BARTLETT'S POEMS FOR OCCASIONS

by Geoffrey O'Brien

Just as Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is the volume everyone reaches for when seeking an elusive citation, BARTLETT'S POEMS FOR OCCASIONS is the ultimate resource for finding the poem that will hit just the right note for that special family milestone, public address, or private moment of contemplation. What poems do you read when a country has gone to war?To mark the beginning of a new career or the end of an old one?To celebrate a new love or console a grieving and bereft family?Organized in three parts-the Cycles of Nature, the Phases of Human Life, and the Enduring Themes-the book is the perfect vehicle to translate the wisdom and expression of the greatest works of poetry into our everyday experience.Among the many poets included here are Anna Akhmatova, Charles Baudelaire, Elizabeth Bishop, William Blake, Catullus, Emily Dickinson, Goethe, Federico Garca Lorca, Herman Melville, Ogden Nash, Li Po, Rilke, Sappho, Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, and Edith Wharton.Including over 500 poems written in more than a dozen different languages, poems dating from ancient Egypt to the present day, BARTLETT'S POEMS FOR OCCASIONS is a resource that will sustain and uplift the soul.

Genres: Poetry, Reference

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Anna Keating · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is the antidote to the Internet, social media, and all the rest.

[Lagobond · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I was looking for, well, poems for various occasions. Poems to send into the world to acknowledge birthdays, bereavements, weddings, and various seasons. I didn't find much that I would want to share with others on these occasions. I found that, for the most part: The poems that spoke of birth and birthdays were not celebratory. The poems about grief were not comforting. The poems about seasons did not evoke the season they spoke of.

As a poetry anthology, this book is middling at best. It skews toward the hardscrabble and the melancholic, toward admonishments and depression... which is fine, as poetry does and should cover the whole of human experience. But as it specifically calls itself a collection of "poems for occasions," I'm measuring it with a different yardstick. And I have to say that on the whole, I hope nobody chooses from this when writing to me to commemorate a particular occasion.

[William King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book of poetry chocolates, something for everyone and every occasion.

Below is One of my favourites from the into Adulthood chapter that I often share with my children.

DREAMS

hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know. It does what it does.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

You never know when you'll need a poem! This is fabulous!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book for teaching oral interpretation. In terms of personal use, I wouldn't get much from it, but I think a lot of my students find this as a great introduction to poetry.

[John Stafiej · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a great range of poems here... If you are a fan of poetry then I'd say this is a good anthology for ya.