Poems to Last a Lifetime

by Daisy Goodwin (Editor)

A contemporary new treasury of verse for every age of life. The extraordinary success of Daisy Goodwin's best-selling poetry collections has brought tens of thousands of new readers to the classics and to the work of many relatively unknown contemporary poets. Her instinctive sense of the way in which poetry in all its myriad forms can play a part in our daily lives, and her distinctive commentary on how it can do so, together with her acclaimed television series for BBC2, has made poetry, always close to the British heart, more popular than it has been for years. Now, in a book inspired by Palgrave's Golden Treasury, she chooses a much more ambitious selection. From Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and C. P. Cavafy's Ithaka to Wendy Cope and Vicki Feaver, this sumptuously produced, beautifully designed compendium of poems appropriate to every stage of our lives, from the moment we enter trailing clouds of glory to the time we first set foot upon the primrose path, will be a source of entertainment, consolation, insight, amusement, solace and ruminative satisfaction to people of all ages at all times of the year.

Genres: Poetry

308 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2004

About the author

DAISY GOODWIN, a Harkness scholar who attended Columbia University’s film school after earning a degree in history at Cambridge University, is a leading television producer in the U.K. Her poetry anthologies, including 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life, have introduced many new readers to the pleasures of poetry, and she was Chair of the judging panel of the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. That was the year she published her first novel the American Heiress ( My Last Duchess in UK) , followed by The Fortune Hunter and now Victoria. She has also created VICTORIA the PBS/ITV series which starts in January. She has three dogs, two dogs, and one husband.

Reviews

[Calum Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant range of poems. Daisy explains each poem or adds a personal note. Stunning photography. Moder, classical and largely unknown poets.

100% recommend.

[mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful showstopping sensational etc etc i am in love and pain and anger all at once

[Chellbian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this several times throughout the years, in snipbits and as a whole. It's not all 5* in my opinion but each time I go back to it I find old favourites and something newly relevant to my life now.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute essential. A wonderful collection of poems to see you through every trial and tribulation of life and to strengthen all those happy moments. Daisy Goodwin's comments are touching and illuminating - she advocates poetry as self-help and it's the only self-help book you'll ever need. If you're feeling it then you can be sure a poet has got there first and even if you can't articulate your own feelings there's a poem in here that will articulate it for you.

This is the one book I'd risk my life to save from a fire. I love it!

Ally

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often read poetry, however, this is a brilliant collection of poems which is beautifully compiled by Daisy Goodwin.
It's designed to dip into for "advice for life", it can however be enjoyed from start to finish. From W.H. Auden to to Robert Burns and Emily Dickinson. Even those who wouldn't usually enjoy such a book would like this.
The organisation of the poems and images on them make this a standout book.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this is the first Daisy Goodwin poem book you have read then I am sure you will love this book. However if you have read her other books do not bother with this one as it contains many of the poems from her previous publications.

[Magpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all time favourite anthology