In this anthology an effort has been made to include representative selections from the most significant sixteenth-century French poets. With the exception if a few longer works (mainly those of Ronsard, Du Bartas, and D'Aubign{acute}e), poems are given complete. In addition, the original spelling and punctuation have been retained as far as possible, except for the usual editorial modifications (differentiation of u and v, i and j, the addition of accents a?a, oa?u, replacement of & by et, and so on). The sixteenth century is a period of tremendous poetic activity. It is a period closer in spirit to us in many ways than the intervening centuries, particularly the seventeenth and the eighteenth. Its poetry is still being rediscovered and re-assessed in a way that is just as exciting as the period of foment during which it was written.