360 pagesPublished in 1990, reprinted in 1998
by Columbia University Press
I FINALLY had a chance to pull together my thoughts about The Classic Hundred Poems: All Time Favorites edited by William Harmon which I read this past summer for my book club. I am very excited to report that my write-up has been posted over at 5 Minutes for Books!!!
So after you check out my write-up please be sure to stop back here to read a few interesting "Did you know" facts about some of the poems and poets contained within this collection.
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DID YOU KNOW:
- The song Auld Lang Syne most famous as a New Years Eve song is actually based on a poem by 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns was also famous for his poem: A Red, Red Rose.
- Poet Percy B. Shelley was the husband of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Mary penned this famous novel while on vacation with her husband and several literary friends. Apparently one evening Percy, Mary and their friends challenged each other to see who could write the scariest story. Mary won hands down. So who were some of the others present? One of them was Percy's friend and fellow poet, Lord Byron. Talk about a collection of literary giants!
- Most fans of the novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery are already familiar with how The Lady of Shallot by Lord Alfred Tennyson was one of Anne Shirley's favorite poems. But that wasn't the only poem or poet that Montgomery references within the Anne books. Readers should also take a look at Robert Louis Stevenson's poems as several are woven through the Anne books.
Want to know more about how poetry has influenced literature and culture? Check out The Classic Hundred Poems.
4 comments:
It's fun reading your thoughts on these. =) Fun!
I always enjoy hearing the story of how Frankenstein was written :) Thanks for leaving a comment on my review of Emily of Deep Valley :) I did know about the BT challenge, but I was too busy to try it this October. I'll check it out next year.
that sounds like a great, fun and informative book about poetry :-)
The last four years of teaching my youngest son, we read through a poem a day from Harmon's The Top 500 Poems.
Some we loved, some we endured; we just took one a day. I found a huge ally in my quest for poetry literacy in P.G. Wodehouse. He quotes so much poetry in Jeeves and Wooster. Some days when we read a poem there was the thrill of recognition...all because of Wodehouse.
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