Poem a Day, Vol. 1
McCosker, editor of the best-selling original British edition, and Albery, an American poet who changed 50 of the poems for this American version, have selected 366 poems?one for each day of the year?chosen for their brevity and, in the view of the editors, because they are examples of poetry "great" enough to be worth memorizing. In her foreword McCosker tells us, "To memorize a poem is much more than a mental exercise. Indeed, it is the only way to truly know a poem." A charming idea; however, the selection is almost entirely archaic: Shakespeare, Kipling, Pope, Blake, Whitman, Millay, even Chaucer. Contemporary poetry in general is poorly represented. Most of these poems rhyme tightly and use language of a distantly bygone era. And unless your circulation policy allows a patron to check a book out for a year, this volume cannot serve its purpose. Not recommended for libraries.?Judy Clarence, California State Univ. Lib., HaywardCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.