Ode to London Poems to Celebrate the City

“Earth hath not anything to show more fair,” enthused William Wordsworth of London, while to Lord Byron it was “the Devil's drawing-room.” Ode to London collects a selection of paeans to England's august capital from a veritable “Poet's Corner,” including beloved authors like William Blake, Rudyard Kipling, Mary Robinson, and more, accompanied by beautiful illustrations of the city. From Big Ben and the Blitz spirit to red double-decker buses, here is London immortalized in verse by those who have known and loved her best.