The Voice That is Great Within Us:American Poetry of the Twentieth Century (edition 1977)

This anthology had a lot of interesting poets in it. My problem was how to read it. It is arrange chronologically by the year of the author's birth. Sometimes the poets sitting near each other have a lot in common either in period or style or interests, sometimes not. So if you read in order, which is what I tried to do, you're often jerked around from one school of poetry to another only to go back to the first a few poets later. If you just look for your favorites, you miss the point which is to discover gems by little known poets. I finally gave up, though I did meet some interesting new (to me) voices on the way. ( )

A great selection of twentieth-century poety ( )

Inspirational and a source of renewal, this anthology is a beautiful collection of essential twentieth century poetry. Hayden Carruth presents both the well known and less well known poets of our age and in doing so delights the reader. I regularly dip into this volume for the refreshing west wind of wonderful poetry. ( )

A large and insightful collection of American 20th century poetry, excellently selected and edited by Hayden Carruth, that was, unfortunately, released only in a grim and very fat little mass-market paperback edition. Every copy I've ever seen, mine included, was dog-eared, stained, and stuffed with little scraps of paper as bookmarks to recall favorites. ( )

Still my favorite anthology of modern American poetry; my only complaint would be that Carruth shortchanges himself by including only a few haiku from his own work -- it took me years to realize what a great poet he was. (The title is from Stevens's "Evening Without Angels.") ( )