[Philip Morre]

I entirely agree about the idiosyncrasy - in fact, it's more or less what I meant by my last sentence. But while we may any of us have a soft spot for, say, the wrenched rhymes of Victorian hymns, to suggest that 'Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis' could deserve inclusion in a list of even the best 1000 poetry books of the century in all languages seems to me preposterous.

[Gregory Dowling]

Philip, I have to say that I think the "all languages" is a bit of a mistake in a thread of this sort. None of us is remotely competent to make such judgements; I, for example, can second your choice of Montale (and I do), but most people here just have to take it on trust. I certainly have to take on trust any such assessments of Achmatova, Brecht, Lorca, Rilke, to take up some of the names you mentioned. And then what about the Lithuanian, Albanian, Guanese, Guatemalan, Tibetan, Sudanese poets, who might feel unfairly excluded and start writing angry letters to the Times about it?
It seems to me to make more sense to restrict ourselves to poets who wrote in English, where we are all competent to judge. And I think such a limitation in no way spoils the fun of the game; after all, there are certainly still plenty to choose from.

[Chiago Mapocho]

Originally Posted by Philip Morre

When this thread began it was supposed to list, was it not, the 100 BEST poetry books of the 20th century, rather than 'Here's one I rather like myself'? Is it possible that even their doting mums, that even Mr Whitworth, really believe Wendy Cope, K.Addonizio, G.Shnackenberg, T.Steele to be better poets than Akhmatova, Brecht, Cavafy. . . Lorca, Milosz, Rilke. . . or even, sticking to English, than Basil Bunting, Robert Graves, D.H.Lawrence, Louis MacNeice, Wilfred Owen, Ezra Pound, Dylan Thomas (however patchy you may consider these last two). It may well be that an 'insufficiently esteemed' thread would be more interesting, but it was not the initial premise of this one.

For what it's worth, Lorca is already on the list [edit: the book is Romancero Gitano], but I agree with the root of your argument. I, too, would love to see more international poets, perhaps I will add a Norwegian one to the list (sadly, though, I don't think even poets like Henrik Wergeland and Ibsen are good enough for this list).

Have anyone nominated Weldon Kees yet?

Perhaps we should consider, now that we're starting to get a few pages to flick through, making a seperate thread where we update the list? One thread, one comment, with the recommendations updated by a single person (Tony if he would like to do it?).

After all, these pages will only get longer. I don't know about you, but I'm already having a hard time remembering the books that have been picked, and we're only on number 44.

[John Riley]

When this thread began it was supposed to list, was it not, the 100 BEST poetry books of the 20th century, rather than 'Here's one I rather like myself'?

I don't understand how else the books can be selected. In the first post Tony said

Since the idea here is to share some of our private gems and spur others to purchase these books for their own libraries, you must find a place on the Internet where this book is for sale and post a link to that website.

One person's gem is another person's rock but that isn't a problem with the selection method. What is the alternative to choosing books one likes? Tony could have posted a pre-selected list of 100 best books and asked for comments on those books but he didn't. That may be a good idea for a future thread. This one is about "private gems."

[Michael F]

Nigel Mace,

For Cummings, I suppose it would be is 5 -- it contains a delightful example of the variety in his work: fantastic anti-war poems (“"next to of course god and america i"); love poems (“in spite of everything”, “you being in love”); prostitute poems; Spring poems; sex poems (“she being Brand”, “(ponder, darling, these busted statues”); sonnets; – and, “since feeling is first”. It is light, however, on the visual/typographical/puzzle poems. It’s a wonderful volume – but, in truth, I’d still prolly direct people who wanted to get a good feel for Cummings, or own just one book, to the Kennedy Selected.

BTW -- if we’re talking great and influential, somebody should mention the Thomas H. Johnson Collected Emily Dickinson published in 1955. THAT was a landmark.

[David Rosenthal]

Originally Posted by Nigel Mace

My slight unease at the way things are going, however, is that I thought that Tony had accepted that 'Collecteds/Selecteds/Completes' were not truely in the spirit of his original idea - and, as I said early on, I absolutely agree. Note how long it took for one particular Auden volume, for example, to be cited. So could the various 'Collecteds/Selecteds/Completes' be persuaded to go back and find the quintessential volume to represent their poets? It's not that I disagree - splendid to see Morgan up there - but a major part of the initial idea is in danger of being lost. I want to know which particular binding of which poems made that deep and enduring impression. Any takers?

Best to all,
Nigel

Guilty as charged on Robinson and Hugo. I will go back and change when I have a chance. Is there a consensus about whether some like The Haiku Anthology, which I put in a few entries ago, defies the spirit of the thread? (I would argue for it one time before giving up.)

David R.

[David Rosenthal]

By the way, Philip. I think we could each come up with our own top 100. While there would likely be some overlap, there likely would be as much disjunction. Pound, Eliot, Wilbur, and Plath for example, while I recognize their importance, would not make my own top 100. There's no accounting for taste. Meanwhile, Tony upped the limit to five, so you can still rectify at least four serious omissions.

David R.

[Rob Wright]

War Music by Christopher Lugue is the book that has influenced me the most and the one I return to again and again. It may not be to everyone’s taste — Lattimore fans especially— and there are bound to be those you cry out, “Oh, no please, not that,” but reading Logue is one of the ways I contact the muse. I read him and I want to rush to the desk and write.
When I first read the review of “Kings” in the New York Review and heard that it was Homer in a modern idiom, I thought, “Please, no,” but then I came to the passage where Athena turns Achilles head around like a doll’s. I put down the paper and went to the store to order the book (of course it was not in stock).

Logue did go off the rails later with Cold Calls, but the sections gathered in the second volume titled War Music: Iliad books 1-4 and 16-19 are just so good.

[Philip Morre]

45. Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins now first published. Edited with Notes by Robert Bridges (1918)
Hopkins died in 1889 of course, but this book - and its influence - is very much part of the twentieth century story. The original printing would set you back several thousand dollars, but expanded editions appeared in 1930 and 1948, and reprints abound on ABE at all prices.

[John Whitworth]

Why has nobody else thought of this? Quite right.