Poetry Bookshop Online

Gift Ideas - Collected Poetry

Poetry books make ideal gifts for both aficionados as well as for those coming to poetry fresh or hoping to re-kindle a love for the genre diminished by the pace of modern living. Reading poetry creates a space in the hustle-bustle; it provokes thought; it makes us look anew at the everyday things that we encounter and it can amuse and entertain.

On the following pages, we have attempted to provide you with a range of gift-buying options - a selection of books of love poetry that will make the recipient go weak at the knees; half-a-dozen beautiful collections of the work of some of the greatest and best-loved poets of the 20th century; some of the best of recently published contemporary poetry; a selection of anthologies showcasing the finest English poetry; the work of the much-loved Romantic poets and a smile-inducing selection of books of humorous verse.

Make someone happy - buy them some poetry.

• Collected Poems
  Roger McGough
  Penguin
  £9.99

One of the three poets responsible for Britain's biggest-selling poetry book, The Mersey Sound (the others, of course, being Adrian Henri and Brian Patten), McGough's poetry is accessible, witty, introspective and irreverent. This collection proves him to be more than just the pop poet of his early years.

• Collected Poems
  Ted Hughes
  Faber & Faber
  £16.99

One of the greatest 20th century English poets, Hughes bestrode the literary landscape for fifty years. This all-encompassing collection draws not only from well-known works such as Crow, Hawk in the Rain, Birthday Letters and Tales from Ovid, it also includes work produced for private presses, broadsides and pamphlets. Vast in its ambition, it successfully chronicles the complex poetic history of the former Poet Laureate.

• Collected Poems
  Robert Lowell
  Faber & Faber
  £40

The work of the greatest of America's post-war poets is collected here in a stunning and comprehensive volume. His Pulitzer Prize-winning collections, Lord Weary's Castle and History are just two of the highlights of this book and for completists there are a number of poems never previously collected as well as a selection of his drafts.

• Collected Poems
  Philip Larkin
  Faber & Faber
  £12.99

Larkin's four published collections, The North Ship, The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows are presented in their original chronological sequence in this edition and there is also an appendix of poems that were published in other places. A superb collection of everything that this greatly loved and admired poet produced.

• The Poems of Marianne Moore
  ed. Grace Schulman
  Faber & Faber
  £30

In 1968, Marianne Moore, one of America's best-loved poets, published her Complete Poems. However, she decided to leave out more than half of her published work. Now, for the first time, her entire published oeuvre is collected in one volume, including more than 100 previously uncollected and unpublished versions. All of Moore's original notes to the poems are included as well as editorial notes.

• Collected Poems
  W H Auden
  Faber & Faber
  £35

The collected work of one of the great 20th century masters of English poetry. Stylistically innovative and concerned with the great moral and political issues of the age, his work is both fresh and accessible and its influence on modern poetry is inestimable.


Gordon Kerr has worked in marketing and branding for Waterstones and Oddbins. He is the author of more than 30 books in the areas of art, history, poetry, travel, humour and crime.



We have a range of poetry gift guides to suit every taste. Why not check out collected poetry, contemporary poetry, anthologies, Romantic poetry and humorous poetry?