A Comprehensive Anthology of American Poetry

This collection of poetry was published in 1929 and then updated in 1945 by Conrad Aiken. Aiken was won a Pulitzer (1930), A National Book Award (1954), and was the US Poet Laureate (1951-1952).

I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a good anthology. This was an excellent selection of its day and time--you can find great poems by American poets from the 17th century through the 20th. A lot of poems about God, death, Greek myths, nature, etc. Pretty standard stuff. You will find Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, Sandburg, all the usual suspects.

A nice little Americana to have on your bookshelf if, like me, you come across a copy.

But, mostly, dead Anglo dudes. A few women. Jose Garcia Villa made it in. So buy it, read it, but then show more supplement it with a more modern anthologist who has rediscovered voices that didn't land in this collection.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a great anthology--I was impressed with Connie Willis' collection of Christmas Stories for the Library of American. She did her research and uncovered a myriad of American voices. show less

A truly comprehensive anthology, at least from the nineteenth century onward through the first half of the twentieth. Only a few before 1800 -- Anne Bradstreet, Thomas Godfrey, Philip Freneau --but after that point a very large number of unfamiliar poets inadditionto the standard ones. I am grateful to see Seamus O'Sheel for the first time, for instance.