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Poetry Anthologies
by Christine Posinger
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Last fall I read Savage
Beauty, Nancy Milford's enthralling biography of American poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay. Red-haired and flamboyant, Millay was a
star. Her poetry readings drew huge crowds and her books were
bestsellers. At the heart of the biography is a chapter that
details the publication of Millay's poem "Renascence" in
which she describes the boundaries of her environment and the
desire to reach beyond those boundaries.
I read the poem
aloud. I read it again - and again. I liked the way the words
sounded. I marveled at how the poet was able to express her
feelings within the structure of the poem. How did she find just
the right words to say what she felt and still maintain the rhyme
scheme? In poetry, the sound of language and the meaning of
language work together to express feelings. The reader experiences
an emotional response to the words and the sounds created by the
poet.
Throughout the
ages, poets have given us the gift of their words. There are many
fine anthologies in the library’s collection that present the
work of poets from different times and different places. The
Ideals Treasury of Best Loved Poems is a beautiful book that
combines more than two hundred classic poems with lavish color
photographs. The poems were selected based on a survey of the
readers of Ideals Magazine.
Americans'
Favorite Poems is the
result of a project initiated by Robert Pinsky, former Poet
Laureate of the United States. Pinsky invited the American people
to write to him about their favorite poems. The poems in the
anthology are accompanied by comments from the people who chose
them.
The Best-Loved
Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is
a recent bestseller. Caroline Kennedy selected the poems and
organized them into sections that focus on a common theme such as
America, adventure, reflection, and others. Each section is
preceded by a brief introduction written by Kennedy in which she
shares treasured family memories related to the poetry.
April is National
Poetry Month; take the time to sample some of the world’s great
poetry.
CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF ON APRIL
15
Use the SelfCheck machine on
Monday, April 15 and help us enter a drawing to win
$1,000 for the library. |
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6:30-9 p.m.
Saturday, April 20, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday, April 21, 1-5 p.m. |
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