George Gascoigne's 'Gascoigne's Lullabie'

George Gascoigne (1535-1578)

I know very little about George Gascoigne, and looking him up on line hasn’t added much to that. But I do like this poem for its combination of weary resignation and sly humour.

And poems like this are the reason why good anthologies are so valuable. I found this one in Seven Centuries of Poetry in English, edited by John Leonard. A lot can be said against anthologies, but a good one, like Seven Centuries, is a great place to start if you’re curious about poetry written in other times or want to read something by famous poet x without wading through x’s complete poems. And in a good anthology, nestled beside famous poet x’s well known poem, will be a poem by someone you’ve never heard of, which you wouldn’t have otherwise found.