and rich biographical sketches…

Book review:

An Anthology of the New England Poets

From Colonial Times to the Present Day

Louis Untermeyer, ed.

New York: Random House, 1948

A handy and hearty sampling of the work of nearly 35 American poets, collectively spanning about 340 years. For the beginning student of American poetry, this is a heady introduction.

The big names are included, of course: Frost, Longfellow, Millay, Dickinson, Thoreau, Holmes, Whittier, Emerson.

The other selected poets offer a variety of voices and sensitivities and styles.

Untermeyer does first-class service as editor, with his rich biographical sketches of each poet and a reference framework of his/her times. For my taste, the sketches of many of the poets were more informative and appealing than their works.

Untermeyer doesn’t presume to rate the poets, of course. He offers a well-informed understanding of the evolution and expression of poetry among New England writers.

Here’s a morsel:

“I am a parcel of vain strivings tied

By a chance bond together,

Dangling this way and that…”

From “I Am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied” by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), written in 1841

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The “pack horse librarians”…

…before there were bookmobiles…

click here

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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 free verse and haiku poems,

and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)

and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”