A Treasury of Classic Poetry

by Michael Kelahan

The poems selected for A Treasury of Classic Poetry span nearly 500 years, from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century. More than 300 of the best-loved poems in the English language are featured, representing more than fifty of the world's greatest poets, including:

Lord Byron
Emily Dickinson
T.S. Eliot
Robert Frost
John Keats
Edna St. Vincent Millay
John Milton
Edgar Allan Poe
William Shakespeare
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Wallace Stevens
Walt Whitman
William Butler Yeats

A Treasury of Classic Poetry is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed bonded-leather binding., with distinctive gilt edging and a silk-ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old and are an indispensable cornerstone for every home library.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Classic Literature, Fiction

723 pages, Leather Bound

First published March 31, 2014

Reviews

[Addy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never been one for poetry. I decided to read this book in the hopes that I could educate myself on the art form, as I’ve always felt unqualified to critique the work of poets. I think this collection taught me personally to stick to the prose, but it was a nice chronology of poetry and how it changed from decade to decade, century to century.
I did find some poems I enjoyed, and I thought it was prudent of the editors to include an “About the Authors” section, so that I could look into other works produced by some of the standouts in my opinion. Lewis Carroll for example had a couple of very funny poems, and I think I will use the “About the Authors” addendum to help me find more works of his.
I think another reason this collection was not my favorite is the tendency for the literary canon to focus on the work of white male authors. There were only four female poets in this collection, and every poet was from the United Kingdom or the United States. So much for diverse literary voices.
This is not a bad exploration of the evolution of poetry, but the lack of diversity is a drawback.

[Katherynne Boham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I'll ever not be reading this book. The poetry selections have included some of my favorites and introduced me to many new pieces. I'm thrilled to have it on my shelf.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really qualified to review this book, as I have learned I am not a fan of poetry in general. While I did enjoy some of the classic works, especially Robert Frost, I detested the vast majority. That is of course no fault of the editors of this work, so I feel it best to not do any review beyond explaining my scoring (which is solely for the poetry, not the book itself).

The book did what it was supposed to do, provide a treasury of classic works. A shame I simply didn't care for the works selected.

[ilita vélez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utter perfection.

[Cecilie Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here’s the thing about any type of literary collections, especially the ones featuring several different writers; they’re almost impossible to grade.

In this book for instance we have masterpieces such as Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Balled of Reading Gaol’, which I’d personally grade 5/5, displayed amongst some of the dullest poets and poems ever to come into existence (not going to mention any names, but there was quite a few poems that I skimmed my way through)

When that has been said, I feel like this book gives a pretty good overview of some of the prime examples of classic literature, written by British and American authors, and is therefore a great way to get introduced to a vast amount of poets in a short amount of time, which is really useful for people who are just getting into poetry.

However I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed by the book’s content, not because it was awful, but simply because many of the poems (to me) was quite forgettable, and failed at making me feel excited about reading more of the majority of the poets’ writings.
This becomes truly evident, when looking at the number of poems I’ve highlighted throughout this collection of 300+ poems, as I only deemed 11 interesting/beautiful/good enough, to revisit at some point.

All in all, this was slightly disappointing, but hey! The book looks beautiful and contains one of my favorite poems of all time (looking at you Mr. Wilde)

[Daan Janssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection.

There's a lot of different writers, all with different styles and themes. Reading it, I felt some poems, especially strong religious ones, weren't to my liking. Some of these I skipped, I have to admit. But there were more than enough poems to thoroughly enjoy. Personal favourites are those by Robert Burns, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Richard Crashaw and Emily Dickinson. Would have given it five stars if there had been short, one paragraph introductions on these various writers to give a bit of perspective on what they wrote.

Besides great content, it also looks good on the planks ;).

[Jasmine Shadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lovely edition, I will give it that. However, several of the poets included I do not find to be of the top authors. Many of the most excellent poems from some of the poets are excluded and many of the poems included are not ones that I appreciate, especially in the beginning of the book. It almost made me shelf it. I found a definite bent towards certain "messages" that are not necessarily mainstream to the period of the era the title conveys. Definitely not a favorite collection.

[Whit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly one of the best poetry anthologies I own. It has all the best and then more. It is well laid on the page making reading it easy and room for notes. More than one by each author usually a few well known and a couple not. Many long form and lyrical ballads other anthologies don’t include. I read out of this over and over.

[Jessica Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5
I have to rate this based on enjoyment, though I do totally recognize the merit of this collection. I was feeling nostalgic for my time in college when I used to read classic poetry for required reading when I decided to read this straight through. I found myself wanting to skim most of it, and that is probably on me.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is about the editing, not the poetry. I like the chronological approach to this volume, and appreciate the paragraph bios in the back. It strikes me that the poems selected seemed often chosen not because they are the best representation of the poet's work, but because they are the longest.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some poets and poems I feel are missing.
For example: Christopher Marlowe's poem 'The Passionate Shepherd To His Love' is in the book, however, Sir Walter Raleigh's 'The Nymphs Reply To The Shepherd' is not in t book.
Nonetheless, the book is beautiful and contains some loved poetry by some timeless poets.

[Hannah Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well organized by topics rather than author, but easy to navigate.

[Erin H · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection and just a very pretty book. I had already read a lot of these authors but discovered some new ones. Overall I enjoyed this!

[Brandi]

Trying to read the Holy Bible: King James Version and this book over the course of one year is a bit much, so sorry, A Treasury of Classic Poetry, but I'm going to have to shelve you - likely until 2017.

[Joseph Ozias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful poetry by wonderful poets.