Customer Reviews

The New Oxford Book of American Verse (Oxford Books of Verse)

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Why has no one reviewed this? This book is an absolutely engaging collection of some of America's greatest poets, containing names like ee cummings, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Longfellow, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson,etc.
In this book you'll find some of the most celebratory poems of indivuality, the darkest and deepest exorcisms of the soul, and some of poetry's greatest and most unique voices. This book will give you a different idea on the experience of America in literature, and show you what all those old school books were talking about so plainly and unenthusiastically. It's truly a gift to find all of these poems in one place. Try it out. Check it out from the library if nothing else. It will give you a better appreciation for poetry.

The New Oxford Book of American Verse chosen and edited by Richard Ellman is comprised of some of the most celebrated American poetry ever written all in one easy to reference volume.

There are poems, folksongs and ballads; statesments in verse, hymns making this a very persuasive volume to own. You'll find Emerson, Poe, Whitman, Frost, Stevens, Williams, Pound and Elliot in these pages, but more than that the selections given here to read are excellent and reflect independent thinking minds.

This is a very well put together volume and you'll enjoy the selections as they cover the full spectrum of life with a sublety toward American thought.

Although I've worn my copy through (and I think Ellman is a genius), I don't enjoy his selections here as much as in earlier editions, especially Matthiessen's. Comparing the two in "Stand Fast I Must", John Updike said he found the latter edition "ponderous and indiscriminate". In the new edition, Robinson, Frost and Stevens are parsed down to make way for new faces like Philip Pain, Phillis Wheatley, and Frederick Tuckerman - as well as to clear extra room for Edward Taylor (one poem added to Matthiessen's choices, making it eight in the new edition) and Emily Dickinson. I love Dickinson, but Ellman gives her an extra 23 poems (bringing it up to 70).

Wallace Stevens loses 5 and H.D. gains 5, Amy Lowell goes from 3 to none, Marriane Moore goes from 16 to 13, and T.S. Eliot's 8 page "Ash-Wednesday" has been brought down to a snippet less than a page long. One of the few modern poets to benefit from the changes is Ezra Pound, who had 18 poems in the old edition and 23 in the new. Meanwhile, Thoreau remains the same but is completely (and perhaps unnecessarily) revamped. Tennyson, too, appears in a nearly new suit. I thought these changes were refreshing, but not quite as encompassing. Overall, it seemed like a decisive turn in favor of older works, and I would have liked more emphasis on post-19th century poetry, especially in a newer edition.

I've never run into a better 1-volume collection of American Poetry than the Oxford, but I prefer the 4-volume Library of America series beginning with 0940450607. You just get so much more, including large selections from Whitman, Dickenson, etc. I have both, but you can decide between the two based on how much you want to spend, shelf-space, level of interest, etc.