[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by Gregory Dowling

I've a feeling that it will make the thread more interesting if we exclude Collected Poems.

I agree. (Selecteds, too.) I don't see much difference between saying that Larkin's Collected is my favorite book of the century and saying that he's my favorite 20th century poet. So the thread becomes about poets rather than their books.

The potential interest in the thread for me is to deal with the poetry book as a form. It's something I think most of us ignore. I'm impressed that Gregory has two favorite Frost books. I can name most of the titles of Frost's books but for the most part I have no idea which poems are in which.

Possibly a subject for a different thread: I think most books are really collecteds or selecteds, the poet pulling together her (best) work since the last book. Very few poetry books are composed as books. The exceptions that come to mind are light verse and stuff by very minor poets.