Steven Gould Axelrod

I read this book in college because it was required reading for my lit class. I typically do not enjoy poetry, so when I saw this on the required reading list I just about choked. Though I can't say that it has made a poetry lover out of me, I do admit that this is by far one of the best books I have ever read....poetry or not! The selection of poets is pretty comprehensive and the poems featured by those poets are beautifully selected to help show all aspects of the poet's writing. Each poet has his/her own section, the beginning of which has a brief biography of the poet. There are copious footnotes, explanations after the poems, and bibliographies for further reading. For someone who is not a poet aficionado, this collection is simply perfection! It helped guide me to secondary sources for writing papers and the brief explanatory paragraphs at the end of the poems helped to shed some light on difficult poems without dictating one meaning.

Though I am no longer and college, years away now, I find myself going back to this book again and again. I have purchased other collections but none of them have struck me the way that one does. I have encouraged others to read it, whether they are poetry fans or not, and have been met with the same response: this anthology is superb! I have not had a chance to read the other anthologies in the collection, but if they are anything like this one...I'll take the whole set!

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