The Classic Hundred Poems: All Time Favorites Edited by William Harmon

360 pages
Published 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.

Autumn Poetry: Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Poetry: The Pulley by George Herbert

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
'Let us,' said He, 'pour on him all we can:
Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.'

So strength first made a way;
Then Beauty flowed, then Wisdom, Honor, Pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all His treasure
Rest in the bottom lay.

'For if I should,' said He,
'Bestow this jewel also on My creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.

'Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.'

(The Pulley by George Herbert, 1630, published 1633)