The Best Poems of the English Language


Book Description

This comprehensive anthology attempts to give the common reader possession of six centuries of great British and American poetry. The book features a large introductory essay by Harold Bloom called "The Art of Reading Poetry," which presents his critical reflections of more than half a century devoted to the reading, teaching, and writing about the literary achievement he loves most. In the case of all major poets in the language, this volume offers either the entire range of what is most valuable in their work, or vital selections that illuminate each figure's contribution. There are also headnotes by Harold Bloom to every poet in the volume as well as to the most important individual poems. Much more than any other anthology ever gathered, this book provides readers who desire the pleasures of a sublime art with very nearly everything they need in a single volume. It also is regarded as his final meditation upon all those who have formed his mind.




Good Poems


Book Description

Every day people tune in to The Writer's Almanac on public radio and hear Garrison Keillor read them a poem. And here, for the first time, is an anthology of poems from the show, chosen by the narrator for their wit, their frankness, their passion, their "utter clarity in the face of everything else a person has to deal with at 7 a.m." The title Good Poems comes from common literary parlance. For writers, it's enough to refer to somebody having written a good poem. Somebody else can worry about greatness. Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" is a good poem, and so is James Wright's "A Blessing." Regular people love those poems. People read them aloud at weddings, people send them by e-mail. Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendance. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds. It's a book of poems for anybody who loves poetry whether they know it or not.










Second-hand Coat


Book Description

Second-hand coat -- Where I came from -- At the center -- Poetry -- How to catch Aunt Harriette -- Scars -- What can you do? -- Drought in the lower fields -- Moving right along -- Pokeberries -- Mother's picture -- Liebeslied -- Curtains -- Something -- From the arboretum -- Winter -- Shadows -- The miracle -- You may ask -- Names -- Why kid yourself -- Message from your toes -- Sunday -- Pine cones -- Father's day -- Orange poem praising brown -- The room -- American milk -- How Aunt Maud took to being a woman -- Comments of the mild -- An academic life -- Procedure -- When the furnace toes on in a California tract house -- Icons from Indianapolis -- Snow trivia -- The latest hotel guest walks over particles that revolve in seven other dimentsions controlling latticed space -- Years later -- Surviving in Earlysville with a broken window -- Turning -- Happiness -- Turn your eyes away -- Body among trees -- Some things you'll need to know before you join the union -- Women laughing -- Translations -- A last cloud -- Ceam -- Codicle -- Loss -- From the other side -- The tree -- Habit -- Illinois -- Fading -- U of my -- Drams of wild birds -- Vegetables I -- Vegetables II -- Periphery -- Separate -- Overlapping Edges -- Communion -- And yet -- Being a woman -- Cocks and mares -- Shotgun wedding -- Family -- Mine -- The infant -- Laguna beach -- Out of Lost Angeles -- The nost -- Bazook -- Something deeper -- The song of Absinthe granny -- Dream of light in the shade -- The talking fish -- Memory of knowledge and death at the mother of scholars -- Being human -- Tenacity -- The excuse -- Salt -- Denouement -- Between th elines -- The plan -- Poles -- Emily -- Green apples -- Haying -- Habitat -- Eclat -- The principle of mirrors -- behind the facade -- I have three daughters -- A mother looks at her child -- Advice -- End of summer -- Seat belt fastened? -- Disappeared child -- The sotry of the churn -- It -- Metamorphosis -- Topography -- The magnet -- In an iridescent time -- The season -- The burned bridge -- Orchard -- The splinter -- The mold -- An old song -- Love's relative -- Vernal Equinox.




Random House Treasury of Best-Loved Poems


Book Description

An anthology of poems that have proved perenially popular includes more contemporary voices in its third edition.




Black Book of Poems


Book Description

Titled from lyrics of the song “Nobody Home” by Pink Floyd, this well-thought poetry collection touches on the subjects of loss, love, pain, happiness, depression, abandonment, war, good vs. evil, alcoholism, religion, and complicated family relationships. Written mostly in metered, rhyming stanzas, Black Book of Poems provides a non-threatening platform for reflection and meditation on life’s most difficult challenges. This collection offers a refreshingly honest approach to life and love that feels realistic and relatable to everyone.










The Examiner


Book Description