The beautiful island of Ireland has endured a history that is pock-marked with struggle and oppression, with religious division and self-serving administrations. It has sacrificed its youth in wars, its generations in famines and emigration but it has never forsaken its calling that Ireland is a beacon of dignity, humanity and a home for words and literature of every description.Across the centuries, whatever its joys or torments, its poets have assembled verse that speaks from its soul. These fifty poems can never be a complete package of Ireland. They give glimpses, aspects, insights and thoughtful views and opinions of a nation that is proud, free and gloried with a history that few others can carry. That few others possess. From Katharine Tynan, Francis Ledwidge, Isabella Valancy Crawford and Thomas Moore to James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and W B Yeats this roll-call of wordsmiths speaks of Ireland and for Ireland.