Poetry Blog

Hells bells, if ever there was field of literacy in which subjectivity and personal preferences really do come to the fore, and they do as we all know, in all fields of literacy - then  it has to - it just has to - be poetry!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose visage graces the top of this very page, may embody much of what we expect when it comes to traditional epic poetry in the mould of The Lady of Shallot, but even that fine piece is not to everybody's taste - and in terms of volume, well, after all, there is just so much stuff out there...

For this reason, we have chosen to begin our blogging with a mention of a popular little tome called The Nation's Favourite Poems, forwarded, edited, anthologised, or otherwise pieced , shoved or jumbled together by no less a favourite person than Griff Rhys Jones. This little paperback volume was first published by the dear old BBC in 1996 and has undergone many reprints over subsequent years.

and here it is folks The Nation's Favourite Poems !

This book, we are told, thanks to Amazon, 'is based on the result of a poll conducted in 1995 by The Bookworm, to coincide with National Poetry Day, and an ecletic collection it is, with the heavyweights, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Marvell and Wordsworth, rubbing shoulders with their latter-day counterparts, Larkin, Hughes, Heaney and McGough. Romantics are well served with Yeats, Keats, Tennyson and Shelley. Elizabeth Barrett Browning;s "How Do I Love Thee" is here, as is Christina Rosetti's "Remember". The Great British Public shows its lighter side, with "The Owl and the Pussycat", "Jabberwocky", "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" and children's favourite, Alan Ahlberg's "Please Mrs Butler". But it commemorates the horrors of the century too, with the war poets, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke.'

A great gift for any poetry lover as you can see!

The Nation's Favourite Poems forward by Griff Rhys Jones - published by BBC Books (19 Sep 1996 and still going strong!) ISBN:0563387823. List price £6.00 - available from Amazon for £5.44.