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The 100 Best Poems of All Time
This poetry companion puts favourite poetry and poets from around the world at your fingertips, enabling you to revisit the classics, encounter unfamiliar masterworks and rediscover old favorites.
Here, in this compact volume, is a greatest hits collection of the 100 best poems ever written by the world’s greatest poets. This essential collection is perfect for the poetry lover who wants to carry around their favorite poems, and ideal for the reader seeking an introduction to the greatest poems world literature has to offer. The authors included are each represented by his or her best-known and best-loved work, from the Classics (Homer, Sappho, Virgil, Ovid) to the Renaissance (Dante, Petrarch, Villon, Shakespeare) to the Romantics (Schiller, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats) to the 20th Century giants (Pound, Eliot, Frost, Stevens) down to the present day (Ginsberg, Plath, Angelou). Each poem is introduced by a brief head note which details the poet’s life history as well as the poem’s significance.
Here, in this compact volume, is a greatest hits collection of the 100 best poems ever written by the world’s greatest poets. This essential collection is perfect for the poetry lover who wants to carry around their favorite poems, and ideal for the reader seeking an introduction to the greatest poems world literature has to offer. The authors included are each represented by his or her best-known and best-loved work, from the Classics (Homer, Sappho, Virgil, Ovid) to the Renaissance (Dante, Petrarch, Villon, Shakespeare) to the Romantics (Schiller, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats) to the 20th Century giants (Pound, Eliot, Frost, Stevens) down to the present day (Ginsberg, Plath, Angelou). Each poem is introduced by a brief head note which details the poet’s life history as well as the poem’s significance.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
47 people are currently reading
551 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Pockell
17 books7 followers"Some may ask where I get the authority to compile such a work, and attach such lofty claims to it. I have no advanced business degrees myself, but I have labored in an assortment of metaphorical vineyards over the course of the past four decades, from entry level to senior management positions, in government and in the private sector, and I have paid attention to the commonalities and repetitive patterns around me.
In an era when hit television programs like The Office and award-winning novels like And Then We Came To The End are documenting the futility and anomie that is so often a part of our shared work experience, and the economic chaos all around us demonstrates the inadequacy of so-called professional expertise, the universal verities of business presented in MBA IN A BOOK are more relevant than ever."
“I’ve been in publishing for more than three decades, but I try to keep current.”
So wrote Les Pockell about himself for an in-house publication. Les didn’t just “keep current” – he had an encyclopedic knowledge of everything past, present and future in every field imaginable. He had an insatiable appetite for learning, and for passing along all the wisdom he’d accumulated to the editors he worked with and mentored over his many years in publishing.
His vitality was contagious; his opinions were strong; his brilliance was dazzling. He was well-loved by so many, and will be deeply missed.
In an era when hit television programs like The Office and award-winning novels like And Then We Came To The End are documenting the futility and anomie that is so often a part of our shared work experience, and the economic chaos all around us demonstrates the inadequacy of so-called professional expertise, the universal verities of business presented in MBA IN A BOOK are more relevant than ever."
“I’ve been in publishing for more than three decades, but I try to keep current.”
So wrote Les Pockell about himself for an in-house publication. Les didn’t just “keep current” – he had an encyclopedic knowledge of everything past, present and future in every field imaginable. He had an insatiable appetite for learning, and for passing along all the wisdom he’d accumulated to the editors he worked with and mentored over his many years in publishing.
His vitality was contagious; his opinions were strong; his brilliance was dazzling. He was well-loved by so many, and will be deeply missed.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
October 16, 2021
Nice collection.
July 21, 2010
Some great poetry; I tried to read one or two to start off each day. Two new favorites:
Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night - Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
We Wear the Mask - Paul Laurence Dunbar
WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night - Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
We Wear the Mask - Paul Laurence Dunbar
WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
January 2, 2022
In 2021, one of my goals was to read a little poetry.
As a literature major, I had studied the great poets...but life gets busy, and I let it drop.
I'm glad I took the time to read this collection. It's a great introduction to poetry or a way to reacquaint yourself with the genre.
Poetry--when it's good, when it lands in our wheelhouse--is inspiring. Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" is eloquent. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" has always been a favorite of mine. Unexpectedly, the poem that moved me the most was "Ulysses" by Alfred Tennyson.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven,
That which we are, we are--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
I highly recommend this book for someone wanting to give poetry a try. You won't love them all, but the ones you love will stay with you a long, long time.
As a literature major, I had studied the great poets...but life gets busy, and I let it drop.
I'm glad I took the time to read this collection. It's a great introduction to poetry or a way to reacquaint yourself with the genre.
Poetry--when it's good, when it lands in our wheelhouse--is inspiring. Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" is eloquent. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" has always been a favorite of mine. Unexpectedly, the poem that moved me the most was "Ulysses" by Alfred Tennyson.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven,
That which we are, we are--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
I highly recommend this book for someone wanting to give poetry a try. You won't love them all, but the ones you love will stay with you a long, long time.
March 24, 2011
After reading this book I have discovered I may not be the hopeless romantic I thought I was. I read poetry in school.. and my memory of it was dreadful. I thought with age and maturity my opinion might have changed, but it hasn't. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved some of the poems, but they only amounted to a sad handful. The real truth of the matter is.... poetry bores me to pieces! I saw the beauty and appreciated the talent and effort it took to create them, only I'm not able to enjoy them. What is wrong with me? Epic Poetry: please spare me from the torture! Some of them went right over my head, and others I couldn't see why someone would think to list them in this book at all ....or any book for that matter! (Like The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams???) Just my opinion, but who am I to give a real critique of something I know nothing about? I loved William Shakespeare's Sonnet # 18. (I'm happy Shakespeare has lived up to my ignorant expectations on what a good poem should be)LOL. I also loved The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service. Before reading this book I only experienced a few scattered lines of poetry I read in my beloved fictions and I was always greedy for more, soaking up the words when they came... guess I need my poetry in small doses. :)
April 7, 2018
3.5 stars.
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks This Land is Your Land is a) a poem, and b) good, should not edit a poetry anthology.
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks This Land is Your Land is a) a poem, and b) good, should not edit a poetry anthology.
May 15, 2025
Review to come.
April 6, 2025
No entiendo para qué existe esto, la verdad. No me meto en si el 90% de los poemas que aparecen acá son o no una poronga, pero ¿quién podría necesitar, en pleno siglo XXI, un libro que compile el Salmo 23, el soneto 18, Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night y Because I could not stop for Death? Si me dijeras que las introducciones me dan algo de contexto como para que yo no piense que son una reverenda poronga vaya y pase, pero en general dicen cosas como "este poema es sobre la juventud" o "este poema aparece en Il Postino" (¿es joda?).
Muy bueno el que escribió ese chabón para su gato Jeoffrey y el que hizo ese escocés para el ratoncito. Y un par más, también, no sé, ese de dale conchuda entregá el marrón que después vas a estar vieja y no te va a querer cojer nadie. No, ok, fuera de joda, algunos son buenos. Tristemente la minoría. AH y tiene un exceso insoportable de cosas yanquis. Cada cinco poemas un poema de mierda sobre la guerra de secesión o la independencia o la estatua de la libertad o no sé qué barco de mierda que me paso bien por el orto. Sin eso por ahí era un 3.5
Muy bueno el que escribió ese chabón para su gato Jeoffrey y el que hizo ese escocés para el ratoncito. Y un par más, también, no sé, ese de dale conchuda entregá el marrón que después vas a estar vieja y no te va a querer cojer nadie. No, ok, fuera de joda, algunos son buenos. Tristemente la minoría. AH y tiene un exceso insoportable de cosas yanquis. Cada cinco poemas un poema de mierda sobre la guerra de secesión o la independencia o la estatua de la libertad o no sé qué barco de mierda que me paso bien por el orto. Sin eso por ahí era un 3.5
January 6, 2024
I feel totally unqualified to rate a book of poetry, especially one that claims to have the best poems of all time because I know nothing about poetry. That being said, I read this as an assignment for my book club (to read any poetry book and come ready to share) and I just read this because I bought it in a whim, used, many years ago and never read it. I think I would have had more fun reading a compilation of poems by one poet. I am surprised by some of the poems included that I knew about, and equally surprised by some others I’ve never heard of and don’t understand. That being said, hopefully I’m more cultured now.
December 31, 2018
This book was fun! I really enjoy reading poetry but have a hard time reading it to myself....so I basically read this book to my dog Bella. At first she was kind of freaked out by my voice but then the rhythm of the poems made her settle in and i believe she really liked it. Some of the poems are super short and some are pages long but i found some favorites that i forgot about and others that became new favorites. This is a book i will never get rid of because sometimes it's just nice to read a poem.
April 6, 2020
Like any collection, it's a fairly even mix of hits and misses.
September 6, 2024
Have been chipping away at a poem or two here and there for the past two years and it’s been such a nice little collection to read over time
January 14, 2025
This book introduced me to poetry. And a handful of poems in here flipped my heart upside down.
August 3, 2023
So many familiar favorites!
November 24, 2025
The introduction claimed to cover almost all of the world, all main languages, but it totally skipped poems written in Slavic languages (I am surprised by the lack of Pushkin, for example).
Also, not a single poet from Africa was chosen. (Australia and New Zealand were also skipped, but since almost 3/4 of the poems were originally written in English, it is not so bad.) I am also surprised by only one poem from the Middle East. I associate this region with poetry and verse.
Apart from that, picking extracts of poems was not understandable for me. I do now consider the Iliad as a poem, but rather a novel written in verse.
Women were also underrepresented (only 18 poems). Sometimes I did not agree with the choice of the poem from a particular author (like Auden, I would have chosen "The Shield of Achilles" instead of "Funeral Blues").
Also, not a single poet from Africa was chosen. (Australia and New Zealand were also skipped, but since almost 3/4 of the poems were originally written in English, it is not so bad.) I am also surprised by only one poem from the Middle East. I associate this region with poetry and verse.
Apart from that, picking extracts of poems was not understandable for me. I do now consider the Iliad as a poem, but rather a novel written in verse.
Women were also underrepresented (only 18 poems). Sometimes I did not agree with the choice of the poem from a particular author (like Auden, I would have chosen "The Shield of Achilles" instead of "Funeral Blues").
January 28, 2022
I feel like I should give this a higher rating, but the truth is, I only just liked it. I guess if you tittle a book"100 Best anything of All Time," there is bound to be some let down. I adored some of the poems, and liked others, but there were a lot that didn't resonate. Maybe I would like those particular poems better if I knew more about them. I was disappointed right away when Bible Psalms were added among the greatest poems. They may well be (I mean, I'm no poetry scholar), but they've lost their allure for me. The same goes for the classic "Twas the night before Christmas." I couldn't help thinking about far more brilliant poems I've read recently that could have been added in their place. I was hoping for a book that I'd want to carry with me everywhere so I could enjoy 100 poems I would love dearly, but I'd say I only loved one in five. In the end, I agree with other reviewers who thought the book should more rightly be called the 100 best known poems of all time. Maybe I'll read this again in a couple years when I've become a more mature poetry connoisseur and see how my view has changed.
April 16, 2013
A pretty good collection of Poh-Eht-Tree (if you know what I mean) (and if you don't, don't pretend) (I'm talking to YOU, FARM BOY!) however, there were some blatantly huge omissions of complete namfuddery. How could they not include even one poem by Foster Shoo? Come on! The Night I Picked Your Lint is a classic! That last line:
And when I rolled
the fuzz of destiny,
of crimson pebbling webbed feet,
we both
knew
the last folder in the dash was spent.
It doesn't get much better than that, my freaks! I understand why Zaash C. Spn-Hu's Two Stripes Past Midnight wasn't on the list. Personally I never understood why that poem has such a following. Probably has to do with the Russian embassy.
Also, the entry Tyger! Tyger! was missing the best part. I really have a problem with this common omission. This is the REAL first stanza:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could bake thy fearful apple pie?
All in all, fall is not fall, it's not as bad as it could be. At least the font was predictable. I need that in my fonts or my day is RUINED!
And when I rolled
the fuzz of destiny,
of crimson pebbling webbed feet,
we both
knew
the last folder in the dash was spent.
It doesn't get much better than that, my freaks! I understand why Zaash C. Spn-Hu's Two Stripes Past Midnight wasn't on the list. Personally I never understood why that poem has such a following. Probably has to do with the Russian embassy.
Also, the entry Tyger! Tyger! was missing the best part. I really have a problem with this common omission. This is the REAL first stanza:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could bake thy fearful apple pie?
All in all, fall is not fall, it's not as bad as it could be. At least the font was predictable. I need that in my fonts or my day is RUINED!
July 22, 2011
Second time through, I appreciated it as much as the first. This is not necessarily the best poems of all time (no Billy Collins in it, which almost negates its title completely for me), but still much-loved and well-known also, the not-so-well known that add beauty to my life when I read it.
First review: This is not only a great introduction to poetry AND poets but a chance to have at your fingertips some of the all-time classics and most beloved: "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe; "Casey at Bat"; "How Do I Love Thee" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, etc.. Even though I finally finished this from cover to cover after having had it for years, I will be reading it again and again.
First review: This is not only a great introduction to poetry AND poets but a chance to have at your fingertips some of the all-time classics and most beloved: "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe; "Casey at Bat"; "How Do I Love Thee" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, etc.. Even though I finally finished this from cover to cover after having had it for years, I will be reading it again and again.
October 13, 2008
I'm not really a poetry person, but this was recommended by a patron. It has some good stuff: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, Tyger! Tyger! (Burning Bright) by William Blake, Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats, Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow, The Raven by Poe, Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe and Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.
There is, however, one obvious omission to me: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge -- the editor chose Kubla Khan by this author, instead.
There is, however, one obvious omission to me: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge -- the editor chose Kubla Khan by this author, instead.
January 24, 2011
A nice little collection of poetry, more correctly titled "The 100 Most Commonly Read Poems of all Time". While it has many classic poems, it was like reading a poetry sampler from a high school English class, with the emphasis being on English poets, with brief mention of French poets, until the American revolutionary war, then all the poems are American.
March 19, 2009
While I'm not 100% sure I agree with all of them, this is a fine collection.
August 25, 2019
Handy little collection
What this little book might have been called in manuscript was something like "100 Representative Poems of 100 of the Most Popular Poets of All Time." Not a bad title, and it is consistent with editor Leslie Pockell's popular choices and her[?] intent to include no more than one poem by any poet. But the unmitigated gall of the title actually chosen--The 100 Best Poems of All Time--makes for a little fun, and probably will increase the sales of the book. As Pockell writes in the short Introduction, "Well, at least we attracted your attention."
You did. And for fun I am responding with some reaction to the selections. But first I should mention Pockell's criteria for the selections. The book needed to be short, a mix of "high art" and "popular culture" was desired, and the selections ought to be "inclined toward poetry that is best appreciated when recited or read aloud." Fair enough. And for the most part I think Pockell did an admirable job.
The excellent choices include, the King James version of the Twenty-Third Psalm, Poe's "The Raven," Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (although it seems weird to select just one of his sonnets; I prefer "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" or "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"), Donne's "Go and Catch a Falling Star," Shelley's "Ozymandias," Keat's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (although again, how to choose just one!) Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty," Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," (ditto the last two asides), Eliot's "...Prufrock," etc.
Poor selections include, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (a stirring song, but a "best" poem?), Basho's "An Old Pond" (there are better English renditions than the one given, for example, "In the old stone pool/a frogjump:/splishhhh." Pockell gives, "Old pond–/A frog leaps in–/Water's sound."; and Basho wrote many better haiku), "Casey at the Bat" (uh...never mind), and several others that I fear to name. Also to choose out of all of Alexander Pope's work, his epigram about the dog at Kew, seems almost anti-poetic.
A howler is "Ancient Music" by Ezra Pound. If Pockell wanted to show the less than charming side of Pound, perhaps Pound's "The Garden" which includes the line, "...the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor" might have been presented. (Then again, perhaps not.)
A creative choice is e e cummings's "Buffalo Bill's," which reflects not only cummings's love of typographical form, but his playful wit along with his famous word play and his often missed irony. (The typographical form of the poem represents a tomahawk: "[H]ow...[DO] you like your blueeyed boy[,] Mister Death"?)
Langston Hughes's "Harlem" ("What happens to a dream deferred?") is obviously a politically correct choice, and also a very good little poem, but I would have preferred his "Mother to Son" ("Well, son, I'll tell you:/Life for me ain't been no crystal stair...") or the breath-taking simplicity of "Friend." Sylvia Plath's dark and brutal "Daddy" is also PC, but with its inclusion there is no need for Margaret Atwood, a fact for which we can be thankful. The choice from Sappho, with its nice turn from "a god" that sits "beside you" to the poet herself, is of course de rigueur, but a good choice nonetheless.
Pleasant surprises include W. H. Auden's "Funeral Blues," and Pablo Neruda's "Poetry." Some old favorites are Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us," and the powerful "Incident" from Countee Cullen.
It is good that Pockell includes some poetry translated from other languages; however that just makes the presumption of her title all the more absurd. Just how would one presume to pick the best from such an incredible array? However, the choices made really are very good although they reflect the artistry of the translator nearly as much as the original poet. Middle Eastern people might object to the choice of a quatrain from "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" ("The Moving Finger writes...") translated by Edward FitzGerald, which is almost as much English as it is Persian, preferring a more ethnic rendition.
I can't quibble with the poets left out, although missing are John Crow Ransom, Archibald MacLeish, Theodore Roethke, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Lowell, Rita Dove, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and of course of necessity many others. One of my favorite poems and poet not to appear is "Patterns" by Amy Lowell.
Pockell gives a terse, but felicitous introduction to each poem usually including a word about the poet. But I have one question, who is Leslie Pockell? There is not a biographical word anywhere in the book to give a hint. And should I have used a masculine or a feminine pronoun?
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Like a Tsunami Headed for Hilo: Selected Poems”
What this little book might have been called in manuscript was something like "100 Representative Poems of 100 of the Most Popular Poets of All Time." Not a bad title, and it is consistent with editor Leslie Pockell's popular choices and her[?] intent to include no more than one poem by any poet. But the unmitigated gall of the title actually chosen--The 100 Best Poems of All Time--makes for a little fun, and probably will increase the sales of the book. As Pockell writes in the short Introduction, "Well, at least we attracted your attention."
You did. And for fun I am responding with some reaction to the selections. But first I should mention Pockell's criteria for the selections. The book needed to be short, a mix of "high art" and "popular culture" was desired, and the selections ought to be "inclined toward poetry that is best appreciated when recited or read aloud." Fair enough. And for the most part I think Pockell did an admirable job.
The excellent choices include, the King James version of the Twenty-Third Psalm, Poe's "The Raven," Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (although it seems weird to select just one of his sonnets; I prefer "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" or "Let me not to the marriage of true minds"), Donne's "Go and Catch a Falling Star," Shelley's "Ozymandias," Keat's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (although again, how to choose just one!) Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty," Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," (ditto the last two asides), Eliot's "...Prufrock," etc.
Poor selections include, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (a stirring song, but a "best" poem?), Basho's "An Old Pond" (there are better English renditions than the one given, for example, "In the old stone pool/a frogjump:/splishhhh." Pockell gives, "Old pond–/A frog leaps in–/Water's sound."; and Basho wrote many better haiku), "Casey at the Bat" (uh...never mind), and several others that I fear to name. Also to choose out of all of Alexander Pope's work, his epigram about the dog at Kew, seems almost anti-poetic.
A howler is "Ancient Music" by Ezra Pound. If Pockell wanted to show the less than charming side of Pound, perhaps Pound's "The Garden" which includes the line, "...the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor" might have been presented. (Then again, perhaps not.)
A creative choice is e e cummings's "Buffalo Bill's," which reflects not only cummings's love of typographical form, but his playful wit along with his famous word play and his often missed irony. (The typographical form of the poem represents a tomahawk: "[H]ow...[DO] you like your blueeyed boy[,] Mister Death"?)
Langston Hughes's "Harlem" ("What happens to a dream deferred?") is obviously a politically correct choice, and also a very good little poem, but I would have preferred his "Mother to Son" ("Well, son, I'll tell you:/Life for me ain't been no crystal stair...") or the breath-taking simplicity of "Friend." Sylvia Plath's dark and brutal "Daddy" is also PC, but with its inclusion there is no need for Margaret Atwood, a fact for which we can be thankful. The choice from Sappho, with its nice turn from "a god" that sits "beside you" to the poet herself, is of course de rigueur, but a good choice nonetheless.
Pleasant surprises include W. H. Auden's "Funeral Blues," and Pablo Neruda's "Poetry." Some old favorites are Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us," and the powerful "Incident" from Countee Cullen.
It is good that Pockell includes some poetry translated from other languages; however that just makes the presumption of her title all the more absurd. Just how would one presume to pick the best from such an incredible array? However, the choices made really are very good although they reflect the artistry of the translator nearly as much as the original poet. Middle Eastern people might object to the choice of a quatrain from "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" ("The Moving Finger writes...") translated by Edward FitzGerald, which is almost as much English as it is Persian, preferring a more ethnic rendition.
I can't quibble with the poets left out, although missing are John Crow Ransom, Archibald MacLeish, Theodore Roethke, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Lowell, Rita Dove, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and of course of necessity many others. One of my favorite poems and poet not to appear is "Patterns" by Amy Lowell.
Pockell gives a terse, but felicitous introduction to each poem usually including a word about the poet. But I have one question, who is Leslie Pockell? There is not a biographical word anywhere in the book to give a hint. And should I have used a masculine or a feminine pronoun?
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Like a Tsunami Headed for Hilo: Selected Poems”
December 12, 2022
The title says it all. It can't be done, but a good honest try, nonetheless. Some of my own personal favorites, a few I could do without, many obvious omissions, and any number of clunkers, all of which are suggestive rather than dismissive.
My personal favorites from before are: "Tyger! Tyger!", "To a Mouse", "Kubla Khan", "A Visit from St. Nicholas", "Ozymandias", "The Raven", "The Owl and the Pussycat", "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", "The Jabberwocky", "Requiem", and "Richard Cory." Still little more than a child, me.
I learned the source of a few famous sayings and picked up a few new favorites to add to my own personal collection. All in all, pretty damn good, especially for a mere uneducated hack of an editorial executive officer, rather than a poet himself. Or perhaps that's what makes his selections less objectionable to the true aficionado than these might otherwise be...
The small group of foreigners included lose something in translation as always happens. Not sure if there is any real point in going beyond the original language, which in this case is English. But what then is the King James version of the Bible? Is it a translation of a translation of a translation, or something new and rare, in and of itself?
My personal favorites from before are: "Tyger! Tyger!", "To a Mouse", "Kubla Khan", "A Visit from St. Nicholas", "Ozymandias", "The Raven", "The Owl and the Pussycat", "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", "The Jabberwocky", "Requiem", and "Richard Cory." Still little more than a child, me.
I learned the source of a few famous sayings and picked up a few new favorites to add to my own personal collection. All in all, pretty damn good, especially for a mere uneducated hack of an editorial executive officer, rather than a poet himself. Or perhaps that's what makes his selections less objectionable to the true aficionado than these might otherwise be...
The small group of foreigners included lose something in translation as always happens. Not sure if there is any real point in going beyond the original language, which in this case is English. But what then is the King James version of the Bible? Is it a translation of a translation of a translation, or something new and rare, in and of itself?
April 22, 2023
Sometimes I forget when people say, "best" and they're talking about art, that it's subjective, and I'm not necessarily going to agree. There are plenty of poems in here, and it broadened my horizons a wee bit, but a more accurate title of this collection is, "100 old poems, most of which you had to read at some point in English classes from kindergarten to college."
To be fair, this book was published in 2001. The last poem is Maya Angelou, and she was the only poet in this book who hadn't died by the time of this publishing. Obviously, that means that now every single poet in this book (which is arranged by birthyear) has passed. All that to say, it's dated.
A final observation for my own log: this has let me know that I prefer a poetry collection from one author/topic far more than a collection of greatest hits. I enjoy the cohesiveness of the former. In conclusion-this was fine.
To be fair, this book was published in 2001. The last poem is Maya Angelou, and she was the only poet in this book who hadn't died by the time of this publishing. Obviously, that means that now every single poet in this book (which is arranged by birthyear) has passed. All that to say, it's dated.
A final observation for my own log: this has let me know that I prefer a poetry collection from one author/topic far more than a collection of greatest hits. I enjoy the cohesiveness of the former. In conclusion-this was fine.
January 19, 2025
I picked this up at the Ohio Bookstore in Cincinnati, which is an amazing multi-floor used bookstore that is well worth visiting. The poems span quite a range of time, from Homer in the 9th-8th century BCE up through Maya Angelou. Some I'd read before, but many were new to me. The more recent poems appealed to me more than the older ones. I especially enjoyed Constantine P. Cavafy's "Waiting for the Barbarians," Robert Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee," Alfred Noye's "The Highwayman," Ezra Pound's "Ancient Music," T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
I can't imagine trying to put together a collection like this, but it looks like the editor, Leslie Pockell, made a career of putting together "100 best" collections. Not surprisingly, they mostly have so-so reviews. But I think this serves as a good casual overview of the world of poetry.
I can't imagine trying to put together a collection like this, but it looks like the editor, Leslie Pockell, made a career of putting together "100 best" collections. Not surprisingly, they mostly have so-so reviews. But I think this serves as a good casual overview of the world of poetry.
April 25, 2020
Being a poet myself--though my muse took a long vacation, after the birth of my third child, nearly 25 years ago--I enjoy reading poetry. I prefer the triumphant poems (Psalm 23), and the ones that create stirring images (Blake, Williams, Sandburg), and musical cadences (Burns, Hopkins, Hughes), or offer powerful encouragement (Lazarus, Angelou). I enjoy Browning--Elizabeth Barrett's okay, but Robert makes me laugh. I am NOT a fan of Eliot, or Plath--if I want nonsense, I'll take Lear, or even Carroll, and if I want a good death scene, give me Noyes. So, I'll hand it to the editor for providing quite a compendium of authors, but I'd rather read more of what I like.
July 18, 2018
Any collection called the 100 best has a lot to live up to but I thought this was a pretty wide array of different types of poems. It stuck pretty much with the usual western cannon but as someone who's not that familiar with most classic poets it was a good way to get a taste of lots of different poets I've heard of but never read. I did mark about 8 poems I really liked and will probably be looking into further work from those poets so I'd call this a pretty successful collection.
Not sure if I should rate this 3 or 4 honestly.
Not sure if I should rate this 3 or 4 honestly.
May 28, 2024
Anthologies are helpful for giving you a taste of what some have considered the greatest poems of all time. These have endured for good reason, and they are each important in their own way. However, the arrangement of them does not always make for a delightful read. Sometimes, it can feel disjointed and haphazard. All in all, I liked this anthology, and I appreciated how it was chronological, beginning with the poetry of Scripture! This is a good introduction to some of the most famous poetry of the Western world.
March 4, 2018
Hahaha I love this book, I'll definitely carry it around and just whip it out and read a poem whenever I'm bored or have nothing else to do. Great idea. Even though I loved a huge amount of poems in there, I felt like there were some missing. Or like I would have included a different one from the specific author, but that's just the opinion of someone who enjoys poetry although she knows nothing about it.
April 12, 2025
I always find it difficult to rate books of poetry, especially an anthology, like this. While there were some poems I enjoyed, overall I didn’t look forward to reading it the way I did A Poem a Day vol I. However, I appreciated the notes above each poem, putting it in the context of the poet’s life and time.
November 25, 2025
An extremely bold statement in the title that was absolutely not fulfilled by the very anglo-sphere centric, male-dominated selection of poetry. Also absolutely wild to put in Scots and Middle English with no translations. On the other hand, was nice to be introduced to some new poems and poets, and some I really enjoyed!
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