- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics (28 May 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846141877
- ISBN-13: 978-1846141874
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 429,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
My Life in Verse: A Journey through Poetry
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Product Description
Product Description
For 2009, the BBC is planning a major ‘Poetry Season’ on BBC2 and BBC4. This landmark series on British Poetry will be the centrepiece of the season, and Penguin Classics is publishing the official anthology to tie-in with it. The anthology will include all the poems read or mentioned in the series as well as a large number of others selected to complement them. It should prove to be a hugely successful way of bringing the best of British poetry to a wide audience. The TV series is from the people who brought you Who Do You Think You Are and will consist of 4x60 minute episodes following a celebrity presenter on his or her life-journey through poetry. Each episode will focus on a theme that has inspired some of the great poetry of the past, and continues to do so, such as love and death, war and nationhood, nature and religion. The celebrities will be passionate and articulate about the way poetry has changed and enhanced their lives through all its various stages. Among them are poems chosen by actress Sheila Hancock exploring human relationships and the loss of a loved one, from Yeats and Tennyson to Blake and Larkin. Comic Robert Webb has selected the modern verse that inspired him, including the love sonnets of E. E. Cummings and the wordplay of Don Paterson. Musician Cerys Matthews celebrates the rich verse of Wales, Ireland and Scotland [poets], and writer Malorie Blackman chooses the [rich variety of] poetry that spoke to her, from Psalm 23 to Roald Dahl to Benjamin Zephaniah.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed watching Sheila Hancock and others on the BBC four part TV series 'My Life in Verse'and was given this book as a gift. I really love the selection of poetry here, which is in 4 sections: 'Modern Life', 'Britain in Poetry', 'Searching for a Voice' and 'Love and Loss'.
The poems have been well chosen, reflect the themes perfectly and are often very evocative. Even the poems chosen by Shakespeare were not the 'same old' ones you get in most anthologies, but are lovely just the same. This anthology has also introduced me to poets I've not read before, but will definitely read more from now.
I have really enjoyed dipping in and out of this colection and think it makes a perfect gift for many occasions because it covers so many aspects of life. It contains beautiful poems that would be very appropriate at weddings and funerals particularly.
If you enjoy reading poetry, you'll enjoy this collection.
The poems have been well chosen, reflect the themes perfectly and are often very evocative. Even the poems chosen by Shakespeare were not the 'same old' ones you get in most anthologies, but are lovely just the same. This anthology has also introduced me to poets I've not read before, but will definitely read more from now.
I have really enjoyed dipping in and out of this colection and think it makes a perfect gift for many occasions because it covers so many aspects of life. It contains beautiful poems that would be very appropriate at weddings and funerals particularly.
If you enjoy reading poetry, you'll enjoy this collection.
Format:Hardcover
An excellent book which follows the BBC show of the same name. This book contains a lot more poems than were featured in the shows, which was a nice bonus. The only thing I felt it lacked was the explanations as to how the celebrities featured had come to find, and love, particular genres of poetry, as this was a really interesting part of the show.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a nice anthology, wide subject matter and diverse grouping of poets, beautifully presented. However, there are equally nice anthologies available for less. What's missing is any explanatory text from the 'celebrities' for their choices - what the poems mean to them, why they chose them - which is what made the documentary series fascinating, and which should really have been a must given the absence of a dvd release. I can find Prufrock in many collections, what I can't find is Robert Webb discussing his feelings for it. It's a shame, so only a middling score, I feel. If you want a beautiful coffee table book with several hundred poems drawn from our rich literary heritage, then this is for you. If you want some insight into how the poems stir, or inspire, or comfort people from a variety of 'public' backgrounds, then unfortunately this isn't it. The title is indeed a misnomer - this isn't anybody's life in verse, it's just verse.
An opportunity missed.
An opportunity missed.
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