The Penguin Book of American Verse

An anthology of American poetry, from the colonial beginnings in the 17th century right through to the 20th century. Emphasizing the extraordinary, vital period that followed the 1950s, Geoffrey Moore's editorship does not neglect the major figures of the between-ward period nor the ballads and parodies that can be said to represent the spirit of America. From Anne Bradstreet to Ralph Waldo Emerson, from William Carlos Williams to Walt Whitman and Ai, this book displays a poetrical spectrum of moods, rhythms, objectives and philosophy as diverse as the nation from which it springs.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to the First Edition Note on the Text ANNE BRADSTREET 1612-72 The Author to her Book The Flesh and the Spirit From Contemplations To My Dear and Loving Husband Some verses upon the burning of our House MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH 1631-1705 From The Day of doom 'EDWARD TAYLOR 1645-1729 From Preparatory Meditations, First Series Meditation 38 [when] let by Rain Upon a Spider Catching a Fly Huswifery PHILIP FRENEAU 1752-1832 The Indian Student JOEL BARLOW 1754-1812 From The Hasty-Pudding FRANCIS SCOTT KEY 1779-1843 The Star-Spangled Banner WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 1794-1878 The Prairies RALPH WALDO EMERSON 1803-82 The Rhodora Each and All The Problem The Snow-Storm Blight Hamarreya Days HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-82 In the Churchyard at Cambridge The Day is Done The Jewish Cemetery at Newport Chancer The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls From The Song of Hiawatha Hiawatha's Departure JOHN GREENLEAF WHIT'TIER 1807-92 Skipper Ireson's ride Barbara Frietchie EDGAR ALLAN POE 1809-49 A dream within a dream to Helen The city in the sea to one in paradise the conqueror worm Ulalume - a ballad Annabel Lee OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 1809-94 From wind-clouds and strar drifts manhood HENRY DAVID THOREAU 1817-62 Great God, I ask Thee for No Meaner Pelf l am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 1819-91 From A Fable for Critics Emerson Poe and Longfellow HERMAN MELVILLE 1819-91 Misgivings Shiloh monody WALT WHITMAN 1819-92 Song of Myself From Calamus Scented Herbage of my Breast From Memories of President Lincoln when Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom 'd Good-bye My Fancy! EMILY DICKINSON 1830-86 'Success is counted sweetest' ;'I taste a liquor never brewed'; 'Safe in their Alabaster Chambers'; 'I like a look of agony' ; 'There's a certain Slant of light'; 'The Soul selects her own Society' 'A Bird came down the Walk' ; 'After great pain, a formal feeling comes' ; 'What Soft -Cherubic creatures; I died for Beauty -but was scarce'; 'I heard a Fly buzz - when I died' ; 'It was not Death, for I stood up' ; 'I've see" a Dying Eye'; 'I like to see it lap the Miles' ; 'I cannot live with You'; 'Because I could not stop for Death'; 'Ample make this Bed'; 'A narrow Fellow in the Grass' ; 'Apparently with no surprise' ; 'My life dosed twice before its close'. GEORGE A. STRONG 1832-1912 From the Song of Milkanwatha 'Men he killed the Mudjokivis' FRANCIS BRET HARTE 1836-1902 Plain Language from Truthful James... Part contents.