The selection of forty poems encompasses some of the greatest poets of English literature, ranging from Chaucer through the Romantics and the Modernists to acclaimed Faber poets who are writing today. The Faber poetry list, originally founded in the 1920s, was shaped by the taste of T. S. Eliot who was its guiding light for nearly forty years.

Since the sixties, each passing decade has seen the list grow with the addition of poets who were arguably the finest of their generation. In recent years the creation of the Poet to Poet series has further broadened the scope of Faber poetry by including the work of great poets from the past selected and introduced by the contemporary poets they have inspired.