Product Details
Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry

Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry
By Ted Hughes

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Product Description

The Rattle Bag is an anthology of poetry (mostly in English but occasionally in translation) for general readers and students of all ages and backgrounds. These poems have been selected by the simple yet telling criteria that they are the personal favorites of the editors, themselves two of contemporary literature's leading poets.Moreover, Heaney and Hughes have elected to list their favorites not by theme or by author but simply by title (or by first line, when no title is given). As they explain in their Introduction: "We hope that our decision to impose an arbitrary alphabetical order allows the contents [of this book] to discover themselves as we ourselves gradually discovered them--each poem full of its singular appeal, transmitting its own signals, taking its chances in a big, voluble world."With undisputed masterpieces and rare discoveries, with both classics and surprises galore, The Rattle Bag includes the work of such key poets as William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and Sylvia Plath among its hundreds of poems. A helpful Glossary as well as an Index of Poets and Works are offered at the conclusion of this hefty, unorthodox, diverse, inspired, and inspiring collection of poetry.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #446949 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-03-17
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 498 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The method employed in arranging and presenting [the contents of this book] must surely be the one for all the best anthologies . . . The Rattle Bag sets a standard which other anthologies will find it difficult to equal." --Alan Brownjohn, Times Literary Supplement (London)"A splendid, huge, resonant book." --Observer (London)"A must for anyone at all who likes poetry." --Melvyn Bragg, The Times (London)

Card catalog description
A collection of more than 400 hundred poems from all around the world.

About the Author
Seamus Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. A resident of Dublin since 1976, he teaches regularly at Harvard University. Heaney has written over a dozen books of poetry and criticism, and the Los Angeles Times Book Review has called him "the greatest Irish poet since Yeats."Ted Hughes, the author of numerous books of poetry, prose, and translation, was Poet Laureate to Queen Elizabeth II until his death in 1998. His last book of poems, Birthday Letters, won the Whitbread Book of the Year award—and was a much-discussed national bestseller. He lived in Devon, England.

Customer Reviews

A Wonder5
This collection is a masterpiece, and its companion volume the School Bag is every bit as good. While the collection includes many classics, the various obsessions of the editors have led them to uncover works that you are unlikely to have read before.

I return to this anthology again and again.

amazing!5
...Want a break from poetry that is "sophisticated," "domestic" or "Lacanian"? This is it! It's been a favorite of mine for ten years, restorative on every read. It bears the stamp of green, love, a garden of great poems (Keats, Neruda, "Anonymous" etc.) fresh as the day they were written. This vivid new cover sort of sums up the feeling.

Well done4
A fascinating collection, more useful for insights into the favorites of two of the more important poets of the late 20th century than for anything else. While bowing down to no old chestnuts out of misplaced respect, the collection also suffers from a preferance for poets from Ireland and the United Kingdom and some choices seemingly inspired by multi-culturalism and little else. Nonetheless, the collection does have some wonderful pieces that would be hard to find on one's own, as well as a fantastic tribute to Shakespeare by including several passages from his plays and none of the sonnets.