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michaelion's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.25
First I must admit I didn't read all the poems. I found this book in a secondhand store with a note from someone written in 1961, given as a gift, and I thought it'd be nice to see what poems were considered famous a hundred years ago. As expected, maybe 90% of the poems are by men, and call me a man hating lesbian if you want but I just don't think men have anything interesting or note worthy to say. If the poem wasn't about war, it was about the sea, or death, or the love of their country. Not even the nature of the country, like love of fellow countrymen and patriotism. These things don't appeal to me but I don't like to DNF books so I stuck it through, skipping ones that were too long or I got the gidst of it by skimming. I recgonized a few of the poems, maybe 5 to 10 total, so that was interesting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and War
Minor: Racial slurs
melimayer's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this book. Not only did it have great poetry but it is also a beautiful piece of history with poems ranging from the 1500s to 1900s. Some of the poems are such old English I can’t even understand them, but others are so beautiful and meaningful. I really liked it!
nelsonmaam's review against another edition
3.0
Most of the poems were good, some were amazing, and some were completely incomprehensible (to me). I had a much harder time finishing a book of poetry than I thought I would. Probably won't get ambitious like this again for a while.
melbellem's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up a copy of the 1958 edition from a used bookstore ages ago and just recently cracked it open. I'm glad I did! While I was disappointed to see this collection is overwhelmingly white, male, American, and Christian (I mean it was first published in 1916 so I shouldn't be too surprised really), there are quite a few gems in here. I found new authors I love, and some I honestly hate. This book helped me figure out what I like and don't care for in poetry. I starred some favorites and I know I'll revisit them.
It's hard to rate a collection, but 3 stars = I liked it.
It's hard to rate a collection, but 3 stars = I liked it.
boureemusique's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book for curious children. I'm not a big fan of all of the poems in the anthology, but I respect their placement.
hyacinth_girl's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great collection of poems - some by famous poets, others by poets I didn't know. My favorite poem in it is "My Kate" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. For all poetry lovers, it's definitely something to check out!
octavia_cade's review against another edition
2.0
Well, poetry has certainly changed over the years, hasn't it? This anthology is nearly all male, and nearly all the poems are very old (granted, the first edition was published many years ago). And some of them - many, frankly - are not to my more modern tastes. Over-written, saccharine, as purple as very purple things, it was such a chore to get through some of them (Thomas Gray, I'm looking at you) that when I turned a page to find something enjoyable I was profoundly delighted.
In summary: they might be famous, but not all of them are good.
In summary: they might be famous, but not all of them are good.