Reliques of Ancient English Poetry

📅 1765 ✏️ Thomas Percy 📖 J. Dodsley 📚 3 volumes; multiple later editions

BalladsFolk Poetry18th CenturyRomantic InfluenceMedieval Revival

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), edited by Bishop Thomas Percy, is a three-volume collection of traditional ballads, songs, and metrical romances that reignited English interest in folk and medieval verse. It profoundly influenced the Romantic poets, particularly Wordsworth and Coleridge, and is credited with changing the course of English literature.

Overview

Published in 1765 by J. Dodsley, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry was compiled by Thomas Percy, later Bishop of Dromore, from a manuscript of traditional ballads he had rescued from being used as kindling — the now-famous "Percy Folio." The three-volume work collected traditional ballads, songs, sonnets, and metrical romances spanning several centuries.

The Reliques mixed genuinely ancient material with pieces Percy himself heavily edited, rewrote, or in some cases composed outright in imitation of the old ballad style. This blending of authentic folk material with editorial invention was controversial even in Percy's time, but it proved enormously influential regardless.

Historical Significance

The Reliques captured the public imagination at a moment when English literary taste was shifting away from Augustan formality toward what would become Romantic sensibility. The collection is widely credited with sparking renewed interest in ballad forms, medieval romance, and "natural" or "primitive" poetic expression.

Its influence on the Romantic movement was direct and profound. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth both cited Percy's Reliques as a formative influence, and the ballad-inspired ambitions of their own Lyrical Ballads (1798) owe a clear debt to Percy's collection. Walter Scott also acknowledged its foundational influence on his own literary ballad-collecting work.

Criticism

Scholars have long debated the authenticity of Percy's texts. His willingness to "improve" traditional ballads according to 18th-century taste means the Reliques cannot be treated as a purely scholarly folklore collection — it is as much a work of creative curation as documentation.

Legacy

Despite (or perhaps because of) its blend of authenticity and invention, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry is considered one of the most consequential anthologies in English literary history — a book that helped birth Romanticism by reviving interest in England's oral and medieval poetic past.

Related Anthologies

Lyrical Ballads

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Reliques of Ancient English Poetry?

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), edited by Thomas Percy, is a three-volume anthology of traditional ballads, songs, and metrical romances. It reignited English interest in folk and medieval poetry and directly influenced the Romantic movement.

Why is Reliques of Ancient English Poetry important?

It sparked renewed interest in ballad forms and medieval poetic traditions at a pivotal moment in English literary history, directly inspiring Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads and the broader Romantic movement.

Last updated: 2026-07-01