The Classic Hundred Poems

By: Various, William Harmon - Editor

Narrated by: Ensemble Cast

Adopting the methodology of the music charts, The Classic Hundred Poems presents the "top 100" poems of all time. Determined by a consensus of over 1,000 compilers, and arranged in chronological order, each author's work is illuminated by the informative notes of editor William Harmon, who offers insight into the historical period in which each author lived and the author's choice of verse form, tone, and style. This program is read by an ensemble of contemporary poets, including Alfred Corn, Rita Dove, Cornelius Eady, Jorie Graham, Eamon Grennan, Anthony Hecht, Maureen Howard, and James Merrill.©1990, 1997 Columbia University Press (P)16 9; 1998 HighBridge Company

A varied wash of poetry

Excellent listen to revisit and enjoy poems. Appreciate the commentary introduction to the poets and brief descriptions of the the works.

Classic 100 English Poems

This collection of 100 classic poems of the modern English language is a great way to experience old favorites as well as discover new poets. My educational background is in English Literature and prose creative writing more so than poetry specifically, so I was only exposed to THE most popular poems in school. This collection has value not just in having 46 different poets represented, but also introducing each poet and poem with a little blurb. This framing device could help those who are not used to interpreting poetry pick up on key concepts and ideas.

I was familiar with some poets in this collection, including William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Tennyson, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, Robert Frost, and Dylan Thomas. This collection also introduced me to works whose poets I was less familiar with, including Christopher Marlowe, Richard Lovelace, Thomas Gray, William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Thomas Hardy, William Butler Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and W.H. Auden. I liked that the collection is arranged chronologically by the poets' lives; works between 1503 - 1953 are included.

Overall, I cannot really fault this book because it delivers on its promises. No Old English, so I'll have to engage with those works elsewhere. This also inspires me to engage with more poetry from other languages and cultures.

The Greats

This was a wonderful presentation of poems from various eras. I would recommend this book.

Portmanteau

The poems take you away to another time and place and I throughly enjoy that but the stories behind the creators are fascinating as well

Poems are great, but...

The poems are great, and if you enjoy them, by all means get this production. However, the poems are read by poets, and in some cases, these are not very well read.