Reddit reviews The Norton Anthology of Poetry
We found 9 Reddit comments about The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Reddit reviews The Norton Anthology of PoetryWe found 9 Reddit comments about The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Some examples:
The Norton Anthology of Poetry
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost
The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry
Your best bet is to pick up something like The Norton Anthology of Poetry which is basically a collection of a thousand years worth of poetry with analysis. This volume is a little pricey ($30 used), but if you look around you might find some older editions for cheaper. Once you get an inkling of what you like then you can start getting collections of poetry from specific periods/poets. Hope this helps!
I mean, you really need to be reading anthologies to get a basis of the poetic tradition and then move on to individual books. While individual books of poetry help you get a sense of each writer, getting a taste of many poets throughout many periods is the only way to really become well versed (pun-intended). Also, part of the way to learn how to read poetry more critically is learn how to write poetry, or at least what goes into writing poetry. And my personal advice is to purposefully read poetry that is hard for you to grasp or find interest in, whether that be due to understanding or content (e.g. Yeats and his faeries don’t interest me in the slightest).
Theory/Reading Critically:
American:
Other:
Source: Have a Master’s Degree in poetry and currently working on my MFA. My expertise is in 20th & 21st Century American Poetry, particularly post-War/post-45.
I would look into purchasing or borrowing a poetry anthology. They usually include biographical information about the poet as well as an analysis. I've enjoyed reading Norton's poetry anthologies. I've purchased them from used bookstores, and sales at libraries. You can find used paperback copies for cheap (around $5) on Amazon. For example, here's one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0393979202/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
I also liked reading Harold Blooms collection of poems: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0060540419/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=
I like these collections and anthologies because of the commentary, and they include several poets. So you get exposure to several famous poets. If you like a particular poet you can choose to read more of their work.
If you're wanting more specific recs, you may like Walt Whitman, he uses vivid imagery. Also Robert Frost, Edwin John Pratt, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wordsworth. Pablo Neruda is good too.
First off, good on you for taking the initiative.
For introductory books, I'd recommend Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled. Now, I haven't read it myself, but it's been mentioned on this sub often enough for me to feel comfortable mentioning it. It might also be a good idea to pick up a miscellaneous collection of poems in order to get an understanding of the variety and depth of the subject matter. A more informal volume might be something edited by Garrison Keiler, like Good Poems. While that specific book is more bent towards Modern American poets, there's still a lot to draw from. A more academic book would be The Norton Anthology of Poetry ot The Norton Introduction to Poetry, which has a lot more to choose from. These two also give you a bit of structure – my copy of the Introduction has clear headings, like "Symbol" or "The Sonnet," with neat little introductory essays and poems chosen to help you understand how these concepts work. That being said, Norton tends to be a little expensive, though if you live in a college town you can probably find a cheaper copy. The benefit of these kinds of collections lies in helping you to find a poet whose style or subject matter you particularly like.
Regarding online sources, there's The Poetry Foundation, which has archives of poems and articles on the poets themselves. Their monthly articles can vary from the interesting to the banal, however, so keep your bullshit detector on. You can probably also find podcasts that deal with the subject. A personal favorite of mine is called "Entitled Opinions," and is run by a professor of Italian Studies over at Stanford by the name of Robert Harrison. Mind you, this particular podcast deals with philosophy and literature as well, so while I'd recommend listening to all their episodes you would have to do a little bit of searching in order to find a particular episode on poetry – though I would reccomend the one on "Dante and Prufrock." I imagine these kind of examinatioms would be useful because they can give you a sense of what poetry 'does' or 'how it means' beyond a surface play with words.
As for the writing of poetry, the first thing I'd recommend is that you read and meditate on a lot of poetry, good and bad, in order to get a sense of how its all done. Learn certain conventions – like, say, that of the sonnet – in order to see how poets follow through with them, or how they play with them. Learn prosody so you can understand how the precise meter, or 'beat,' of each line can affect the reader. I can't really give concrete advice with regards to this, save for a metaphorical "go west, young man!"
Ditto!
I also am very interested in some of those books. I will edit my comment tomorrow after I look through my books to see if I have anything that you might like.
E: I have The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Edition, which is over 2100 pages and has only light writing in the back and some shelf wear. I can send you a list of the poets if you are interested.
The Norton Anthology World Masterpieces, Expanded Edition is in rough shape but contains lots of poetry.
I also have The Complete Works of Shakespeare, The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe, Plato's The Republic, biographies, and boatloads of literature and other books. Anything trip your trigger?
I would really, really like:
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Thank you!
The unabridged Norton Anthology of Poetry has been my poetry bible since I bought it probably a decade ago.
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry is a great collection if you're more interested in "newer" (post-WWII) poetry.
The Norton Anthology of Poetry is an investment, but will have lots of older, modern, and contemporary poetry.
mhmm. u cn buy a copy of this for $26 USD, it's got all kinds of poems in there. otherwise just torrent a copy and read through it, real easy. gl