Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Review: Ever since I was 7 years old (I am 9 years old now), I always thought that this book was one of my favorite books. It has brought me laughter, sadness and other feelings I can't describe. I recommend everyone buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A good early American collection
Review: Hazel Felleman was editor of the Queries and Answers page of the New York Times for nearly 15 years. In that time, she had the opportunity to research and discover many a bizarre and odd fact. However, one of the most frequent requests was that of finding a favorite poem or author. It is out of this experience that she collected the works in this volume, The Best Loved Poems of the American People, published in 1936. She said she used this sampling of people's preferences rather than her own in collecting the works in this volume. Of course, today we would know that the readership of the New York Times is a fairly specific subset of the American people, not necessarily fairly representative of the whole, and those who write to the New York Times are yet an even more rarified subset. In any case, this is a good collection drawn from a widely cast net of inquiries. Felleman put the poems in categories thematically. These are the broad themes of the book: + Love and Friendship + Inspiration
+ Poems that Tell a Story
+ Faith and Reverence
+ Home and Mother
+ Childhood and Youth
+ Patriotism and War
+ Humor and Whimsey
+ Memory and Grief
+ Nature
+ Animals
+ Various Themes There are a lot of poems here with Unknown listed for the author, verses rather famous but either not attributed to any particular person, or attributed to too many people, the true origin of which could not be verified. These are not all American poets. These are poems that Americans love, so naturally there are many poets from the British side, and various poems from other languages that have been translated into English. Wordsworth, Byron, Arnold, Tennyson, Burns and Kipling figure prominently. Heine, von Logau, Nadaud, and Rueckert make an appearance in translation. In the nearly 650 pages of the book are as many poems as pages, including such famous pieces as Sonnet from the Portuguese -- the first poem -- and Paul Revere's Ride to relatively unknown pieces (today). I've read a lot of poetry, and always have a book of poetry as one of my reading pieces, but nearly a quarter of the poems in here I'd never seen or heard before. Perhaps that is the value of this book. It is a snapshot of the popular poems of the time between world wars. Poems sometimes go out of favor, and thus are no longer continued. Popular jingles and lyrics may be well known for a time, and then forgotten. I think the editions of the Oxford Book of English Verse are similar in this regard, that each edition captures popular and timeless in a delicate balance. Felleman wasn't going to timeless here, but rather popular. I found this was especially true in the Humor and Whimsey section. One criticism of the book is that there is editing going on without being made explicit. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe is actually a fairly long poem, and yet here we only get a few pages of judiciously selected stanzas, keeping the flow of the narrative in the poetry, but not giving us any indication that there was an omission. I would appreciate knowing the editing. In many ways an excellent collection even today, although I would wish for an update. How can you have a current best loved poems collection without Frost or cummings?
Rating:
Summary: A must have for all poetry lovers!
Review: I found this book on a shelf when I was 10 years old and haven't put it down since. Now that I'm grown both of my children have a copy of it too. This wonderful book taught me that poetry was much more than rhyming, it opened my eyes to the wonders of verse.
Rating:
Summary: best poem book in the world
Review: I grew up with this book & it was to be mine when my mom died. She is still with us but somehow the book disappeared. She knew I loved the poems & read them over & over growing up so she bought it for my birthday on line. The only problem was one poem from the original book was missing. A poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was in the very beginning of the original book. She went to the library & found the poem & taped it inside the book so it would be complete.
Rating: 
Summary: If You Are in Love Read These Poems to Each Other
Review: I have always been a big romantic at heart. From my earliest college days when I would go out on dates I would always bring flowers for my ladies. I was never one, however, to read poetry. When the courtship started with my wife her attitude was "flowers are nice, but if you're really interested in me then read poetry with me". So was set in motion a precedent throughout our marriage that she would recite poetry to me from this book. Thus, it was in her final months of brain cancer, when she could not speak or feed herself, that myself and my mother would sit at her bedside and read to her from this book (that has her inscription, in her own writing, in it from 1974). If you're in love with someone, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: If You Are in Love Read These Poems to Each Other
Review: I have always been a big romantic at heart. From my earliest college days when I would go out on dates I would always bring flowers for my ladies. I was never one, however, to read poetry. When the courtship started with my wife her attitude was "flowers are nice, but if you're really interested in me then read poetry with me". So was set in motion a precedent throughout our marriage that she would recite poetry to me from this book. Thus, it was in her final months of brain cancer, when she could not speak or feed herself, that myself and my mother would sit at her bedside and read to her from this book (that has her inscription, in her own writing, in it from 1974). If you're in love with someone, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Best compilation of poetry I've ever seen
Review: I have enjoyed this book since I was a girl. It has everything- truly something for all tastes. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who ever thought of liking poetry.
Rating:
Summary: Best compilation of poetry I've ever seen
Review: I have enjoyed this book since I was a girl. It has everything- truly something for all tastes. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who ever thought of liking poetry.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I haven't gone through the whole book yet, the farthest I got was the chapter of "Love and Friendship" poems, and that chapter right there is worth buying the book. I was going through marking poems left and right that I loved, every page I turned there was another more beautiful than the first. This book is a must to have.
Rating:
Summary: Can't believe this is still around!
Review: I originally read this book when I was six, and almost thought I had imagined its existence. But here it is! What can one say about these poems? They're corny as all get-out, and reading them produces the same weird fake nostalgia as eating at a Cracker Barrel, but the attachment remains.
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