100 Poems by 100 Poets

by Harold Pinter

Book Overview

To pass the time on a long train ride from London to Cromwell, playwright Harold Pinter and his two companions, Geoffrey Godbert and Anthony Astbury, set up a challenge: Choose 100 poems by 100 poets -- living poets excluded -- to represent the finest poetry ever written in English. The three agreed to organize this collection unconventionally, alphabetically by author rather than chronologically. The resulting anthology is challenging, eclectic,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802132790
• ISBN13: 9780802132796
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great poetry needs no gimmicks

The gimmick of this work is that the three friends choose the best poem of the one- hundred best poets in English. They discuss, they argue among themselves and then they present( unjustified) their selections to the reader. This is I suppose one way of making yet another anthology of some of the greatest poems in the English Language. On that grounds the work is fine, and does contain many of the finest works in the language. But if we take the work's premise seriously then the work is seriously flawed. First of all, in regard to many great poets( Shakespeare for example) it is sheer folly to think of selecting ' one poem' out of so many at the highest level. Secondly, the poems chosen here are often ( at least in my judgment) far indeed from the poet's greatest poetry. I know for instance Stevens' "The Emperor of Ice- Cream" is an often anthologized work but it is minor in comparison to many other Stevens' works. A third fault is that obscure poets are selected while some of the greatest, Milton, for instance are omitted. Milton's "On his Blindness" is one of the greatest short poems in the language. I also would say that presenting the poetry in this way by author in alphabetic order with no sense of connection chronologically or thematically makes the whole business seem even more arbitrary. I believe that any time a person has the opportunity to read or reread a great poem they should not miss the opportunity. This work is to be valued for presenting such opportunities in a new format. And this despite its shortcomings.

Eclectic Anthology - Stimulating and Provocative

These are not necessarily the best-loved poems, nor the most famous poems, nor the most memorized poems. These are the best poems written in the English language, one each from the 100 best poets. So say the three editors - Harold Pinter, Geoffrey Godbert, and Anthony Astbury.They apparently argued heatedly, but eventually arrived at a unanimous decision for each poet selected. They may not change your mind, but their choices will stimulate and challenge the reader. And this anthology makes very good reading.I was disappointed that Pinter, Godbert, and Astbury did not share their discussions and arguments. How did they select the 100 best poets? Who was 101? Where are John Milton, William Cullen Bryant, Longfellow, and Whittier? For those poets that were chosen, I was curious whether some of my favorite poems had even been discussed as they made their final selection of the 'best' poem. Did they have bias toward works less frequently included in popular anthologies? Were they intentionally provocative?For example, they did not select Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, nor any of William Blake's poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, nor a poem from A. E. Housman's admired A Shropshire Lad, nor a familiar poem by Robert Frost, nor Dylan Thomas' well-known Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. I was also surprised by their choices for Kipling, Shelley, Pope, Donne, and to a lesser extent, Wordsworth.Their selections for Shakespeare (I see many 'best' choices), Coleridge, Marvell, Keats (again, many 'best' poems), Burns, Carroll, Arnold, Poe, Stevens, and a few other poets were more in agreement with my preferences. I found that a bit reassuring.I recommend this collection to anyone that enjoys poetry. Pinter, Godbert, and Astbury give us a selection that is less predictable than that found in most anthologies, and is thereby more provocative and stimulating. Have fun!

Provocative poetry picks by England's pre-eminent playwright

To kill time on a long trip, playwright Harold Pinter & 2 friends set themselves this task: pick the 100 most representative poems written in English. They excluded living poets in order to choose from a poet's whole corpus and they agreed to list the poems in alphabetical order by author. The result: an anthology that ranges from the 13th-century to the present, from the formal love poems of John Skelton to the lacerating confessions of Sylvia Plath. One might not agree with some of Pinter's choices, but they comprise an interesting snapshot of several centuries of the art. As idiosyncratic as this anthology is, it is also a testament to the broad tastes and deep appreciations of its editors. Could you have done better? Start from the beginning and read through to the end, or dip into it randomly, this anthology is a small chest of treasures. Carry it in your pocket or assign it to your class, you won't regret the purchase of this book.