Paul Molloy (1920–2007)

Despite the rather jingoistic cover, so far I'm finding these poems inclusive, thoughtful, accessible, and interesting. I like that it's illustrated with photos by young artists.
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Done.
I like that there are notes at the end to help the reader with more obscure references. I like the different sections - not only are diverse peoples represented, but so are diverse subjects, tones, and styles.

If you happen to be able to get a copy, I do recommend it. It's aimed at teens, but everyone, even folks not from the US, would enjoy many of these works.
Now I'm off to find me some more May Swenson and Richard Wilbur.… (més)

This second anthology from Molloy is also for high school age teens and covers US poetry from the early 1800's through the 1960's. This is a completely different collection with many familiar poems that most students in a U.S. high school in the sixties would have encountered. However, there were poems by people like Langston Hughes and Peter La Farge that very likely would not have been included in the standard texts of that time. There were several longer poems as well such as The Raven, some war poems, poems on the deaths of Lincoln and Kennedy and some about other people like Daniel Boone and Ray Charles. There was even one by Eugene McCarthy, a Senator and potential Presidential candidate. So, a lot of familiar voices and many new ones for me. Overall, I did enjoy this collection.… (més)

The poetry in this volume was selected by Molloy for use as an introduction to American poetry for high school students about 15 - 16 years of age and contains mostly short poems by 55 authors. I haven't read a lot of poetry and most of what I have read was from poets of the British Isles (except for Shel Silverstein collections and other children's books for K-6). However I was a bit surprised by how many of these poets were completely unknown to me. Since I was extremely rusty at reading poetry I took this collection very slowly, reading each one again the next day. Most were pretty good and I think that I will track down some more by William Carlos Williams. There were a handful that I've always liked and I was glad to see Fog by Carl Sandberg and Stopping By Woods... by Robert Frost. Over all a good introduction to American poetry for the period covered, especially for those with little experience of poetry.… (més)