Product Description

In 1995 BBC Television's "Bookworm" programme conducted a poll amongst viewers to determine their favourite poems. The top 100 are presented in this book. They include the winner, Kipling's "If", and many other classics, as well as modern verse by writers such as Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1350 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Nation's Favourite Poems, reprinted many times over since it was first published by BBC Worldwide Books in 1996, is an uplifting and inspiringly varied collection of great poems.The late, lamented Auberon Waugh called it "the best popular anthology ever printed in Britain."

Poetry anthologies abound, in infinite variety. Themed volumes range in usefulness, from time to place, to subject. But aside from containing the odd classic and a few modern masterpieces, the remainder is often there because it fits the description and not necessarily because it is great poetry. How wonderful then to read a poetry anthology where every poem, without exception, is worth reading and, more importantly with poetry, worth keeping on your bookshelves to read again and again.

The book is based on the result of a poll conducted in 1995 by The Bookworm, to coincide with National Poetry Day. And an eclectic collection it is, with the heavyweights, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Marvell and Wordsworth, rubbing shoulders with their latter-day counterparts, Larkin, Hughes, Heaney and McGough. Romantics are well served with Yeats, Keats, Tennyson and Shelley. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee" is here, as is Christina Rossetti¹s "Remember." The Great British Public shows its lighter side, with "The Owl and the Pussycat," "Jabberwocky," "Macavity: the Mystery Cat" and children's favourite, Allan Ahlberg's "Please Mrs Butler." But it commemorates the horrors of the century too, with the war poets, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke.

And the Nation's Favourite? Well, as this is no novel with a surprise ending to give away, Rudyard Kipling's "If" received twice as many votes as the runner-up, Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott." There are 98 other poems to savour here, so if Kipling's not your style, try Stevie Smith or Jenny Joseph.

At any price, this is a must-have poetry anthology. Buy a copy for everyone you know with a birthday this year. And don't forget yourself!--Carey Green

Customer Reviews

fantastic
This book is a sheer delight with poems to suit every taste from the traditional 'Daffodils' to the more contemporary 'When I Am An Old Woman'. You'll find poems to move you and poems to make you laugh, poems that you will remember from schooldays and poems you've never read before. This is a book to dip in and out of as the whim takes you. A 'must have' on any poetry lovers bookshelf.

Nations Favorite Poems
I bought this after participating in an acting course where one of the criteria was to bring along a poem. I hated poems at school and certainly had no interest in them after leaving. However, after purchasing this book and finding a new appreciation for poems I was surprised to find myself dipping in to the book when a quite moment arose and to find that I knew some of the poems such as "If" and "Chocolate Cake". It also kept the in-laws (whom were already into poetry) busy for a while, when they came over to visit. This is a great book for all degrees of appreciation.

Brilliant
Remember all those scraps of favorite poetry from school-days? They're all here, plus a few more of everyone else's favorites, which you'll probably love too. The kind of anthology you can dip into anywhere, and find something to raise a smile or provoke thought.