The Norton Anthology of Poetry Review

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(More customer reviews)Reading the new (5th edition) Norton Anthology of Poetry is like embarking on a voyage around the world: there is much that is familiar and much that is new and exotic. This a a mammoth book, one that a person can dive into and swim around in for ages and never come up. It is a vault of the best of humankind's poetic writings waiting to be unlocked and appreciated.
This text is improved over the fourth edition with the addition of an excellent essay on poetic syntax in addition to the essay on versification. The short biographies of each poet are welcome also.
It is the sheer volume of glorious poety that sets this book apart, however. There is something for everyone and every poetical taste. From Milton to Marianne Moore and even more contemporary authors, this book is a compendium like no other. It is not just a grouping of the "best" or "prettiest" poems, but rather a voluminous selection of what is most worthy of praise in our English literary heritage. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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The fourth edition of this standard work contains 1800 poems by 300 poets, with 600 poems and 100 poets newly included. The anthology offers more poetry by women (40 new poets), with special attention to early women poets. The book also includes a greater diversity of American poetry, with double the number of poems by African American, Hispanic, native American and Asian American poets. There are 26 new poets representing the Commonwealth literature tradition: now included are more than 37 poets from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Caribbean, South Africa and India. A reconsideration of many classic poets, from Shakespeare and Bradstreet to Larkin and Rich has been added in this edition, together with a wider representation of the beginnings of poetry in English: the Anglo-Saxon "Caedmon's Hymn" and selections from "Beowulf", as well as Middle English lyrics, popular riddles, romance, allegory, and the verse tales of Chaucer and Langland, are now included. The collection also includes short biographical sketches and a system of annotation.

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