Customer Reviews

An Invitation to Poetry: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology (Student Edition)

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Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997. Since its inception, the Project has been dedicated to celebrating, documenting and promoting poetry's role in Americans' lives.

"An Invitation to Poetry: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology" is the third volume of Pinsky's publicly and critically acclaimed series in which Americans, from ages 5 to 97, from many states, of diverse occupations and education, are asked to submit their favorite poems and to explain why the poem is important to them. Some of the readers' comments are as moving as the poetry itself.

The work included in this volume represents poets from all over the world throughout the centuries. The enclosed documentary DVD, which is a companion piece to this compilation, features twenty-eight contributors reading their own selections along with an introduction by Pinsky. The readers range in age and background from two 11-year-olds to 97-year-old former Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz to a Supreme Court justice. One of the segments that really moved and inspired me is by a Vietnam War Veteran who cries in front of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D. C., while reading "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa: "I go down the 58,022 names / half-expecting to find / my own in letters like smoke."

I found many of my own favorites in this extraordinary collection. I was also introduced to several wonderful new poems I might never have read otherwise. Included here are works by: Sappho, Shakespeare, Goethe, Keats, Whitman, and Emily Dickinson, as well as more contemporary poems like those by Yehuda Amichai, and Saadi Youssef. The book emphasizes the pure joy of reading poetry. And, it appears, that poetry appreciation is alive and well in America!

I highly recommend this anthology to poetry lovers everywhere, and also the first two publications from The Favorite Poem Project: "America's Favorite Poems," and, "Poems To Read." These extraordinary volumes are all edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz. And if you do not particularly care for poetry, this collection may change your mind.
JANA

Robert Pinsky, past poet laureate and the instigator of the Favorite Poem Project, says that the poem doesn't happen on the page, but when it's spoken and heard. The real strength of this book and DVD is the DVD--it has about 30 five-minute interview/clips with readers and how/why their favorite poem struck a chord with them. We see some personal background of the reader with them reading the poem aloud (sometimes memorized!) Readings range from the whimisical ("The Sloth" read by a 5th grader) the serious ("Facing It" read by a Vietnam vet). I also disovered poems I had never heard of before, like Margaret Atwoods, "It Is Dangerous to Read Newspapers," a terrific poem. I first heard some of these readings on the Newshour ("The Song of the Banana Man") and wanted more. This book/DVD combination proves that poetry speaks to everyone.

The book is a fine anthology, with some you will know and others that will be unfamiliar. But what makes it primarily worthwhile is the accompanying DVD: regular Americans talking candidly about why a poem matters to them, or how a poem has helped them during a challenging period, and then reading it. It may sound banal, but the result is spellbindingly gripping, reminding you that poetry is not an elite art form restricted to the few, but a source of solace and inspiration to your neighbor. Fabulous stuff.

I sometimes find poems in remarkable ways and these seem so personal, as if the poet had written them for me. Such is the experience of other readers, and this book is filled with these personal accounts. The accompanying DVD of 27 poems features an even greater view of the person reading their favorite poems. Several of the poems of loss are most touching, and I thank those readers for sharing, particularly Olivia Milwards selection of Goethe's "The Holy Longing" and associated butterfly that came to her garden.

Included are poems from everyone's favorite poets (multiple picks of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Shakespeare), but also lesser known (in United States) poets from other counties, such as Amichai from Israel, Evan Jones from Jamaica, or Youssef from Iraq. It is also striking the variety of occupations of those selecting the poems; there are construction workers, attorneys, soldiers, investment managers, and even a poet (Stanley Kunitz).

This is the third volume of former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's acclaimed Favorite Poem Project, in which he has invited Americans, from all walks of life and a variety of heritages, to share their favorite poems, and to explain why the poem is significant to them. They have been very enjoyable anthologies, representing, too, poets from all eras and parts of the world, familiar and obscure. But this may be the best one so far, because it includes a documentary DVD of twenty-eight individuals featured in the book, reading their favorite poems and describing how these poems affected and reflected their lives. The five- to ten-minute segments feature everyone from two charming 11-year-olds, to 97-year-old former Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz. Some of them have very moving stories, like the young woman describing her family's flight from the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, and the Vietnam Vet who breaks down while reading "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa in front of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. The featured readers are basically from three parts fo the country (Massachusetts, California and Georgia), but they are nevertheless a wonderful cross-section. And they all read their poems eloquently. It really brought this project to a more personal level. So my advice is: accept the invitation; you'll be glad you came.

This third book edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz is really a winner. It is part of their collection of people's favorite poems, with brief but cogent explanations of why that poem means so much to the person choosing it. In addition to the written poems, an excellent DVD accompanies the volume, with many of the contributors reading their selected poems, sometimes in the original language as well as English. The book is to be savored. The poems are beautiful, meaningful, and accessible.

This book and it's accompanying DVD were an unexpected pleasure.
I have a young relative who has a major interest in poetry. And I had the opportunity to attend a discussion lead by Robert Pinsky. Given these 'messages', I thought I better attend the Pinksky gathering and learn something. Indeed I did learn and indeed I found a new pleasure. I would recommend An Invitation to Poetry to anyone who has a flicker of interest or no interest in poety. That's where I started.
The accompanying DVD is what grabs you. It is real people from many backgrounds and age groups sharing what poem they most love. Then they read or recite it. It'll blow you away. I found seeing the DVD a motivating factor for reading the poetry. All schools would do well to expose their students to this DVD.

I was introduced to this book in a graduate level English course on Poetry and Performance. I am now a 10th grade English teacher and have used the DVD accompanying this book in an introductory lesson to my poetry unit, during which I require students to compile a portfolio of their favorite poems. Students seem to really enjoy watching the clips, especially the one of the young man who chose "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks and the young woman who reads "Minstrel Man" by Langston Hughes. I am now buying another copy of this book as a gift for the teacher who hosted me during my student teaching. This book is worth much more than what you pay for it.

My 65 year old brother told me he had read the anthology all in one sitting and didn't remember any..I discovered the library issue of the book and DVD and plan to give it to him to show how to read poetry in order to savor it. Also called my daughter (High school English teacher) and suggested she use this book and DVD as a tool for her students since several of the participants are teenagers.

Highly recommend for pleasure, sharing and teaching.

I have been using the Famous Poem Project in my classroom for a number of years and have always used their online sight. It is more convenient to have a disc of the recordings but I was disappointed that the disc does not contain all of the clips that are displayed online.