Customer Reviews

One Hundred and One Famous Poems

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My 1929 edition has always looked old, the pages were yellowing, and the oval portraits of the poets seemed outdated. I have had this old favorite on my bookshelf since childhood.

Over the last month I again read all 101 poems, rediscovering poets and poetry that I had nearly forgotten. Cook's compilation is a historical snapshot, one made before the Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War, Vietnam, Civil Rights, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the US, as the only super power, faced with global terrorism.

America was still fairly youthful in 1929; the Civil War had ended only 64 years before. Possibly reflecting our confidence in our American spirit and our sense of manifest destiny, this anthology includes a remarkable number of American poets. Some are no longer familiar, but their poetry sheds light on an earlier America, one that inhabited a less complicated world.

One-third of the 'famous poems' belong to just twelve American poets - William Cullen Bryant -2 poems, Ralph Waldo Emerson -4, Eugene Field -3, Oliver Wendell Holmes -3, Vachel Lindsay -2, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -7, James Russell Lowell -2, Edwin Markham -2, Edgar Allan Poe -2, James Whitcomb Riley -2, Edward Sill -2, and John Greenleaf Whittier -3. I did not recall the names Field, Lindsay, Markham, or Sill. But I clearly remember as a young boy being fascinated by the paradox in Eugene Field's 'The Duel'.

Surprisingly, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman rated only one poem each. The then contemporary poets Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edgar Lee Masters, and Carl Sandburg each have one poem.

Another one-third comes from 15 noted English poets (9 with multiple selections) - Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Burns, Byron, Gray, George Elliott, Leigh Hunt, Keats, Kipling, Milton, Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, Shelley, Tennyson, and Wordsworth.

The poets that created the final one-third 'famous poems' are fascinating in their anonymity. I simply did not recognize Lieut. Col. John McCrae, Henry Holcomb Bennett, Edmund Vance Cook, George Washington Doane, Sam Walter Foss, William Ernest Henley, Mary Howitt, Sergeant Joyce Kilmer, Winifred M. Letts, Clement Clarke Moore, Thomas Buchanan Read, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Their poems, however, were not entirely strangers: But let me live by the side of the road and be a friend of man - We shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders Field - a poem as lovely as a tree - Laugh and the world laughs with you - I am the captain of my soul - Will you walk into my parlor?, said the spider to the fly - The Night before Christmas.

Many poems reflect the virtues of honor, commitment, respect of God, patriotism, honesty, perseverance, courage, respect for others, and loyalty. Others are playful and simply fun to read. Lay this old, outdated collection next to your favorite chair. It's great reading. You won't be disappointed.

This book was given to me by a Mrs. Jacobs in l933 at the Irene Kaufman Settlement in Pittsburgh, Pa.when I was ll years old. I am now 77 years and this little treasure has followed me everywhere my husband and I have been, during his in the service and since. Many of the poems I have have had to memorize in school, and I did it with pleasure. Started writing poetry at a very early age, and perhaps Mrs. Jacobs recognized that in me. I will always be grateful for that lovely woman's delightful intervention in my life. I have three daughters, five grandaughters, and one grandson, and they will each have a copy of this book, but not mine, while I live. Mine is dog eared and patched, and a most valuable possession. Bully for Roy J. Cook

Roy J. Cook compiled his popular anthology in 1916, long before the Great Depression, WWII, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eighty Years of Bestsellers (1895-1975) by Hackett and Burke ranks Roy J. Cook's anthology among the fifty most popular books sold in the U.S. in the past century. One Hundred and One Famous Poems (or alternatively, 101 Famous Poems) has remained continuously in print.

Why is 101 Famous Poems still popular today? Cook's compilation is simply fun to read. Cook did include selections from great poets like Byron, Dickinson, Keats, Milton, Shakespeare, Shelley, Tennyson, Whitman, and Wordsworth. There are also popular poems by Frost, Kipling, Longfellow, Poe, Riley, and Whittier. However, what makes Cook's anthology special is that we find those lesser poems that we often memorized as a child and still find enjoyable years later.

I did not immediately recognize Lieut. Col. John McCrae, Henry Holcomb Bennett, Edmund Vance Cook, George Washington Doane, Eugene Field, Sam Walter Foss, William Ernest Henley, Mary Howitt, Sergeant Joyce Kilmer, Winifred M. Letts, Clement Clarke Moore, Thomas Buchanan Read, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

And yet, many of their poems proved not to be strangers: But let me live by the side of the road and be a friend of man - We shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders Field - A poem as lovely as a tree - Laugh and the world laughs with you - I am the captain of my soul - Will you walk into my parlor?, said the spider to the fly - and, of course, The Night Before Christmas. I was happy to find one of my old favorites, The Duel, a fascinating paradox by Eugene Field.

I don't really keep my old edition with its yellowing pages and old fashioned oval portraits next to my bed for nightly reading. Our family does not actually read the poems aloud before the fireplace after the evening meal. But through the years I do occasionally find myself reading once again all 101 poems, rediscovering poets and poetry that I have nearly forgotten. You won't be disappointed with Roy J. Cook's compilation.

My father had an old copy of this book that he read as a child. He loved to read his favorites from this book, or simply recite them from memory. They are classic rhyming poems. Another favorite book of mine is "Poetry for a Lifetime", a beautiful volume which includes a number of these poems, including "Plant a Tree" and "Home". It has a much larger number of poems and is illustrated and has comments from the editor. I highly recommend both books.

My grandmother had a copy that she shared with all her grandchildren. She read to us from it and she QUOTED to us from it. As we got older, she bought us each a copy of it, because she refused to part with hers. It has classic poems and exerpts of prose that you must have read to be literate. It is an excellent overview of the poetry of the early 20th century...and it amuses me that the Magna Carta is included in its works worth recording.

1957-discharged from the army. No longer a callow youth but lacking motivation, I gave university life a whirl. I bought the book on a whim and I still have it by my bedside. It's a delightful collection that early on helped provide the spark I needed to continue my education. I discovered I knew little of the world. Who the heck was Wolsey? The Spires of Oxford, the Boar War? Where is the encyclopedia?

This is a wonderful book with poems from some of the greatest masters of all time! A++++++

Years ago I read weekly from an elderly woman's poetry book to her and other residents at a nursing home. She and the other residents greatly enjoyed my poetry reading. I particularly relished THIS particular collection of poems because they were ones that I'd long ago heard/read/known. I absolutely "loved" the book.... but ALAS! I never took to memory the book's title, the book's owner died, and the book was packed off with her other things to a distant daughter. Searching through other poetry anthologies would reward me with SOME of those poems, seldom enough of them, and NEVER all of them. I looked through Amazon's poetry listing, hoping against hope. I ordered this book because its table of contents urged me to think MAYBE it would suffice. What a wonderful surprise to receive it and find out that it IS THE SAME WONDERFUL BOOK! (My only disappointment was that the original borrowed and shared copy was hardcover.) Anyway, I've enjoyed re-acquainting myself to what seems an "old and dear friend" in reading and re-reading this book.

I just bought this book, in search of some classic poetry, and haven't been able to put it down. My favorite is "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes, but there are certainly many more that I found moving and clever, such as "The Spider and the Fly", and "Home." This is a great first step into the world of poetry, and I can now honestly say that I am hooked!

A copy of this book was in our household from the time I can remember. It was lost in a fire and I soon found myself looking for a copy to replace it. Many of these poems are wonderful read aloud which I did with my grandaughter who is now 16 and has her own copy. I have given several copies as gifts over the years and would never want to be without mine. As another reviewer mentioned, it is a history lesson, and more. I have many poetry books, but none I enjoy as much as this one.