A unique anthology by the editors of the bestseller Americans' Favorite Poems.
Poems to Read is a welcoming avenue into poetry for readers new to poetry, including high school and college students. It is also meant to be a fresh, valuable collection for readers already devoted to the art. This anthology concentrates on the actual pleasures of reading poems: hearing the poem in your voice, bringing it to other people, musing about it, taking excitement or comfort from it, wandering with it or—as in the Keats letter quoted in the Introduction—having it as a starting post. Many of these 200 poems are accompanied by comments from readers of various ages, regions, and backgrounds who participated in the Favorite Poem Project. Included are poems by John Donne, Walt Whitman, William Butler Yeats, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, Seamus Heaney, Allen Ginsberg, and Louise Glück, to name a few. The editors offer their own comments on some of the poems, which are arranged in thematic chapters.Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky (Jersey Rain) founded the Favorite Poem Project during his tenure, resulting in an anthology (Americans' Favorite Poems) and other disseminations. Again with Project director Maggie Dietz, Pinsky follows up with another collection of poems selected by readers across the country. Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology features works by a wide selection of well-known, mostly American and European writers from throughout the ages: Henry King, Rabindranath Tagore, Gwendolyn Brooks, J.W. von Goethe, Issa, Jorie Graham, Robert Herrick, Dionisio Mart¡nez and Frank O'Hara are just a few of them. Arranged in quote-based categories like "I Made My Song a Coat" and "In Durance Soundly Caged," most pieces are preceded by brief comments from Poem Project participants engineers, doctors, consultants, police officers, human resource managers, high school students and others who share what the poems mean to them.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The Favorite Poem Project was founded by Pinsky in 1997 during his tenure as poet laureate. Some 18,000 respondents sent letters or e-mails about their favorite poems, which resulted in the anthology America's Favorite Poems and several videos. This new anthology includes poems selected by Favorite Poem Project participants and their personal comments. But it also includes poems chosen by the editors, along with their brief remarks. Although mainly populated by famous English and American poets (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Housman, Dickinson, Frost, Ginsberg, Ashbery), the book has many surprises, like Abraham Lincoln and the Nicaraguan poet Rub n Dario. This landmark publication belongs on the shelves of every library in America. Highly recommended for the breadth of its coverage and the depth of its commentaries. Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Maggie Dietz grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She earned a B.A. from Northwestern University in 1995 and an M.A. from Boston University in 1997. She currently teaches in the creative writing program at Boston University and is assistant poetry editor for the online magazine Slate. For many years she directed the Favorite Poem Project, Robert Pinsky's special undertaking during his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate, and is coeditor of three anthologies related to the project: Americans' Favorite Poems, Poems to Read, and, most recently, An Invitation to Poetry. Her awards include the Grolier Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Phillips Exeter Academy and the NH State Council on the Arts. Her work has appeared in journals such as Poetry, Ploughshares, Agni, and Salmagundi. Her first book of poems, Perennial Fall, won the 2007 Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book of Poetry.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Bring me the sunflower crazy with the light...",
By CodeMaster Talon (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology (Hardcover)
I am absolutely blown away by the quality of this anthology! Absolutely blown away. Organized by the people behind the Favorite Poem Project ... this beautiful book strikes the perfect poetic balance; the poems here have depth and meaning, but they are never impenetrable and are always a joy to read aloud. The mainstays are all here: Shakespeare, Dickinson, Whitman, Keats, Frost, etc., but the book often presents their lesser-known works (such as a terrific Langston Hughes piece called "Life is Fine" that I'd somehow missed). There are also more obscure poets; May Swenson, Derek Walcott, and many international writers. But what makes this book truly unique is the commentary printed above most of the poems sent in by people of all ages and professions. Students, teachers, doctors, writers; they talk about their favorite poems with great love and a sense of awe. Their passion is infectious. I plan to buy this book, but instead of sitting on my bookshelf like my other poetry books it will go in my backpack to be with me wherever I go, for anytime I need a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended.
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A most noteworthy collection,
This review is from: Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology (Hardcover)
Even more than the many fine poems cited in this wonderful anthology, I enjoyed the eloquent responses by everyday Americans as to why they responded in certain ways to their favorite poems. These stories are almost as moving as the actual poems and there are dozens of terrific poems, both the familiar and the unexpectedly novel. If you only read the comments, you'd be a richer person, but to read the comments along with the poems, now that's an experience. If this book were required in English classes around the country, maybe kids wouldn't resent poetry units so much!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful poems,
This review is from: Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology (Hardcover)
I checked this anthology out at the library and decided I needed my own copy. I had been out of practice at reading good poetry and really loved so many of the poems in this book. It is a good middle ground for people who enjoy good poetry but are sometimes overwhelmed by denser, more complicated poems. I would recommend "Good Poems" for the starter and "An Invitation to Poetry" for the more advanced reader.
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