100 Best-Loved Poems (Thrift Editions)

This is a volume that all poetry lovers will welcome. Dover Thrift Edition has put out some of the best classics in literature, and at a very modest price. This small but mighty book includes selections from some of the most well-known and best poets. The editor has chosen these poems from the middle ages to the 20th century. Some of the talented poets in this volume include Frost, Milton, Blake, Shakespeare, Longfellow, Houseman, Keats, Sandburg, Poe, Emerson, Yeats, Dickinson, Whitman, Kipling and many, many others. One of the things I personally love about this volume is the brief introduction on each of the poets. This gives the reader information that makes the poet come alive. In conclusion, if you love poetry, you will want this small volume in your library. If you are new to poetry, this book can serve as an excellent introduction to some of the greatest poets and their most loved poems. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Haiku Moments: How to read, write and enjoy Haiku)

I was just looking for something simple for classic Poetry - this book is it. Small enough to carry around, but right the point on the poems - NO FLUFF!! Thank you!

"The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over the harbor and city on silent haunches and then move on." ~Fog, Carl Sandburg 100 Best-Loved Poems presents poems from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. The poets are all familiar, but the poems are more varied and quite a few are poems I'd never read before. In a compilation like this, you'd imagine to find quite a few familiar favorites from high school or college and those did appear throughout. There is comfort in reading poems we tried to understand in school, but didn't have the emotional maturity to fully digest. Now upon reflection, how could we have truly understood "To His Coy Mistress" at 16, a poem born of mature desire. Now nearing forty, I feel I can linger in these poems enjoying every nuance. This classic collection includes brief introductions to each poet and includes some information on poetic forms. In the section of Ballads, you can hear the singsong rhymes as you read so the first poem was a good choice. The poets include: Lord Randal, Sir Patrick Spens, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Thomas Nashe, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick, George Herbert, Edmund Waller, John Milton, Richard Lovelace, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Gray, William Blake, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Cullen Bryant, John Keats Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Edgar Allan Poe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Walt Whitman, Matthew Arnold, George Meredith, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Lewis Carroll, Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Louis Stevenson, A.E. Housman, Rudyard Kipling, William Butler Yeats, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Wilfred Owen, E.E. Cummings, W.H. Auden and Dylan Thomas. While the poems are not overly culturally diverse and seem to focus on English and American poets, there is a wonderful early translation for "The River-Merchant's Wife: A letter." It was fun to find "The Tyger" by William Blake and Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" makes a little more sense to me now. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" makes more sense when you can see a picture. Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" is a reminder of time's destructive powers and William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" speaks of the human condition and the way we connect with nature. William Butler Yeats has a different take on age in "When You Are Old." He speaks more of appreciation than destruction. "For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils." ~I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, William Wordsworth The selections by Emily Dickinson are playful and they made me want to read more of her poems. There are quite a few life lesson poems that are profound in content, like "If-" by Rudyard Kipling, where he speaks of what it takes to me a man. Robert Frost also presents intriguing notions and life choices in his "The Road Not Taken." This collection offers recollections of poetry you may remember and introduces quite a few poems that are less familiar. John Donne's Holy Sonnet XIV was new to me, although I had read Holy Sonnet X..."Death be not proud..."As far as romance goes, Ben Johnson's "To Celia" stands out as does Robert Burns' "A Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems is a lovely classic collection and it is nice to have all these poems in one book for future contemplation. I will have to agree with everyone else who made comment as to the lack of cultural variety. For this, you may want to seek out poetry collections by Sam Hamill. For me, this was an inexpensive way to expand my poetry knowledge and to remember some of the poems I learned in high school and college. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." ~Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost ~The Rebecca Review

Nice set of poems.

This collection has a nice mix of well-known poems from different eras, and it’s a budget-friendly way to sample the classics. That said, there’s no introduction, notes, or context, so it can feel a bit bare-bones if you’re hoping to learn more about the poets or the background of each piece. A solid starter collection, but very simple in presentation.

Thin books, lots of authors, beautiful poems and just the right size for my elderly mother. She looked and saw so many of her favorite poems. Worth my money to see my mom smile, her Dementia is getting worse, this helps

I must admit I'm not that fluent in poetic verse. I bought this on a whim long ago and I'm glad I did. Its got a lot of famous poems that everyone has heard at some point. Its kind of like learning to speak a different dialect. You have to read it and immerse yourself in it to get the hang of it. This is a good primer.

Easy to read ! Nice to add to a letter or card to a friend

Over 50 years ago, I was enrolled in a physical science course at university.. One requirement of that program was to complete a freshman English literature survey course. William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury" was one of the texts set for that course. I was a very naive 17-year-od and could not make hide not hair of that book. The opening "Bengy" section with the stream of consciousness style completely befuddled me. As a result my participation in that course declined dramatically. However, recently due to some odd circumstances, I endeavoured to tackle Faulkner again. I had seen the movie "The Story of Temple Drake" on TCM and found that it was based on past of Faulkner's novel "Sanctuary". I read "Sanctuary" and thoroughly enjoyed it. With that, I took upon myself to read all of the Faulkner novels and short stories. I accomplished that and more to the point, I found that I could read Faulkner and understand him. "The Sound and The Fury" is within my capabilities that long ago English course notwithstanding . With my new found success with Faulkner, I expanded the the project and tried to recall all of the texts that were assigned for that course and re-read them. For poetry, I remembered Yeats, Dickinson and Auden being discussed. I remembered really enjoying the poetry by them which belies my other memories of the course Getting their poetry, in an accessible format is more difficult than getting the other novels and the play that were assigned. Smith's book provides a means of access. It is 100 poems ranging from the medieval period to the mid 20th century. With only 100 poems, there are obviously many omissions. However, i found that it suited my purposes. It supplies me with an introduction to poetry. The poems selected are also some of those that have entered the collective memory and for someone not well versed in the field, like me, it is interesting to see the sources. I would recommend this book as a gift to high school and college students

This is a collection of poems that so many of us (well, myself, certainly) seem to recognise from the first few lines but rarely take the time to read in full. For me there were a few unfamiliar discoveries as well, but it's basically a "greatest hits" of classic poetry. If you aren't bothered about substantial bigraphies of the poets, or commentary on the poems (you can always look up further information on the internet), then this is a rewarding anthology either to dip into at random, or to seek out a particular half-remembered poem. Dover Thrift are generally excellent value for money, too.

I love that this book is inexpensive. It has a good selection of poems I remember from my school days. It also reminds me of my school books from those times - inexpensive paper but well put together. A worthwhile purchase!

I like poetry

O material do livro é bem simples, mas os poemas são ótimos. O que dificuldade um pouco é o inglês antigo, mas nada que seja impossível de resolver.