Priceless Poetry At A Budget Price
I have had this inexpensive Dover Thrift Edition anthology of English romantic poetry for many years. I keep it on a readily accessible shelf in my office and browse in it for inspiration. It is always a pleasure during a harried and wearying day simply to hold this little volume in my hands.
The book consists of a generous selection of 123 poems from six English romantic poets: William Blake (1757 - 1827); William Wordsworth (1770 -1850); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834); Lord Byron (1778-1824); Percy Shelly (1792 - 1822); and John Keats (1795 - 1821). The book also includes a short introduction by editor Stanley Appelbaum, who has edited several books in the Dover series, together with a brief sketch of each poet.
For each poet, the selections include both short and long poems. The selections are extensive enough that they go beyond the familiar and will introduce most readers to works that are likely unfamiliar to them. The Blake selections include short poems from both "Songs of Innocence and "Songs of Experience" and other short lyrics. They also include longer works such as the "Proverbs of Hell" from "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell." Blake remains my favorite poet, and it is always good to be reminded of him. For example, here is Blake's short poem, "Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau", (p. 10) for my own edification and, I hope, to whet the reader's interest.
"Mock on, Mock on Voltaire Rousseau
Mock on Mock on! tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind
And the wind blows it back again
And every sand becomes a Gem
Reflected in the beams divine
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye
But still in Israels paths they shine
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newtons Particles of light
Are sands upon the Red sea shore
Where Israels tents do shine so bright."
The Wordsworth selections include a collection of sonnets, the famous "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey", and selections from "The Prelude". Coleridge's inexhaustible "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is given in full together with "Kubla Khan" and other works. The Byron selections include several short love lyrics, including "She walks in beauty" together with selections from "Don Juan" and "Childe Harold". The Shelley selections include the great sonnet "Ozymandias" and the "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty", "The Cloud" and "Adonais: an Elegy written on the Death of John Keats." Keats himself is represented by his four great odes and by sonnets such as "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" and "Bright Star."
As other reviewers have observed, this book includes little in the way of background, commentary, or analysis. The volume would not be suitable for scholarly purposes or, probably, for introducing high school or college students to this great poetry. But the Thrift Editions are not designed for these purposes. For readers who want an inexpensive, easy to handle and reasonably large selection of poetry from the English romantics to read from time to time and to refresh their hearts, this volume is ideal.
Robin Friedman
