melbellem's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up a copy of the 1958 edition from a used bookstore ages ago and just recently cracked it open. I'm glad I did! While I was disappointed to see this collection is overwhelmingly white, male, American, and Christian (I mean it was first published in 1916 so I shouldn't be too surprised really), there are quite a few gems in here. I found new authors I love, and some I honestly hate. This book helped me figure out what I like and don't care for in poetry. I starred some favorites and I know I'll revisit them.
It's hard to rate a collection, but 3 stars = I liked it.
It's hard to rate a collection, but 3 stars = I liked it.
boureemusique's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book for curious children. I'm not a big fan of all of the poems in the anthology, but I respect their placement.
hyacinth_girl's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great collection of poems - some by famous poets, others by poets I didn't know. My favorite poem in it is "My Kate" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. For all poetry lovers, it's definitely something to check out!
octavia_cade's review against another edition
2.0
Well, poetry has certainly changed over the years, hasn't it? This anthology is nearly all male, and nearly all the poems are very old (granted, the first edition was published many years ago). And some of them - many, frankly - are not to my more modern tastes. Over-written, saccharine, as purple as very purple things, it was such a chore to get through some of them (Thomas Gray, I'm looking at you) that when I turned a page to find something enjoyable I was profoundly delighted.
In summary: they might be famous, but not all of them are good.
In summary: they might be famous, but not all of them are good.
csd17's review against another edition
5.0
One book of poetry should be required reading at least once a year. It refreshes the soul.
bethmitcham's review
4.0
Met lots of old favorites, some old clunkers, and marked a few to add to the poetry journal. Read some out loud to the cats (they liked it) and one to the oldest son, who found it amusing.
jaironside's review
4.0
This wasn't quite what I was expecting. I've given it four stars as I really like Walter Scott and I enjoyed the style. However Rob Roy himself is a marginal character. It is through Frances' eyes we see the story and I found him to be a bland and not especially engaging character. His observations on other people were acute and well delineated but when it came to himself, he was far less insightful. His clumsy courtship of Diana Vernon was only interesting because she was interesting - and it was hard not feel that she had been shoe-horned in for no other reason than to act as a romantic interest for Frances. Frances was such an unlikely Romantic hero that every time he said something along the lines of ' I reached for my sword...' my immediate thought was 'Where did he get a sword? Can he actually use a sword? He'll just hurt himself. Surely he'd be better off running away.' Which sums up how I felt about the narrator in a nut shell. That said this is described as one of Walter Scott's great Romances and deservedly so. He did after all create the entire genre and this is a good example of it. Not one of my favourites, however this still has much to recommend it - not least of which Scott's beautiful descriptions of the landscape and of a time now lost.