Book Description
This anthology embodies Robert Pinsky's commitment to
discover America's beloved poems, his special undertaking as
Poet Laureate of the United States. The selections in this
anthology were chosen from the personal letters of thousands
of Americans who responded to Robert Pinsky's invitation to
write to him about their favorite poems. Some poems are
memories treasured in the mind since childhood; some
crystallize the passion of love or recall the trail of loss
and sorrow. The poems and poets in this anthology--from
Sappho to Lorca, from Shakespeare and Chaucer to Gwendolyn
Brooks, Louise Glck, and Allen Ginsberg--are poems to be read
aloud and memorized, poems to be celebrated as part of our
nation's cultural inheritance. Accompanying the poems are
comments by people who speak not as professional critics but
as passionate readers of various ages, professions and
regions. This anthology, in a manner unlike any other,
discloses the rich and vigorous presence of poetry in
American life at the millennium and provides a portrait of
the United States through the lens of poetry. The Favorite
Poem Project is an official part of the Bicentennial
Celebration of the Library of Congress and the White House
Millennium Council.