250 Poems: A Portable Anthology

by Peter Schakel (Editor), Jack Ridl (Editor)

250 A Portable Anthology offers a brief but surprisingly comprehensive selection of chronologically arranged poetry, supported by succinct, practical editorial features, at a great price. The third edition features 70 new poems, many of them by young contemporary poets, a new appendix on writing about poetry, and an alternative thematic table of contents. Like other volumes in Bedford/St. Martin’s popular series of Portable Anthologies and Portable Guides, 250 Poems offers the series’ trademark combination of high quality and great value for teachers of literature, writing, and creative writing and their cost-conscious students.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies, College, School

411 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2002

Reviews

[Kane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry, about 250 poetry

[Van Phan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this collection of poems. It’s opens with poems that was written/ published as early as the 1500s and by the end of the book, modern poems are presented. It’s like a timeline with different poets and different approach to love, life, and work. The language, diction, and images also changes and it’s amazing to see that shift. One poem that I liked from the opening is Edmund Spenser “One day I wrote her name upon the strand”. His poem speaks of how life and the world will move on, but love will remain the same, emotionally, and the only it can live is to remember. A great poem to end with would be “Mexican Begin Jogging” by Gary Soto. Soto’s poem is structured differently from Spenser; it’s less restrained, unrestricted. And that’s what I’ve notice as well, the poems towards the last half of the books are free verse. Soto’s poem steered away from romance and war. I conveyed his poem to be about work and life. The cultural changes that is happening and how much harder people have to work to cover for the things they lack. This is a great collection of poems to have.

Author: Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl
Title: 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology Second Edition
Publisher: Bedford/ St. Martin’s
Year of Publication: 2009
Lit Genre: poetry anthology; high school
Recent Award: none
ISBN: 978-0-312-46616-9
Age: 15 and up

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I wasn't all that excited about this. I had it assigned to me as a textbook in a poetry class and it was underwhelming to say the least. too many chestnuts- how many fucking times must read "My Papa's Waltz"?- and too few interesting works by classic authors.

I do very much appreciate the emphasis within the anthology on contemporary poets, many of whom I'd never heard of. It's always a good thing to include modern people, especially when they're not big names or are from minority groups (didn't really have much exposure to contemporary Native American poetry, or Hispanic work) and that was certainly welcome.

That's the only reason why it gets three stars instead of two. The ONLY reason.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection contains some excellent work in various styles and from different poetic eras.

The back cover may be misleading, however. The majority of the anthology is modern. This is, of course, only a problem if one is actually expecting an even mix.

Other minor complaints:

The biographical information for the poets is lumped together in an appendix at the end. I find that less than ideal, but it doesn't matter that much.

As the title would suggest, the anthology has 250 poems, but some of the poets have up to four poems. That cuts down on the variety a bit.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of the poems in here were very interesting, famous, and--of course--well-written.

[Rebecca Renee Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best selection of poems I've come across, although there are no publishing dates (very new critic).

[Janea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good selections

[Jacob]

ENGL 115: Creative Writing - Poetry