The Singing World

by Louis Untermeyer

1923. A collection of verse by Untermeyer who wrote, edited or translated over one hundred books including several volumes of his own poetry. He held the post of Poet in Residence at the University of Michigan, University of Kansas City and Iowa State College. Untermeyer writes in the Perhaps you're especially fond of music. Then you will read many of these verses for the sheer sound of for the throb and beat of the rhymes, for the little, tinkling feet that tap their toes to an even measure, for the tunes that shape themselves as the words sing out with even more melody than meaning...Most of the poems in this book were written by living poets-and so it is this singing world-your world as well as theirs-that is between these covers. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Louis Untermeyer was the author, editor or compiler, and translator of more than one hundred books for readers of all ages. He will be best remembered as the prolific anthologist whose collections have introduced students to contemporary American poetry since 1919. The son of an established New York jeweler, Untermeyer's interest in poetry led to friendships with poets from three generations, including many of the century's major writers. His tastes were eclectic. Martin Weil related in the Washington Post that Untermeyer once "described himself as 'a bone collector' with 'the mind of a magpie.'" He was a liberal who did much to allay the Victorian myth that poetry is a high-brow art. "What most of us don't realize is that everyone loves poetry," he was quoted by Weil as saying, pointing out the rhymes on the once-ubiquitous Burma Shave road signs as an example.

Untermeyer developed his taste for literature while still a child. His mother had read aloud to him from a variety of sources, including the epic poems "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Hiawatha." Bedtime stories he told to his brother Martin combined elements from every story he could remember, he revealed in Bygones: The Recollections of Louis Untermeyer. When he learned to read for himself, he was particularly impressed by books such as Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Dante's Inferno. Gustave Dore's illustrations in these books captivated him and encouraged his imagination toward fantasy. Almost fifty years later, Untermeyer published several volumes of retold French fairy tales, all illustrated by the famous French artist.

In addition to children's books and anthologies, Untermeyer published collections of his own poetry. He began to compose light verse and parodies during his teen years after dropping out of school to join his father's business. With financial help from his father, he published First Love in 1911. Sentiments of social protest expressed in the 1914 volume Challenge received disapproval from anti-communist groups forty years later; as a result of suspicion, Untermeyer lost his seat on the "What's My Line" game show panel to publisher Bennett Cerf. During the 1970s, he found himself "instinctively, if incongruously, allied with the protesting young," he wrote in the New York Times. In the same article he encouraged the spirit of experiment that characterized the decade, saying, "it is the non-conformers, the innovators in art, science, technology, and human relations who, misunderstood and ridiculed in their own times, have shaped our world." Untermeyer, who did not promote any particular ideology, remained a popular speaker and lecturer, sharing criticism of poetry and anecdotes about famous poets with audiences in the United States and as far away as India and Japan.

Untermeyer resigned from the jewelry business in 1923 in order to give all his attention to literary pursuits. Friendships with Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Arthur Miller, and other literary figures provided him with material for books. For example, The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer contains letters selected from almost fifty years of correspondence with the New England poet. The anthologist's autobiographies From Another World and Bygones relate as much about other writers as they do about his personal life. Bygones provides his reflections on the four women who were his wives. Jean Starr moved to Vienna with Untermeyer after he became a full-time writer; Virginia Moore was his wife for about a year; Esther Antin, a lawyer he met in Toledo, Ohio, married him in 1933; fifteen years later, he married Bryna Ivens, with whom he edited a dozen books for children.

In his later years, Untermeyer, like Frost, had a deep appreciation for country life. He once told Contemporary Authors: "I live on an abandoned farm in Connecticut ... ever since I found my native New York unlivable as well as unlovable.... On these green and sometimes arctic acres I cultivate wha

Reviews

[UnderTheNorthStar]

This is a children’s poetry anthology that I imagine played a part in many older people’s childhood, as it did with mine. It’s a book I have history with, so my tattered copy will always have a place on my bookshelf.

When my siblings and I were children, we lived on a homestead in Alaska. There were no roads, power, or infrastructure, so it was the bedrock experience of homesteading. Consequently we all took correspondence school, provided by the state for children such as us. It wasn’t the home-schooling that’s presently popular, which can often have religious or political slants. Our courses came from the Calvert School, which was a classical curriculum. I’m now so appreciative of such an education. We studied Greek and Roman myths, and poetry, among other classes. The Singing World was the primer for the grade school years, and Yesterday and Today, by the same anthologist was for the junior high years. I still have both of course.

I’m aware of the outdated attitudes expressed in some of the poems, and know it would not do as a poetry book for our children today. But many of the poems are classic and beloved by me. What I find, as I age, is that the less appropriate poems didn’t really affect my attitudes growing up. I think when you have parents that are open-minded and non-racist, as ours were, their attitude and influence is a more meaningful example than a poem would be, though this is not to excuse such poems.

Yet, while it was a special part of my life, I can’t really recommend it to a young reader. Besides a benign racism, I would consider a certain amount of the poetry to be outdated, using older language styles and a different sentimentality. I believe its place must give way to a newer generation of children’s poetry anthology, similar to ‘Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry’ by X.J. and
Dorothy M. Kennedy.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this collection of poetry from my grandpa -an old, falling-apart book from the 1930's- and I really love it! It's got some inspiring classics such as "Ode" by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, but there are a bunch of lesser-known poems that are fun or silly. My favorite (other than the limericks) is Paul Lawrence Dunbar's sweet "Lullaby". Includes Rudyard Kipling, Walt Whitman, Lewis Carroll, Poe, Yeats, Tennyson, Frost, etc. And you can read it online for free!

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, there are many poems in here that I remember my grandfather reciting, that I haven't come across elsewhere. On the other hand, there are many poems in here (generally not the same ones!) that are lousy with heedless racism/sexism/imperialism/etc ... which is not surprising given the time period but also yuck.

[Daniel Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why this doesn't have higher ratings. It's not excellent, but they are poems for children. They are clever and fun. A good read aloud.