The last three decades of the 20th century saw a number of short-lived poetic groupings, including the Martians, along with a general trend towards what has been termed Poeclectics', namely intensification within individual poets' oeuvres of "alI kinds of style, subject, voice, register and form". There has also been a growth in interest in women's writing, and in poetry from England's minorities, especially the West Indian community. In this book I propose to give you an overview of the birth, growth, and development of English poetry from the earliest times to the present. This will include a description of its historical, social and cultural backgrounds. The first section will discuss the origin of English poetry. It would also be useful to see if the periodization and growth of English poetry can be mapped out. Finally, I would like to speculate on its future possibilities.