Norton Anthology of Poetry > Reviews (1)

I did not expect to come to appreciate this anthology. Upon arriving at my first lecture at university, we were told that this was an "essential text" for the first module. "Rush to the shops and buy one, and you MUST have one by the next lecture, or death will become of you and you will be destined to get a third!" Or, something like that. Now, you soon learn to take phrases like "essential texts" with a HUGE pinch of salt. Especially when 2 out of 3 "essential" texts just so happen to have been penned by the lecturer pushing you to go and buy them!

I did actually got though the two terms I spent at university having spent less than £30 on books, a highly impressive feat as I was studying English and Philosophy!

But at the beginning of uni, I was not yet wisened in the ways of these evil lecturers. To be say I was absolutely horrified to discover that the Norton Anthology costs a whopping £24.99 would be something of an understatement. "I'm not paying that!" I whinged to everyone around me. This is coming from the girl tight enough to pay child fares wherever possible (at the age of nearly 20) and I have even been known to sneak a bottle of Malibu into the pub, order cokes and add the Malibu under the table (it was only once though.and I *was* only 16)! Eventually, my boyfriend got fed up of my whining and said he would pay for it himself. Works every time ;-) (hope he doesn't read this!)

Before you all rate me Not Helpful for deviating, I will offer one tip- if you are a student, DO NOT buy this, or indeed ANY book from Waterstones. I have previously praised this shop as lovely to browse in, but they recently dumped the 10% student discount. Pah! The old misers, don't they know that students would be better off on the dole? (source-NUS)

So anyway, you could say I had a distrust of this book before I even opened the pages. I also had aching arms after carrying it home, as it is so heavy (2000 pages, to be precise!)

Even when I did open the anthology, I was a bit miffed that the pages are so thin. Much thinner than ordinary books- in fact, I can only compare them to the horrible scratchy paper toilet paper! But I suppose, were they any thicker, the book would be even bigger and heavier, and students nationwide would be sueing Norton Publishing Group for all sorts of injuries.

I must point out that the latest version of the anthology (and the one I am currently reviewing) is the fourth edition and is edited by Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy.

The cover is a glossy grey colour (how exciting) and the front cover has a painting on it by William Blake, the famous poet (you will probably know "The Tyger") who was also a talented artist. As a whole though, I think the cover is quite unappealing and dull, although Blake's painting is nice enough, the grey is very dull and gives no hint to the words of inspiration hidden between its covers....

I would guess that the chief buyers of this book would be students at university level and poetry enthusiasts.

The anthology contains 1800 poems going right through from the Medieval times and Chaucer (arrrggh), thought to be the birth of poetry, to modern poets such as Seamus Heaney and ee cummings. The fourth edition was modified to include a greater diversity of American poetry, women poets and Postcolonial and Commonwealth poets. I liketo read poems from a variety of sources, not just the typical middle class white male view, and this anthology certainly gives the reader choice. I have to admit to preferring the modern poets, the old stuff leaves me a bit cold and I have not browsed through much of the early sections of the book. Although it is such a large book, it is relatively easy to locate any poem, due to all these features:

* The poems are located in chronological order through time.

* The poems of each poet are grouped together.

* There is an index at the back listing both the name of each poet, the name of each poem, and even better, the first line of every poem.

I found having the first lines included extremely helpful, particularly in an exam when I wanted to write about a poem but could not remember its name.

At the front of the book, the poems are all listed in order, with the poets name and the page number.

It's not just poems though. Oh no. Students of poetry, or indeed anyone with an interest in poetry, will find lots of useful information within this anthology.

Opening the book is a 20 page section on versification, that is, technical stuff about the structure of poems. I admit to detesting this stuff WITH A VENGEANCE!! I don't care what the syntax is, or whether a poem is in iambic pentametre (10 syllables per line) or where the stresses are. I spent much of my first time in a state of frustration over this.

I see it as disecting a beautiful creature to examine how it works. Yes, it may be somewhat interesting, but it is no longer beautiful. Nevertheless, I am sure this section is very helpful to students who want to learn about the intricacies of different forms within poetry (ballads, sonnets etc), Meter and Rythmn. I must point out though, that in all fairness, I do not understand nor care about these points, and in the poetry exam I got 69%, which works out at a 2:1 So :-p !! So that's a hint to students who are desperately trying to cram all the information about form into their heads- it's not necessary. Just don't blame me if you fail!

Throughout the whole book there are footnotes, which are highly useful when you are in an exam and do not understand Latin (I learnt it at school but can hardy be described as an expert) phrases such as the famous:

Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori

which translates as "It is sweet and meet to die for one's country". Many thanks to the footnote. You should go and read this poem, it's on page 1276 of the anthology and is called Dulce et Decorum Est, written by Wilfred Owen in 1917.

Many people would have already known the translation for that, but what about "Cahier d'un retour ay pays natal"? Answers in the comments please, the winner gets my copy of this anthology!

So the footnotes are extremely helpful, if a little small and difficult to read. I would imagine, that in computer point size, the footnotes are about a 9, so get your reading glasses out.

Another helpful feature to the Norton Anthology is the Biographical Sketches at the back of the book. For every poet included (apart from the elusive anon, of course) there is a brief outline of thier life, background and work. The writing in this is also tiny, but well worth browsing. If you find a particular poets work appealing, it can be fascinating to read the background to their work.

I recall in my exam, writing about a poem called "All Day it has Rained" (p1466), a poem about soldiers in the first world war. I noticed it was by a poet called Alun Lewis, and turned to his short biography for inspiration. I discovered that he himself had been a reluctant soldier, and under the influences of the war, he shot himself in 1944. This is very sad of course, but it helped me to understand the poem that little bit more, and gave it an extra dimension, or depth.

I may have started out disliking this anthology, but now I see it more as a friend. It may have cost a huge amount of money, but even though the poetry is over and done with now, I still find myself dipping in and out of the book. I have even uploaded some of my favourites onto my web site, and will be doing more in the future.

Some of the poems in the anthology are easy to grasp, and some are pages long (eg The Waste Land, T.S Eliot). This is an anthology that you literally can just open at any page and find something there that will make you think, laugh, or at least strike a chord.

With the more difficult poems, there is always a sense of satisfation when you finally "get" them.

I will leave you with a poem from the anthology that we discussed in a lecture once. The students were split in their reactions to this, and judging by the recent disagreements in the media about modern art, I expect a similar reaction! See what you think:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens