Review
It belongs in the collection of every poetry lover. — Mark StrandThe Giant Book of Poetry is bursting at the seams with . . . poems that people need to be reading. — Billy CollinsThe Giant Book of Poetry is the perfect introductory anthology for new poetry readers. — Robert Kinsley
The Giant Book of Poetry is an illustrated anthology of over 575 poems, more than 750 pages and over 60 illustrations representing ancient, classical, modern, and contemporary time periods…
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For William Roetzheim, Life and Poetry are apparently inseparable. The guy simply loves to read (voraciously) and write (with craft and feeling) the stuff, and he wants the rest of us to also. He has educated himself in the history and techniques of verse and approaches the challenge of editing an anthology from every possible angle: inclusivity, contextualizing, cross-indexing, pedagogical footnoting, and the juxtaposition of the canonical with his personal favorites. Thus the truly Giant Book should satisfy the needs of teachers, students, acquisition librarians, and those who, like Roetzheim, are hopelessly addicted to the artful, measured human utterance.
Five hundred and sixty poems give a very wide-ranging overview. Poems old and new include many standards and favorites, and are sure to introduce you to many new favorites as well. It certainly includes a lot of mine, such as Persimmons by Li-Young Lee.
The selection is sophisticated enough to be an introductory textbook, but also very accessible for the home, with plenty of aids such as notes on each poem, an explanation of meter, and something I wish a lot more anthologies had: a subject index.
If you’re going to have one collection of poetry–or at least a first collection–this could be it. And if you really want to relish it, the leather-bound edition does look tempting.
Additional note: The publisher has also produced a set of CDs that include many of the poems from the book, read by a variety of voices. With matching cover designs, the book and CDs make a whole set for the budding poetry enthusiast.
I have used this book several times in my Introduction to Poetry classes. The poems are wonderfully selected: accessible, funny, beautiful, wise. The black and white illustrations are perfect, and the footnotes are restrained and helpful. As good an anthology as I’ve come across.