The office of poet laureate is a high honor among poets. The honor was first present among the ancient Greeks, whose heroes and poets wore wreaths of laurel in honor of the god Apollo.
Unfortunately no single definitive record exists of the office of Poet Laureate of England. In some form it can be traced back to 1189 and Richard Canonicus who was employed by Richard I with the title "versificator Regis." It is said that Geoffrey Chaucer was called poet laureate, being granted in 1389 an annual allowance of wine. However, it is not until 1617 that King James I created the post as it is known today for Ben Jonson, although it appears not to have been a formal appointment. That formality—the title of Poet Laureate, as a royal office—was first conferred by letters patent on John Dryden in 1670.
From there we have procession of outstanding writers, among them William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Alfred Austin, and Edmund Spenser. Collected here in this first volume are works by these great poets.
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