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A review by novelesque_life
Immortal Poems of the English Language by Oscar Williams
4.0
RATING: 4 STARS
I was shopping for books online, and found myself a few dollars away from getting free shipping. Instead of paying for shipping, I would rather pay for another book. I decided to check out the cheaper books and see what strikes my fancy. This paperback, with what I assume is a 1960s cover art, of poetry was $2.95. As a lover of words and poems, I thought, "why not". I have this habit of collecting but not reading books I buy. I'm always trying to get library books back on time, and getting ARCs read, I put off the books I buy. It's the "I-got-forever-to-read-them" syndrome. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and among many other anxieties, I wonder will I ever get to read my own books? I looked at this book when in it came in and challenged it to be read....now. I have been meaning to pick books to read before bed that are more calming. When I was having panic attacks, and not knowing they were panic attacks, I would read Shakespeare, Barrett Browning, Dickinson to calm down. Listening to the words and poetry took me to my happy place. Sorry to dither on, but I am an A-Z communicator.
I really enjoyed this anthology. I would not read this every night, as some nights I was just too tired to hold a book, and just listened to an audiobook. I found when I did start reading, I couldn't stop. This collection had some old friends and introduced me to some poets I have not heard of. I started marking some of poems/poets I wanted to revisit with sticky notes (if you are reading my blog, you will see it in the picture above). This collection was published in the 1950s, and my reprint is from 2009. This book has been kicking around for awhile so it's probably in some used bookstores out there, chilling out, waiting on you. So with all this praise, why have I given this book only 4 stars? Now I know this book is from the 50s where women were even more misrepresented, but come on. Not only are there just a handful of women poets in this anthology, but when there is a woman, there is also just one poem. Some poets were given several pages for several poems. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson - my reasons for loving poetry - were given one poem, and half a page. I am taking one star away for that reason. I still think this is a great gift for yourself or someone who loves words. It is a book that will have a cracked spine, underlining and stickies to show how loved this copy was.
I was shopping for books online, and found myself a few dollars away from getting free shipping. Instead of paying for shipping, I would rather pay for another book. I decided to check out the cheaper books and see what strikes my fancy. This paperback, with what I assume is a 1960s cover art, of poetry was $2.95. As a lover of words and poems, I thought, "why not". I have this habit of collecting but not reading books I buy. I'm always trying to get library books back on time, and getting ARCs read, I put off the books I buy. It's the "I-got-forever-to-read-them" syndrome. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and among many other anxieties, I wonder will I ever get to read my own books? I looked at this book when in it came in and challenged it to be read....now. I have been meaning to pick books to read before bed that are more calming. When I was having panic attacks, and not knowing they were panic attacks, I would read Shakespeare, Barrett Browning, Dickinson to calm down. Listening to the words and poetry took me to my happy place. Sorry to dither on, but I am an A-Z communicator.
I really enjoyed this anthology. I would not read this every night, as some nights I was just too tired to hold a book, and just listened to an audiobook. I found when I did start reading, I couldn't stop. This collection had some old friends and introduced me to some poets I have not heard of. I started marking some of poems/poets I wanted to revisit with sticky notes (if you are reading my blog, you will see it in the picture above). This collection was published in the 1950s, and my reprint is from 2009. This book has been kicking around for awhile so it's probably in some used bookstores out there, chilling out, waiting on you. So with all this praise, why have I given this book only 4 stars? Now I know this book is from the 50s where women were even more misrepresented, but come on. Not only are there just a handful of women poets in this anthology, but when there is a woman, there is also just one poem. Some poets were given several pages for several poems. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson - my reasons for loving poetry - were given one poem, and half a page. I am taking one star away for that reason. I still think this is a great gift for yourself or someone who loves words. It is a book that will have a cracked spine, underlining and stickies to show how loved this copy was.