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Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime
The fourth volume in the popular series that began with Ten Poems to Change Your Life , Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime focuses on what it means to be truly human. In it, Roger Housden offers us poems on life and death, happiness, seeing ourselves in relation to the world, and, of course, the ineffable—the things that really matter when the chips are down. He describes these passionate poems as “bread for the soul and fire for the spirit.”
The poets Housden has chosen are Billy Collins, Hayden Carruth, Dorianne Laux, James Wright, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Mary Oliver from the United States, D. H. Lawrence and John Keats from England, Rainer Maria Rilke from Germany, Fleur Adcock from New Zealand, and Seng-Ts’an from sixth-century China. And yes, that adds up to eleven, not ten. Housden decided to include a bonus poem for his faithful readers in this, the final volume of the series. As before, Housden’s luminous essays provide an elegant and easy passage into the sometimes daunting world of poetry, enabling readers to feel that in him they have found a trusted guide and mentor.
The poets Housden has chosen are Billy Collins, Hayden Carruth, Dorianne Laux, James Wright, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Mary Oliver from the United States, D. H. Lawrence and John Keats from England, Rainer Maria Rilke from Germany, Fleur Adcock from New Zealand, and Seng-Ts’an from sixth-century China. And yes, that adds up to eleven, not ten. Housden decided to include a bonus poem for his faithful readers in this, the final volume of the series. As before, Housden’s luminous essays provide an elegant and easy passage into the sometimes daunting world of poetry, enabling readers to feel that in him they have found a trusted guide and mentor.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 2004
25 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Roger Housden
44 books121 followersRoger Housden is the author of some twenty books of non fiction, including the best selling Ten Poems series. His new book, SAVED BY BEAUTY: ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN ROMANTIC IN IRAN, comes out on May 17 2011 with Broadway Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
January 29, 2018
Several classics -- enjoyable reads, including, of course, Mary Oliver:
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
Hersperides is the legendary garden in the Far West of the world where golden apples grow
Return to the ecstatic rapture, knowing you are part of a greater life, a conscious flicker in the vast network of intelligence that joins both the stars and the ants and you.
Mary Oliver - Wild Geese:
Whoever you are, no mater how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things
The Art of Disappearing
by Naomi Shihab Nye
When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone is telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It’s not that you don’t love them anymore.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven’t seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
Naomi Shihab Nye, from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Far Corner Books, 1995)
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
Hersperides is the legendary garden in the Far West of the world where golden apples grow
Return to the ecstatic rapture, knowing you are part of a greater life, a conscious flicker in the vast network of intelligence that joins both the stars and the ants and you.
Mary Oliver - Wild Geese:
Whoever you are, no mater how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things
The Art of Disappearing
by Naomi Shihab Nye
When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone is telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It’s not that you don’t love them anymore.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven’t seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
Naomi Shihab Nye, from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Far Corner Books, 1995)
September 2, 2014
When I read poetry I always wish I could discuss the stuff that has gripped me. Also sometimes some of the bones of the work can be missed and with this little book the author gives me a take on it. My appreciation of poetry has only expanded being in this authors virtual class on these poems. I leave you with a Mary Oliver line " tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" A great question for my kids every day emphasizing ONE .
June 27, 2019
A doorway into another world can open anywhere. It has no need of anything to find a way into your brain. p36
Roger Housden has a good ear, and although in general I will not tolerate being told what to think, his enthusiastic and perceptive commentary did add another dimension to my reading of these great poems. It was a real pleasure to be introduced to the poets here that I had never met before or had overlooked, Hayden Carruth and Fleur Adcock in particular and Naomi Shihab Nye; and it was wonderful to discover new poems by some of my favourites, Lawrence, Rilke, and Oliver. Even the one old chestnut by Keats with which I was too familiar, fairly ruined by grade 12 micro-analysis, benefited from further thoughts and a fresh perspective.
It was the feeling that mattered to them, more than the specifics that it attached to. p88
This apparently is the 4th and last volume of a series engendered to foster an appreciation for the poem as an exciting means of communication "bread for the soul and fire for the spirit"
From the quality of this volume, I am eager to find the others.
January 12, 2023
Housden's discussion of each of these poems brings them a richer understanding and deeper appreciation. Would that all poetry anthologies were so helpful!
The introduction to this volume says this is the last of four installments, the first being Ten Poems to Change Your Life. However, it seems he changed his mind and has since added three more in the Ten Poems series.
Ten Poems to Change Your Life
Ten Poems to Set You Free
Ten Poems to Open Your Heart
Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime
Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again
Ten Poems to Say Goodbye
Ten Poems for Difficult Times
The introduction to this volume says this is the last of four installments, the first being Ten Poems to Change Your Life. However, it seems he changed his mind and has since added three more in the Ten Poems series.
Ten Poems to Change Your Life
Ten Poems to Set You Free
Ten Poems to Open Your Heart
Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime
Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again
Ten Poems to Say Goodbye
Ten Poems for Difficult Times
September 28, 2017
It may seem dumb of me but I don't want to read a book of poems and read someone else's synopsis of what they interpreted the poem to be about. Not my cup of tea. If I would like to do so I'd join a book club and discuss weekly what it is or isn't the author is attempting to portray in their literature.
June 1, 2018
i loved this book and this is one that i will never get rid of. First of all, the poems are just beautiful but as a bonus, the author dissects the poem and adds his thoughts on what it means and just beautifully makes you think of all kinds of different things the poem translates to. Great, great little book.
August 3, 2020
Another collection of poetry that had only one poem that I really adored, but that poem made the book worth it.
"Weathering" by Fleur Adcock
My face catches the wind
from the snow line
and flushes with a flush
that will never wholly settle.
Well, that was a metropolitan vanity,
wanting to look young forever, to pass.
I was never a pre-Raphaelite beauty
and only pretty enough to be seen
with a man who wanted to be seen
with a passable woman.
But now that I am in love
with a place that doesn't care
how I look and if I am happy,
happy is how I look and that's all.
My hair will grow grey in any case,
my nails chip and flake,
my waist thicken, and the years
work all their usual changes.
If my face is to be weather beaten as well,
it's little enough lost
for a year among the lakes and vales
where simply to look out my window
at the high pass
makes me indifferent to mirrors
and to what my soul may wear
over its new complexion.
"Weathering" by Fleur Adcock
My face catches the wind
from the snow line
and flushes with a flush
that will never wholly settle.
Well, that was a metropolitan vanity,
wanting to look young forever, to pass.
I was never a pre-Raphaelite beauty
and only pretty enough to be seen
with a man who wanted to be seen
with a passable woman.
But now that I am in love
with a place that doesn't care
how I look and if I am happy,
happy is how I look and that's all.
My hair will grow grey in any case,
my nails chip and flake,
my waist thicken, and the years
work all their usual changes.
If my face is to be weather beaten as well,
it's little enough lost
for a year among the lakes and vales
where simply to look out my window
at the high pass
makes me indifferent to mirrors
and to what my soul may wear
over its new complexion.
March 3, 2019
I certainly enjoyed reading the poems and some of them are quite lovely, but I didn't find them to be all that memorable. Housden's commentary was up and down. Sometimes enlightening sometimes a little trite. I welcomed his inclusion of several women, but the collection could have been a little more diverse.
May 31, 2018
Great poems, annoying commentary.
August 28, 2021
An emphasis on carpe diem, mixed with a trace of a kinder, more poetic Ayn Rand-esque rhythm. Of course, please march to the beat of your own drummer, as multiple poems here urge. This collection is nice in a way as you can share poetry with someone, but better still if you can find someone across the dinner table or queen/king bed divide and try reading these to. I tried, but Ms. Hunger's patience has been tried and mostly sentenced away.
That said, for us with twin boys on the cusp of college, together we are gazing into the abyss of liberal arts. To be clear, I'm gasping in mock horror when I type that. Dark horses surely still win plenty of races, and there are pastures well beyond the racetrack. Still it feels unlikely either will make a career or book series out of writing essays on poems they've cherished, but kudos to Housden for pulling that off.
Is poetry poised for an American resurgence? As text and tweet trample books and even emails that dare to peak beyond a page or paragraph, bring on these 10+1 poems, or better yet haikus. Seems a longer shot than either of my darling dark horses chomping at the liberal bit.
That said, for us with twin boys on the cusp of college, together we are gazing into the abyss of liberal arts. To be clear, I'm gasping in mock horror when I type that. Dark horses surely still win plenty of races, and there are pastures well beyond the racetrack. Still it feels unlikely either will make a career or book series out of writing essays on poems they've cherished, but kudos to Housden for pulling that off.
Is poetry poised for an American resurgence? As text and tweet trample books and even emails that dare to peak beyond a page or paragraph, bring on these 10+1 poems, or better yet haikus. Seems a longer shot than either of my darling dark horses chomping at the liberal bit.
June 10, 2020
"Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime" by Roger Housden was an interesting enough read, but not one I would care to read again. I mainly finished it for the sake of a reading challenge if I am to be fully honest.
The book is a collection of 11 poems (no, that is not a typo) that he feels are life lasting and that left deep impacts on him. Alongside each of the poems he gives his opinions and interpretations of them which at times had me wanting to skim past and just get to the next poem. I guess I am better suited to just reading poetry, not reading what others think I should have found important about it or what and how I should feel about it. I admit I tend to bristle at being told what to think and how to feel. 😏
That being said, I did enjoy finding some poems I haven't read before, even if they were not all to my particular taste or liking. I also found a new poet I would like to check out more poems from. So not a total wash in the end. :)
The book is a collection of 11 poems (no, that is not a typo) that he feels are life lasting and that left deep impacts on him. Alongside each of the poems he gives his opinions and interpretations of them which at times had me wanting to skim past and just get to the next poem. I guess I am better suited to just reading poetry, not reading what others think I should have found important about it or what and how I should feel about it. I admit I tend to bristle at being told what to think and how to feel. 😏
That being said, I did enjoy finding some poems I haven't read before, even if they were not all to my particular taste or liking. I also found a new poet I would like to check out more poems from. So not a total wash in the end. :)
March 30, 2024
I image the whole world at peace.
Happy is how I look and that's all
My hair will grow grey in any case
My waist thicken and the years
work all their usual changes
If my face is to be weather beaten as well
It's little enough lost
for a year among the lakes
where simply to look out my window
makes me indifferent to mirrors
and to what my soul may wear
over its new complexion
Soon these two worlds both leave you
One part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth
leaving you not really belonging to either
one moment your life is a stone in you and the next a star
You're trying to remember something too important to forget
Know that you can tumble any second
Decide what to do with your time
Step aside form all thinking
and there is nowhere you can't go.
Don't keep searching for the truth,
Just let go of your opinions.
Happy is how I look and that's all
My hair will grow grey in any case
My waist thicken and the years
work all their usual changes
If my face is to be weather beaten as well
It's little enough lost
for a year among the lakes
where simply to look out my window
makes me indifferent to mirrors
and to what my soul may wear
over its new complexion
Soon these two worlds both leave you
One part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth
leaving you not really belonging to either
one moment your life is a stone in you and the next a star
You're trying to remember something too important to forget
Know that you can tumble any second
Decide what to do with your time
Step aside form all thinking
and there is nowhere you can't go.
Don't keep searching for the truth,
Just let go of your opinions.
June 27, 2025
I love Housden's series because each book has helped make poetry accessible to me, to the point that it has become my favorite genre. His books, like Garrison Keillor's have also served to help me discover new poets (new to me) to read. His essays on each poem aren't meant to offer ultimate truth and understanding on how to read and understand a particular poem as much as they are meant to be foils for discussion. What is it that I think or believe or want or love? Thru a dialogue with the poet, and Housden, and myself, something essential comes rising to the center of my being. The ten (really eleven) poems work together to roll things around and consider different facets of this thing called life and human existence and help us ponder and appreciate and live more fully a response to having encountered these insights.
September 24, 2024
Some of the poems I liked; others I couldn't stand. Some I'd read before and some were new to me (both re: poems and poets). Whether I liked or disliked tho I appreciated Housden's commentary after each one - it invariably pointed out pieces of the poems I'd missed and also showed a perspective on life, or a way of living, unlike my own. 2 ways to grow. I also appreciated how sweet and direct and kind Housden writes (is he like that IRL? IDK!). But his writing, at least, is earnest and without pretense. Like Mr. Rogers. Kind and loving and well-intentioned and without a whiff of cynicism or academic showmanship. Safe. Lovely. An easy and enjoyable and not-too-dense survey of a handful of excellent poems!
November 20, 2020
I enjoyed most of the poems but disagreed with much of Mr. Housden's commentary. It was interesting to read his thoughts though.
I think poetry is best read for itself and not for dissecting. It either speaks to you or it doesn't and that is personal, from your own experience and ideas - no one can tell you what it means. I was curious to find out which poems he thinks are ones to last a lifetime.
The last poem (#11 of 10) by Mary Oliver "When Death Comes" (I'm guessing he is a big fan) I disliked - the poem and his commentary.
I best liked My Life by Billy Collins and Ecstasy by Hayden Carruth.
I think poetry is best read for itself and not for dissecting. It either speaks to you or it doesn't and that is personal, from your own experience and ideas - no one can tell you what it means. I was curious to find out which poems he thinks are ones to last a lifetime.
The last poem (#11 of 10) by Mary Oliver "When Death Comes" (I'm guessing he is a big fan) I disliked - the poem and his commentary.
I best liked My Life by Billy Collins and Ecstasy by Hayden Carruth.
February 27, 2020
Another good anthology of poetry. I read one most mornings before my work day routine starts.
The poems that I’ve highlighted from this anthology are:
- For the sake of strangers by Dorianne Laux
- The Art of disappearing by Naomi Shihab NYE
- When Death comes by Mary Oliver
I still enjoy the combination of poem and essay. It works well for me and gives me confidence and somewhere else to go to find more poems to read. A good and enjoyable series.
The poems that I’ve highlighted from this anthology are:
- For the sake of strangers by Dorianne Laux
- The Art of disappearing by Naomi Shihab NYE
- When Death comes by Mary Oliver
I still enjoy the combination of poem and essay. It works well for me and gives me confidence and somewhere else to go to find more poems to read. A good and enjoyable series.
Read
November 17, 2020I read this twice book twice in a row, and reread individual sections while doing it. Housden's analyses helped me grow such a stronger appreciation with poems that I didn't know I could love any more. His reflections make me feel so deeply connected to both him and the poets -- I was moved to tears more than once.
April 23, 2019
Any of Roger's "Ten Poems" series are worth your time, time and time again.
August 27, 2019
I hadn't encountered this series before, but the poems he selects are among my favorites, and I loved his accompanying brief essays.
January 24, 2023
Beautiful poems and beautiful essays to accompany them.
May 16, 2023
I'm buying my own copy of this....and probably the others in the series, too. Really, really liked it.
February 10, 2025
I was not thrilled with any of the poems chosen.
September 12, 2023
The Art of Disappearing
When they say Don't I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
This poem is by Naomi Shihab Nye. It was hard to pick my favorite poem from this collection, but this one spoke to me as I flipped back through this book.
I have been working my way through this volume of poetry for a few months. Although this is the first volume from Housden that I have posted here, I have enjoyed all of his anthologies. It is wonderful to be able to read his commentaries as well as the hand-picked poems.
If you have any interest in poetry, you should at least browse through these collections. Housden has a way of matching up a series of poems from different people and eras that makes all of the selection shine.
When they say Don't I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
This poem is by Naomi Shihab Nye. It was hard to pick my favorite poem from this collection, but this one spoke to me as I flipped back through this book.
I have been working my way through this volume of poetry for a few months. Although this is the first volume from Housden that I have posted here, I have enjoyed all of his anthologies. It is wonderful to be able to read his commentaries as well as the hand-picked poems.
If you have any interest in poetry, you should at least browse through these collections. Housden has a way of matching up a series of poems from different people and eras that makes all of the selection shine.
August 20, 2020
I read this book the first time in 2013. At the time I was reading all the books in the Ten Poems series and I didn't read them in a particular order so I didn't pay attention to the fact that this was the last in the series. I thought that Introduction and the Prologue were very good and helped me think about my own ability to read poetry without Housden's help. I enjoy the poems he picks in all the books and this book was no exception. My favorites were the ones by Oliver and Nye, but I got a lot out of all the others, thanks to Housden's essays. As I read the reviews from other reviewers I am shocked at how people complained about what Housden had to say and offer in his thoughts about the poems. That is what I love about this series. I need help understanding and finding beauty in confusing poems. Housden offers the help I need. I like the whole series and recommend the books.
October 5, 2013
This is a lovely little book of selected poems. What's different about it is that the author, Roger Housden, provides a few pages of commentary after each poem. I thought he selected some very interesting and thought provoking poems and his comments added to my enjoyment of reading the poems. I enjoyed reading the poem first, then reading his comments, and then reading the poem again.
We read this book in my book club and each member read their favorite poem and discussed why they liked it. It was interesting to learn which poems moved each member of the group. It also was a nice way to get everyone in the group talking and contributing to the discussion.
Roger Housden has authored a series of poetry books with commentary. I enjoyed this one and I am planning to read another one!
This book would make a nice little gift to someone who likes poetry.
We read this book in my book club and each member read their favorite poem and discussed why they liked it. It was interesting to learn which poems moved each member of the group. It also was a nice way to get everyone in the group talking and contributing to the discussion.
Roger Housden has authored a series of poetry books with commentary. I enjoyed this one and I am planning to read another one!
This book would make a nice little gift to someone who likes poetry.
September 8, 2010
I love the "Ten Poem" series compiled by Roger Housden. I remember picking up one of the books out of wonderment, while stifling through the poetry section, instead of working. Perhaps, it was the saturated, bright color binding. I don't fall privy to compilations of poems. Every reader has their own set of experiences, nostalgias, and coined memories. I flipped through one of the books, and came across Mary Oliver's "The Journey" and like many euphoric, instantaneous, riveting moments with some of my favourite poetry-- the poem utter words I needed. I was introduce to a world of Modern poets. Mary Oliver is still among my favourite modern poets. I jotted the entire series, and told myself that I would buy all of them. Over time, I simply forgot about them, until recently.
February 20, 2014
I will summarize this comforting and reflective collection of poetry with an excerpt from the last chapter....
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
(Mary Oliver)
"A bride married to amazement: Is this not a string of words to bring tears to your eyes? Imagine living your life this way, heart and eyes open wide to the world, so much in love with the life you are given to live that you feel joined to it by holy sacrament, the sacrament of love. This marriage, the one with your life, is indeed until death do you part, no second chances."
(Roger Housden) page 18
When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
(Mary Oliver)
"A bride married to amazement: Is this not a string of words to bring tears to your eyes? Imagine living your life this way, heart and eyes open wide to the world, so much in love with the life you are given to live that you feel joined to it by holy sacrament, the sacrament of love. This marriage, the one with your life, is indeed until death do you part, no second chances."
(Roger Housden) page 18
April 20, 2009
I have often wanted to understand poetry better. Usually, I understand commentary about poetry less than I do the actual poem. Housden is much more down to earth in his descriptions of the poems in this short book. I liked what he had to say about most of the poems. I needed to understand more what the poet had in mind. Housden points out to the reader that it is his interpretation, and that another person might have a different insight. This book is the last of a series of 4 books published by Housden. I plan on looking for the others. I would recommend this book.
May 1, 2010
I was interested to read Housden's commentary, to see how he articulated what drew him to choose each poem. He referenced other poets in his discussion, and his ideas seemed insightful without being pretentious. It made me go back and read each one with a different eye.
I really liked seven of the ten, a pretty good percentage. Only one did not seem special to me at all.
This is, Houseden says, the final book in his "10 poems" series. And every one has included Mary Oliver.
I really liked seven of the ten, a pretty good percentage. Only one did not seem special to me at all.
This is, Houseden says, the final book in his "10 poems" series. And every one has included Mary Oliver.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews