Best Loved Poems: A Treasury of Verse

Ana Sampson’s gift for choosing beautiful, affecting poetry is evident in this excellent collection. Best Loved Poems has verse written by some of the biggest names in literature including Christopher Marlowe, to contemporary offerings from Rastafarian writer and dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and the late Maya Angelou. Divided into themes appropriate to every mood, Sampson’s collection is considered and accessible.

Hardcover: 192 Pages

Language: English

Format: Hardcover

5/5
Reviewed By Juliette Foster
“This book is a bold and beautiful array of the finest verse from some of our greatest poets”

POETIC CALLINGS

Writer and broadcaster Ana Sampson has an extraordinary talent for selecting beautiful, affecting poetry and this anthology is a credit to her unique gift. Best-Loved Poems A Treasury of Verse, is a delightful collection of works by some of literature’s biggest names including Lord Alfred Tennyson and the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Contemporary writers include the Rastafarian British dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah and Philip Larkin, who journalist Bryan Appleyard famously called “an advocate of misanthropy and pessimism.”

Sampson has arranged the collection thematically so that readers can find a poem to match their mood. Fantasies & Infatuations has offerings from Lord Byron (She Walks in Beauty), Ben Johnson (Song to Celia) and punk writer John Cooper Clarke (I Wanna Be Yours). In Ways to Live, Sampson has included Jenny Jones’ delightfully mischievous Warning and Maya Angelou’s magnificent Still I Rise, which drew on her background and experience as an African American woman in the United States.

Sampson’s poetry anthologies have sold over 80,000 copies and it isn’t hard to see why. A great deal of thought goes into the content and structure of each book which explains why the collection I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud….and Other Poems you Half-Remember from School was the number 3 poetry bestseller of 2009.

Poetry must never be elitist and Best- Loved Poems A Treasury of Verse is an example of how it can be accessible and enjoyable.

Reviewed by Juliette Foster

© Archant Community Media Limited used under limited licence

author

publisher