The Classic Hundred Poems - 2nd Edition by William Harmon (Paperback)

About the Book

A feast for poetry lovers, this collection of the top 100 poems, as determined by a consensus of more than 1,000 compilers, features works by Shakespeare, Yeats, Frost, and many others, and includes every type of poetical work, from sonnets to odes to villanelles.

Book Synopsis

Here in one volume are the top one hundred poems, as determined by a survey of more than 1,000 anthologies--the poems in English most frequently anthologized, the poems with the broadest, most enduring appeal. From Shakespeare to Dickinson to Frost, from sonnets to odes to villanelles, William Harmon's Classic Hundred Poems offers a feast for poetry lovers.

This book updates the first edition by presenting the new top one hundred poems, nineteen of which were not in the first edition. The revised edition is arranged chronologically, and features new commentary and notes on verse form, as well as an index of the poems in order of popularity, notes on words and proper names, and a bibliography for each poet and each poem. A glossary of terms, author index, and index of titles and first lines are also included.

From Keats' "To Autumn," now ranked as the number-one poem in this collection, to George Herbert's "Virtue," in the hundredth spot, every poem is illuminated by Harmon's informative notes. With insights into the historical period in which each poem was written, the verse form used, and connections among poems, this is the ideal introduction to poetry, as well as a treasury for the dedicated reader.

Review Quotes

The Classic Hundred is fascinating, and I have much enjoyed just turning pages.... [The poems are] charmingly presented by a very perspicacious host and poet, William Harmon.--Robert Creeley

"It's fascinating to open this book and discover which... poems have been favored over the years.... William Harmon's comments on the poems are just right: bright, brief, and appreciative."--Richard Wilbur

About the Author

William Harmon is the James Gordon Hanes Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the editor of The Top 500 Poems (Columbia), The Oxford Book of American Light Verse, and recent editions of A Handbook to Literature, and the author of several volumes of poetry, including winners of the Lamont Award and the William Carlos Williams Award.