Synopses & Reviews
Edward Hirsch began writing a column called "Poets Choice" in the Washington Post Book World in 2002. This book brings together those enormously popular columns, some of which have been revised and expanded, to present a minicourse in world poetry. Poets Choice includes the work of more than one hundred poets from ancient times to the presentamong them Sappho, W. B. Yeats, Czeslaw Milosz, Primo Levi, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, Amy Lowell, Mark Strand, and many moreand shares them with all of Hirschs inimitable enthusiasm and joy. Rich, relevant, and inviting, the book offers us the fruits of a life lived in poetry.
Review
PRAISE FOR POETS CHOICE"In this loving, enthusiastic guide, one experienced readers warmth and openheartedness help to unlock the treasure of poetry for a world of readers."O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE
"A deft curator, Hirsch shows you the best vantage point from which to view the 130 poems in this invaluable guide."THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Synopsis
Edward Hirsch began writing a column in the Washington Post Book World called Poet's Choice in 2002. This book brings together those enormously popular columns, some of which have been revised and expanded, to present a minicourse in world poetry; Poet's Choice includes the work of more than 130 poets-from Asia and the Middle East to Europe and America, from ancient times to the present-and demonstrates how poetry responds to the challenges of our modern world. Rich, relevant, and inviting, the book reveals how poetry both puts us in touch with ourselves and connects us to each other.
I don't want to go on being a root in the dark,
Insecure, stretched out, shivering with sleep,
Going on down, into the moist guts of the earth,
Taking in and thinking, eating every day.
I don't want so much misery.
I don't want to go on as a root and a tomb,
Alone under the ground, a warehouse with corpses,
Half frozen, dying of grief.
-from WALKING AROUND by PABLO NERUDA,
translated by ROBERT BLY
About the Author
Edward Hirsch is a celebrated poet and peerless advocate for poetry. A MacArthur fellow, he has published eight books of poems and four books of prose. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Rome Prize, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature. He serves as president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and lives in Brooklyn.