Tell Me the Truth About Life: A National Poetry Day Anthology

by National Poetry Day, Cerys Matthews (Selections)

CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY, THE OFFICIAL NATIONAL POETRY DAY COLLECTION. CURATED AND INTRODUCED BY CERYS MATTHEWS. Tell Me the Truth About Life i s an indispensable anthology which celebrates poetry's power to tap into the truths that matter. Curated and introduced by Cerys Matthews , this collection draws on the wisdom of featuring poems nominated for their insight into truth by a range of ordinary and extraordinary from Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, to the driver of the number 19 bus, from sporting heroes and world-famous musicians to teachers, artists and politicians. Their choices include contemporary work by Yrsa Daley-Ward, Warsan Shire and Kei Miller alongside classics by W H Auden, Emily Dickinson and Dylan Thomas. Here you will find poems to revive the spirit, ballads to mobilize and life-lines to hold you safe in the dark. Compiled for National Poetry Day's twenty-fifth anniversary, Tell Me the Truth About Life is a book that reminds us we are never completely alone in our search to glimpse the truth. Containing nominations from a number of high-profile poetry lovers and poets, including Rupi Kaur , Michael Morpurgo , Mark Gatiss , Alice Oswald and Helen Sharman , among others.

Genres: Poetry

192 pages, Hardcover

Published September 12, 2019

Reviews

[Jen Surname · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I just let out a happy sigh when it ended. What more could I ask for than that.

Poetry is *for* you.

[Alicja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Za każdym razem jak otwieram ten tomik, robię kolejne notatki przy tych samych wierszach- zastanawia mnie jak dużo czasu minie zanim staną się kompletnie nieczytelne przez ilość bazgrołów i podkreśleń dookoła druku

[gisela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a change of pace. Really enjoyed some of the poems but didn't love it as a whole.

I think I would have enjoyed a bit more context on each poem and writer rather than why people picked it. Some choices felt a bit random to me without more information.

[ElizabethW · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It’s not possible to like all the poems in any anthology, especially when it includes such a range of poets but, as ever, there were one or two that did speak to me.

[giselle]

i have been thinking about that one icarus poem for so long

“Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell, but just coming to the end of his triumph.”
-Jack Gilbert: Failing and Flying

[Honey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad one of my bookclubs recommended this. I'm usually one to dip in and out of poetry anthologies, but I read this in one sitting and was quite touched. That said, I think it's going to be more enjoyable when one is in a certain frame of mind.

I like that it featured poets old and new, and that it's peppered with voices that reflect a universal feel. Some of the poems are a bit more known than others, but there are key pieces here that I liked which I've not read/heard before.

Also, anything that champions Max Ehrmann's Desiderata is a winner in my book.

[Ingrid Angelica Custodio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something funny happened while I was reading this book. I was looking forward to finishing this, not because it was bad, but because I couldn’t wait to devour all of it. I was expecting the end with each poem I read and then suddenly, the end—i was caught off guard even though it was expected.

—fuck. Now I’m rhyming. This book is amazing.

[Vytou · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of peoms by so many great writers.

[Jen Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this for my daughters, got stopped in my tracks by Maggie Smith's Good Bones, sobbed like a baby then read it cover to cover...think I'll be coming back to this one

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems included here are an interesting mix. I love that each of them was nominated by a different person. Some had explanations from the nominees as to why they were a favorite, and others did not. I would’ve liked explanations for all of them. There were a lot of poems included here that I have not seen in other anthologies, which is always intriguing and refreshing!

[Roger Pettit · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I write this, the world is in the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic and, like millions of others, I am subject to lockdown procedures that restrict my permitted movement outdoors to essential trips, such as buying food. It’s at such times that poetry can be a great comfort and a great source of inspiration. This very good anthology is exactly that. It was compiled and published to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of National Poetry Day in the UK. National Poetry Day (this year’s will take place on 1 October) is a celebration of poetry in all its guises. ‘Tell Me the Truth About Life’ is a collection of contemporary and long-established verse that was suggested by the public as speaking a particular truth to them. It includes nominations (and the reasons for them) from a number of high-profile individuals, such as comedian Frank Skinner, poet Carol Ann Duffy and singer/songwriter David Gray, as well as many from non-celebrities. The poems include Elizabeth Bishop’s superb villanelle about loss, ‘One Art’; Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s hauntingly beautiful and dreamlike ‘Kubla Khan’; Philip Larkin’s enigmatic love poem ‘An Arundel Tomb’; and Sylvia Plath’s take on the different perspectives on life we all have, ‘Stars over the Dordogne’. Amongst the many fine poems in this collection that were new to me are Gillian Clarke’s touching ‘Blue Hydrangeas’ and ‘Love Poem’ (the title says it all) by Gwyneth Lewis. This is an anthology to treasure. 8/10.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
“Go placidly among the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence” Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Wonderful collection curated by Matthews and with choices from a myriad of characters, this covers a great range from classical to modern. Notable poems for myself included:
* Kubla Khan by Keats
* // by Chan
* The Art of Deception by Rooney
* At the Intersection by Bilston
* The Alice Case by Limburg
* Not Waving but Drowning by Smith
* Severn Song by Gross
* The Idea of Houses by Mersal
* O Tell Me the Truth About Love by Auden
* If We Could Speak Like Wolves by Moore
* I’ve Fallen in Love with my Wife by Cooper Clarke
* Take This Pen by Walsh

In clearing out the loft last month I found an old laminated card of Desiderata - so familiar that I must have had it by my bed or in my wallet for some time - did I buy it or was it gifted by a kind friend? Not sure but the final lines have never been more inspirational:
“With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy” Ehrmann

[harrietsfavourites · Rating 3 out of 5]

a beautifully curated group of poems from across the ages🫶🏼

this book of poems includes poems ranging across the years with recommendations based on why people love them so much ~ a super sweet idea💫

My favourite poems were:
🧚🏻 Kindness
🧚🏻 Desiderata
🧚🏻 Advice to Women
🧚🏻 The Call
🧚🏻 What Is Now Will Soon Be Past
🧚🏻 Love Poem
🧚🏻 Take This Pen
🧚🏻 Things

I picked this lovely book up at @66bookclub_ and I hadn’t seen it advertised before, so super happy that I decided to grab it when I saw it (especially with a discount hehe)🫶🏼🧚🏻✨

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books whose pages are begging to be corner folded (oh the indignity) so that the wonderful poems are bookmarked thereby.
An absolute treasure trove of poetic goodness, from daft to profound, from long to short, but all inspiring in their own way.
Thoroughly recommended.

[Katie Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of poems. I liked the chapters and the comments from various people who lived the poem, although some of these comments were a little tedious. Otherwise a wonderful read, great for dipping in and out of when you get a few free minutes.

[Lizixer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using this anthology for my “poem a day” reading ritual. Some of the poems are wonderful: Sappho, Edward Thomas, Langston Hughes, Yeats, Simon Armitage. Others simply okay. That’s the nature of an anthology. Not every poet will speak to you, not every poem make an impression.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of poems but nothing special.

[Suzanne Ashworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful eclectic selection and several new poets to discover - very highly recommended.

[Steven Adjei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of lovely poems. I have come back again and again to this book.
I love it.

[shrek · Rating 5 out of 5]

gd anthology — could have better content towards the second half, quite repetitive but a good book nonetheless

[soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked how it was so different with so much variety

[Reanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really lovely poems in here!

[Jamie Nicholl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great poems if ordered slightly badly

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie Smith’s Good Bones would have been worth the price of admission, alone. A lovely collection.

[Victoria Pring · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any poetry collection I enjoyed some poems and had no intrest in others, I would like to make the point however that poetry is not one of my usual pass times therefore it may be a lack of understanding that impacted a little of the enjoyment. My favorite poem was Take this pen - Tony Walsh. I was also suprised to recognise a poem that I had read in an anthology over a decade ago in school (mid term break - Seamus Heaney.) overall this was a good collection of poems that I would reccomend.