Three things caused me to buy this book. The first was the inclusion of two Emily Bronte poems by Professor Bloom: ‘Stanzas’ and ‘Last Lines’. The secThree things caused me to buy this book. The first was the inclusion of two Emily Bronte poems by Professor Bloom: ‘Stanzas’ and ‘Last Lines’. The second was the inclusion of T S Eliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ and the third was that 108 poets are represented in this book.
Professor Bloom selected as his chronological limits Geoffrey Chaucer, born around 1343 and Hart Crane born in 1899. Within these parameters is a wealth of British and American poetry to cover a wide range of moods and tastes.
There is something intrinsically personal about anthologies of poetry. Those who enjoy poetry will select favourites based on all manner of criteria. My personal criteria owe little to critical objectivity and much more to subjective assessments of evocative language and the metrics of rhythm.
So, I’ve come to love the fierce assertion of the ‘Last Lines’. Here is the first verse: ‘No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere; I see Heaven’s glories shine, And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.’
And also to love, for different reasons the self-doubt echoing through ‘The Waste Land’, which starts with The Burial of the Dead: ‘April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.’
It would be remiss of me not to mention some of the other poets included: Edmund Spenser Samuel Taylor Coleridge George Gordon, Lord Byron Henry David Thoreau Thomas Hardy Wilfred Owen and 100 others. Professor Bloom has included an essay on ‘The Art of Reading Poetry’ together with a range of headnotes on poets and poems. If you enjoy poetry anthologies, this may well be a book for your collection as well. ...more
This is one of those delightful little anthologies that is really worth picking up just to browe through.
Okay, so I couldn't stop at a browse: I needThis is one of those delightful little anthologies that is really worth picking up just to browe through.
Okay, so I couldn't stop at a browse: I needed to purchase my own copy so I could continue to admire the wordcraft of the contributors.
These are poems by contemporary poets that they have chosen as their own personal favourites. Reading them has in some cases made me want to seek out more poems by these authors....more
In March, I needed to find a copy of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ in order to make sure I was correctly quoting the last versIn March, I needed to find a copy of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ in order to make sure I was correctly quoting the last verse.
There are a number of books I could have turned to, but this particular book was my first choice. I bought this anthology, about 15 years ago, because I was intrigued to know which poems would be included and on what basis. In a delightful editorial note, William Harmon writes that these are the most anthologized poems in English. The time span (based on the birth of the poets) is from 1250-1350 (approx) for the anonymous author of the ‘Cuckoo Song’ to 1932 for Sylvia Plath, author of ‘’Daddy’. A favourite poem? That will depend entirely on mood and audience. While the Emily Bronte poem included ‘Remembrance’ is not my favourite of hers (my heart has long since been given to ‘No Coward Soul is Mine’) it is another of her passionate, stirring poems.
But the poem I was searching for in the beginning ends this way: ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.’ I recommend this anthology highly to those who would like one collection of significant English poems. May you find, as I did, both old acquaintances and new friends within its pages. ...more
This beautiful collection of poetry holds a special place in my heart. Some three hundred poems, in a wonderfully illustrated, durably bound book madeThis beautiful collection of poetry holds a special place in my heart. Some three hundred poems, in a wonderfully illustrated, durably bound book made for browsing, reading and sharing memories.
Various headings are used to organise the poems: ‘Love’, which naturally includes some poetry by Lord Byron; William Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’; and The Rose of Sharon from The Song of Songs. ‘Events’, which includes ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Clement Clark Moore; ‘I Sing of Brooks’ by Robert Herrick; and ‘The Oxen’ by Thomas Hardy. ‘Distant Lands’: encompassing ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley; ‘Kubla Khan’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; and ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke.
Other categories include poems about Home and Work, about War and Heroism, Animals (‘The Dalliance of the Eagles’ by Walt Whitman; ‘To a Butterfly’ by William Wordsworth; and ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’ by Edward Lear).
There are Children’s Poems, and entries under Wit and Humour including: ‘I always eat my peas with honey; I’ve done it all my life. They do taste kind of funny But it keeps them on my knife.’
There are many more poems as well. The opening lines of this particular poem, by Charlotte Bronte, caught my attention: ‘Life, believe, is not a dream, So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day; Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient all; If the shower will make the roses bloom, Oh, why lament its fall?’
I recommend this particular collection to those who enjoy eclectic anthologies of poetry. ...more
Jennifer (JC-S)
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