clarke, Juanita Cox, Roy McMillan
- Duration
- 12 hours 49 minutes
- Release Date
- 4 September 2025
- ISBN
- 9781837310401
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- European history, Social and cultural history, Poetry anthologies (various poets), Literary studies: poetry and poets
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin.A delightful, thoughtful and original new way to understand England's historyThis is the history of England told in a new way: glimpsed through twenty-five remarkable poems written down between the eighth century and today, which connect us directly with the nation’s past, and the experiences, emotions and imaginations of those who lived it.These poems open windows onto wildly different worlds – from the public to the intimate, from the witty to the savage, from the playful to the wistful. They take us onto battlefields, inside royal courts, down coal mines and below stairs in great houses. Their creators, witnesses to events from the Great Fire of London to the Miners’ Strike, range from the famous to the forgotten, yet each invites us into an immersive encounter with their own time.A History of England in 25 Poems is a portal to the past; a constant companion, filled with vivid voices and surprising stories alongside familiar landmarks, and language that speaks in new ways on each reading. Catherine Clarke’s knowledge and passion take us inside the words and the moments they capture, with thoughtful insights, humour and new perspectives on how the nation has dreamed itself into existence – and who gets to tell England’s story.'Catherine Clarke traces centuries of English thought and poetry, from the time of Beowulf to the protests written in the wake of Brexit. She weaves together the personal and the public with stories... an excellent, all-encompassing read.' - The Idler© Catherine Clarke 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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