A time of great peace and prosperity, the eighteenth century, often called the Age of Reason, gave us some of our finest pastoral poetry and our sharpest satire.

In landscape as in literature, a return to the values of the Augustan age was being celebrated: clarity, simplicity and order were praised. London, meanwhile, grew to be the world's largest city, and poets such as Pope and Swift were writing witty, elegant criticism of its politics and its people.

This collection conveys the essence of the period, from the rural meditations and landscape poetry of Thomas Gray and Oliver Goldsmith to the brilliantly scathing couplets of Pope and the uncomfortable truths of Swift. Placing great emphasis on mind and morals, the poetry has a stylistic grace that is evident on each and every page.