A World of Poetry

by Michael J. Rosen

An eclectic mixture of poetry, ballads, limericks, riddles and nonsense verse from all over the world. They range from the famous to the unknown, from the thoughtful to the hilarious, and from poems thousands of years old to some that are new.

Genres: Poetry

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1994

About the author

Rosen's Website should provide all this and more. It's http://www.fidosopher.com.
Nonetheless: Michael J. Rosen is an American author and illustrator with over 120 books of fiction, nonfiction, humor, picture books, poetry, and more. With a strong interest in nature and animals, reflecting his animal behavior degree from Ohio State University, Rosen resides within a peaceful crease of Central Ohio with his pack of animal companions that include 2 small koi ponds he helped build on the 100 acres he shares in the foothills of the Ohio Appalachians. An avid dog lover, he was inspired by Chant, his newest Australian stumpy-tail cattle dog, which led to the creation of his newest book of fiction, The Tale of Rescue, which will be released in October 2015. With an MFA in poetry from Columbia University, Rosen also showcases his skills and talents in other projects such as The Maine Coon’s Haiku: And Other Poems for Cat Lovers (2015).

Reviews

[Archie Bevan-Thomas]

Eclectic selection of different poems; some are translated from the Middle (Medieval) English period such as 'Blacksmiths' (p. 16), and feature archaic words, 'lus, bus!', 'tiket, taket', 'Dobbin-dressers'. Others are by writers of classic literature such as William Shakespeare, 'Caliban's Curse' (The Tempest), (p.187), Rudyard Kipling, 'Song of the Galley-Slaves' (p. 114) and some are by poets known for their literary nonsense like Edward Lear 'The Dong with a Luminous Nose' (p. 122-125). Some poems are taken from song lyrics such as 'Blackbird' (Lennon & McCartney, p. 126) and others are near contemporary, for example 'Heroine' (p. 127), which alludes to racial inequality in the 1950s. Some poems have coloured pictures on the opposite page to help explain the content.
They are printed alphabetically according to the authors' surname(s).
Most of the poems would be suitable for children aged 10-11+.

[Jane Scholey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the choices made here by Rosen. A 'world of thoughts and feelings, images and ideas collected from all over the world.' I love that he has chosen such different poets and types of poetry. Different cultures, different points of view. again, can be picked up and read, looked at in class, read for enjoyment, just loved!

[Aniruddha P N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for kids (10+)

[Prateek Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rarely you get an anthology with such a diverse collection of poems spread across various genre. This book introduced me to various form, styles and technical devices used in poetry.

[Robin Helweg-Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE best anthology of poetry for school age kids that I have ever seen. One of its charms is that it is unthemed, all-embracing, with poems ordered alphabetically by author. This gives runs such as a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay, followed by two light pieces by Spike Milligan, then Milton's sonnet on his blindness, then several subversive Adrian Mitchell poems...

Yes, it is largely British, but there is a good representation of American poetry and a spattering of translations from global poets ancient and modern.

Best school age anthology ever.

[Susan Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a joy to read this book! I remember buying this for my dad(who is a literature teacher) when I was in school. I wonder if he even read a poem. I noticed the book in his room and decided to read it and what a thrill it was. There is no particular theme to the poems listed in the book and the author has done work to include even obscure poets in this anthology. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to consider/include poetry in their reading.

The book definitely took me back to my childhood.