7 Best-Recommended Poetry Anthology Books Of All Time

What are the best anthologies of English poetry? And how can one define the term "best"? The answer, of course, is that it will always be subjective to some degree. However, it's worth attempting to select the best anthologies from which a poetry fan can choose. 

The poetry anthology is a terrific opportunity to discover new poets and revisit old favourites. This piece will look at a particular type of book that serves a significant service to poetry lovers.

Many of these old books for sale UK may be obtained for less than the price of lunch (depending on where your lunch is, of course) or for little more than a night out at the local pub. And a book of poetry can give you joy for a lifetime!

1. The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry is a collection of poems written in the Romantic period.

Much Romantic poetry is antiquated, over-the-top, and a little ludicrous, but there's also much great stuff. Even the embellishments and theatrics that may seem out of place today played a role in the evolution of the art into its contemporary form. 

In other words, "Howl" might not have been if not for "Ode on a Grecian Urn." So, if you want to enjoy poetry, at the very least, you must respect its origins.

2. Walt Whitman's poem "Leaves of Grass."

Walt Whitman is widely credited as the father of modern American poetry, and his fluid, often manic, and exuberant words still excite current readers as much as they did more than 150 years ago. Whitman and his writings are far from relics of a bygone era; they are essential now, not in a timeless sense, but a current understanding. 

If there's one thing this fantastic collection has taught us, we're all in this together, and haven't we always been? "Up there, listener! Here you are... What do you have to share with me? | Look me in the eyes while I snuff the evening sidle, | Speak honestly, for no one else can hear you, and I'm only staying a minute longer."

3. T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Other Poems

Yes, "The Waste Land" is Eliot's most well-known poem, and with good reason. It's epic and references a wide range of previous works while commenting on the current. It's competent throughout and, at times, fantastic, and so on. However, it isn't the collection's best poem. That's certainly true of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is still relevant 111 years later. However, if you read the collection, you'll see that it doesn't feel antiquated. If you replace the "Boston Evening Transcript" with a smartphone, you'll see yourself (and all of us) in the poem.

4. The Essential Neruda – Pablo Neruda

Although this collection was released on the centennial of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's birth, the writing does not feel old or unclean. Instead, the Nobel Laureate's work is fraught with anguish that knows no age, both in terms of history and a human being's years. 

"On nights like this, I held her in my arms. | I kissed her so many times beneath the infinite sky..... He writes in one of his poems, " My soul is not at peace with having lost her," he writes. And so forth.

5. The Complete Poetry – Maya Angelou

You probably think of Maya Angelou as a novelist when you think of her. (Or, to put it another way, a multi-award-winning novelist who is the voice of a generation.) Unless you do so at the expense of reading her poetry, you are correct. Her poetry was often sparse in word quantity but pouring with meaning. 

You can see what I mean by reading the 66-word poem "In a Time." Although it is only 12 lines of verse, you will recognise yourself multiple times in that poem (and many others).

6. The Essential Ginsberg – Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg was an utterly modern artist. He exploited his celebrity to promote causes as diverse as the sexual revolution, human rights, religious freedom (or freedom from religion), and beyond. But thinking of him first as an activist and then as a poet is backward: the outspoken guy was a magnificent poet first and foremost, and in a period when poetry had far more significance than today.

7. Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein

This is, for the record, a children's poetry collection. This is a must-have book for any family with children. It is not recommended if you do not have children. 

Simply put, it's that simple. Yes, some of the poems are strange, gruesome, and even dated, but that's OK: just as you can enjoy Eliot, Cummings, and Whitman, your children can (and should) enjoy Silverstein, as can their children.