Customer Reviews

Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work From Tennyson to Plath (Book w/ Audio CD)

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Although poetry was read, recited and memorized by entire families through the 19th century, during the 20th century it fell out of general popular favor. "Modern" poetry was considered too difficult for the average reader, so while it was read in schools and adored in academia, it moved out of the family parlor and into the anthology.

Enter the latest edition of "Poetry Speaks." Seeking to make a new connection with potential readers (and listeners) of 20th century poetry, Sourcebooks has again assembled a package that is at once enthralling and educational. Each poet (47 in all) featured in the volume receives a biography, an extremely readable analysis of the poet's work and several key poems. Some of the "chapters" also include a fascimilie of a poem or section of a poem written in the poet's own hand.

The outstanding feature of "Poetry Speaks, Expanded" is, of course, the set of CDs which feature each poet reading their own work. This, aside from being extremely exciting for those of us with a bit of familiarity with a particular poet, also sheds some interesting light on the poems themselves. Who knew, for example, that Tennyson meant to emphasis the word "rode" in his poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (as in: "into the valley of death RODE the six hundred) or that Gwendolyn Brooks' "we" of "We Real Cool" was a barely audible syncopated beat in her famous poem?

But the real thrill is that by listening to the poets read their beautiful poems, one gets a window into their very souls. Carl Sandburg sounds Swedish (who knew?) and musical, Robert Frost sounds weary, Sylvia Plath sounds bitter, Edna St. Vincent Millay sounds actressy, Dorothy Parker sounds melancholy, Jack Kerouac sounds cool (which is obviously to be expected from the author of "On the Road," but his beloved jazz music playing in the background helps!) and Robert Browning sounds, well, inaudible, but kudos to Sourcebooks for including him and several other 19th century poets -- they're a bit scratchy but, aside from Browning, basically audible. While listening to Dylan Thomas, one wonders if his absolutely gorgeous voice had something to do with his immense popularity, since he gave extensive readings of his work during his short lifetime.

In addition to including well known poets such as those already mentioned, "Poetry Speaks, Expanded" also includes the work of many lesser-known poets including Louise Bogan, Louis MacNeice, Muriel Rukeyser, Robert Duncan, and Robert Hayden. The book presents the material on each poet so thoroughly that it is a marvelous way to gain an introduction to the work of previously unfamiliar poets.

The poems collected here are the very best of the very best and hearing them read by their creators is absolutely breathtaking. The CD also contains brief but very insightful introductions to each poet by Charles Osgood who is very easy on the ears.

Poetry, in its essence, is meant to be heard, not merely seen, and this edition of "Poetry Speaks" has gone a long way towards making that happen.

This anthology is very comprehensive - both as text and audio. The quality of the recording is really good and a delight to hear. Using the text as a companion to the audio makes for a very pleasurable experience!

I was bitterly disappointed by this package, which I bought entirely for the recordings. Many of the recordings of the longer poems are cut halfway through. Some even start halfway through. Imagine buying a music anthology and finding the songs were cut halfway through. No decent music publisher would take such liberties with music, yet this lot feel able to cut poetry.

Although most of the recordings are complete, don't expect that you're going to hear all of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', 'Howl','Hugh Selwyn Mauberley' or 'She Bowed to Her Brother'.

Disgracefully, the person whom you'll hear most of in total over the 3 CDs is one Charles Osgood, who provides short, unnecessary introductions to each poet. What a waste of CD space. Who's buying the CDs to hear Mr Osgood? His intros, if they must exist, could easily have been set down in print.

I was also fooled into thinking that all the contents of the book - a worthy selection - would be represented on the CDs. Wrong. Only some poems from each poet are. While Robert Frost has 5 recordings, most poets only get 2-3. Don't expect to hear '13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' (Wallace Stevens) or 'My Last Duchess' (Browning). Disappointingly also, Stein's 'If I Told Him' doesn't feature (it does on other poetry CD compilations).

If you want to be sure what you're getting and to listen to these poets read their poems through from beginning to end, then you need to look elsewhere.

A winning combination: hearing great poems spoken by those who wrote them, plus having the printed versions and illuminating essays on the poets. Economical too.

I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. The poems selected for this book show a great range and are an excellent example of each poets' work. It was great to hear some of these poets read their own poems. Hearing their tone and inflections and the places they choose to insert pauses really adds to the power of the works. I used a couple of the recordings in a 7th grade class I taught and the students really enjoyed hearing Walt Whitman read his poems. I highly recommend this book and advise you to make sure you get a copy that includes the CDs. Even without them, the book is an excellent collection of poems.

I was so excited to order this book but very disappointed in what I received. The poem choice, overall, was not good. I would not order another in the series.

The book is fine, but I was so-o-o looking forward to sharing the CD's of poets reading their own poems. However, I did NOT receive the CD's. Now I have to go to all the trouble of returning the book.