Treasury of Great Poems: An Inspiring Collection of the Best-Loved, Most Moving Verse in the English Language

Rating:
Summary: old-fashioned anthology ignores integrity
Review: No anthology can be complete, but Untermeyer provides a good overview of English language poetry. However, I cannot trust the accuracy of the anthology. Untermeyer uses the altered versions of Dickenson's poems. It is difficult to say what else he may have changed.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful addition to any library!
Review: This hefty book (almost 1300 pages!) makes a wonderful addition to any library. In a surprisingly short space, author Louis Untermeyer covers the history of English-language poetry, starting with the Bible and ancient Anglo-Saxon verse, and then beginning with John Barbour (c.1316-95) he proceeds chronologically, author-by-author through to Richard Wilbur (b.1921). Each poet is briefly introduced, as is each poem.

As might be expected, to cover so immense a topic in one volume requires a great deal of pruning, so a great deal of what could have been included wasn't. But, that said, this is a great book, one that has filled many of my evenings with wonderful and yet informative reading. I consider the purchase of this book money well spent, and I highly recommend it to you!