From Chaucer to Billy Collins and from basset hounds to brindle bull terriers,Doggerelpresents a robust brood of the most charming verse tributes ever offered to our beloved canine companions.

The rich and assorted cadences of some of the most distinguished poets across the centuries ring out from these pagesfrom Spenser, Shakespeare, and Pope to Merrill, Merwin, and Muldooncelebrating pooches of every pedigree and persuasion. Here is Margaret Cavendishs barking chorus of beagles on the hunt; Elizabeth Bishops Pink Dog alongside Robyn Selmans My Dog is Named for Elizabeth Bishop; Charles Baxters villanelle Dog Kibble, whose dog-narrator decides that Life isnt meaningless because theres food; and the desultory charms of Jane Kenyons unleashed dog, nuzzling about on a drizzly afternoon.

From lazy dogs curled up by the fireplace to audacious hounds howling at the moon, from mutts to purebreds, puppies to old dogs,Doggerelis an irresistible gathering of fast and faithful friends.

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