A Little History Of Poetry

Description

By (author) Carey, John

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A vital guide to poetry from ancient times to the present
 
Poetry is language made special, so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work – over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This Little History is about some that have not.
 
John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly 4,000 years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our view of the world – such as Shakespeare, Whitman and Yeats – and more recent poets like Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, and Marianne Moore who have started to question what makes a poem ‘great’ in the first place.
 
Little Histories – Inspiring Guides for Curious Minds

Review quote:
“[The] book reviewer and Oxford don has great fun, galloping through 4,000 years of verse. Reputations are flayed and poetic gems are uncovered.”—Robbie Millen and Andrew Holgate, The Times and Sunday Times, “Best Books of 2020”

 “[A] fizzing, exhilarating book”—Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times

“Carey’s delightful survey never takes itself or its subject too seriously. ‘Over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten,’ he writes. ‘This is a book about some that have not.’”—New York Times Book Review

“Don’t let the diminutive title fool you. This is an expansive, not to mention accessible, tour of poetry’s importance and evolution, from ‘Beowulf’ to Shakespeare to Maya Angelou and beyond.”—Washington Post 2020 Holiday Gift Guide

“Few modern literature professors are capable of writing a book as interesting and mischievous as this.”—James Marriott, The Times ‘Best Literary Non-Fiction Books of 2020′

“This supremely compact and erudite introduction doesn’t just pack in a bunch of facts and potted biographies, it somehow manages to convey the transcendent glory of the form through the ages, whether it’s sagas, hymns, ballads or verse…Carey is frighteningly well informed but always accessible, and this guide will offer riches whether you’re a total newbie or a poetry buff.”—Sybille Bedford, The Sunday Times ”Best Literary Books of 2020”

“This characterfully compered mini-anthology would make a great guide for anyone just beginning to explore poetry, at any age.”—David Sexton, Evening Standard

“Carey is a welcoming host, full of enthusiasm…He can throw sparkling light on a poet’s method in a handful of words.”—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

“Exhilarating”—Bel Mooney, Daily Mail 

“[A] short but impressively comprehensive account of poetry”—Duncan Ferguson, The Herald

“[F]or more than 50 years, his taut, spry, flexible, idiomatic style has enabled [Carey] to engage a large non-specialist audience without, for the most part, stinting his deep infectious belief that literature is serious, and matters.”—Leo Robson, New Statesman

“A Little History of Poetry succeeds…because it communicates Carey”s love for a poet clearly and infectiously. It would be a dull reader who did not finish the chapter on Chaucer with an itch to reopen “The Miller”s Tale”, yes, but even Troilus and Criseyde as well.”—Harry Cochrane, Times Literary Supplement

“A Little History of Poetry is delightful and succinct: 40 perceptive chapters in 295 pages, covering nearly 200 poets…Still, the book is a history – a history of poetry and the contexts in which it is embedded: personal, cultural, religious, social, linguistic, political.”—Brian B. McClorry SJ, Thinking Faith [online journal]

“Does anyone know more about poetry than John Carey? Almost certainly not.”—The Times, Best Books for Summer 2020

“[A] dazzling