Customer Reviews

The Classic Hundred Poems: A Columbia Granger's Multimedia Anthology CDROM

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This review is addressed solely to the oral readings in this "multimedia anthology," not to the choice of poems, their presentation on the electronic "page," or the supplementary material. In this age of sight and sound, one might hope for a renewed interest in poetry read aloud. After all, your average Ipod can store all the world's great poetry. Any such prospect will quickly be extinguished if there are many productions as bad as this one. At first I thought the readers had been chosen in accordance with some manic diversity template, without the slightest concern for whether they could actually read poetry with even minimal competence. In fact, this project was not ruined by political correctness (though that would be typical these days). Instead, the readers are poets themselves. This is a perennially tempting, and invariably bad, idea. The gift of writing poetry is utterly distinct from the gift of reading it. (Perhaps this is the one arena where the deconstructionists are right: here, the "reader" is as important as the writer.) The truths, and the feelings embodied in these poems would be far better conveyed by professional actors or readers; o for a Derek Jacoby, or a Kenneth Branagh, or a Michael York, to substitute for these awful readers. Introducing poetry to your child in high school through these readings will ensure that he or she will never, ever want to read, or hear, another poem.

Hallelujah! I found an anthology of poetry that is actually helpful to the high school student! Nearly every poem an English teacher has ever mentioned is in this book, making it easy to get to know these poems. I have an older copy (1990 I think) and it is indispensable. Yes, I don't necessarily like all the poems, but it's a fantastic resource. Frost, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Byron, Dickinson, Eliot-- all the biggies are here. The brief explanations of the poems are helpful as well; much less verbose than my Ph.D. British Lit teacher. I recommend "Jabberwocky" as the first poem to read. It'll loosen you up a bit.

This was an enlightening look at some classic poems that I was already familiar with, and a number of new ones. The editor's notes about the poet and poem were very helpful. I also like another poetry anthology, "Poetry for a Lifetime", which has a much larger selection of old favorites to which the editor has added comments and illustrations. And it also has a beautiful Maxfield Parrish painting on the cover.

Most small anthologies only contain a couple of poems you would want to look up. This one is full of poems that are frequently refered to, which makes this a good reference work. The short commentary with each poem provides some historical context or helpful information that is educational. His book of the Top 500 Poems is my favorite collection, but lacks the commentaries found in the Classic 100 book.

This anthology is surprising in that it's not just a fine selection, but the notes are useful. It's printed on good paper as well. I miss a couple of old favorites, but overall, it's a book of poems I actually pick up and read from time to time. More than worth the price.

A book that will not gather dust on the bookshelf, but one that you will want keep close for impromptu readings. Particularly useful for me are the biographical/historical background as well as the usefull notes that frame the poet and poems and make many decipherable and most enjoyable, as for example Browning's "My Last Duchess" as well as Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci". John Donne stands out but I have only started reading and no doubt will have many more favorites, renewed appreciation for Dickinson, particularly, "Because I could not stop for death"

I bought this book because I bought the audio version on iTunes but didn't have the written poems in front of me. Together, they make a nice set. If you like the book, I would highly recommend buying the audio version. The only thing I don't like about it is that the audio version lumps thirty poems or more into one track, so that it makes it difficult to skip to individual poems. But overall, the readings are good. These certainly are the classics.

i had william harmon for 20th century poetry last year and he was really smart. i like this book and it contains many of the poems he likes as well. he tells the same stroies every year, though.