A Little History of Poetry

I really enjoyed this panorama of poets and poems ranging from Gilgamesh to Goethe, from popular ballads to Maya Angelou. John Carey, professor emeritus at Oxford University, has published a very readable story (not really a history) of poetry, though — barring the French symbolists, the Spanish mod......more

cute lil overviews of poetry and world history.. sometimes tries to bite off more than it can chew, i.e packing 10+ poets into one 5-page chapter. Gives good recs though!! Inspiring me to read some more Hart Crane, Rilke, Rimbaud & Verlaine, Bishop & Moore......more

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. A Little History of Poetry is exactly what I expected it to be: A little bit of everything. It introduces the topic of poetry to an audience with either little or no knowledge or Poetry and this is exactly what we need. The languag......more

An odd book, some of the reviews describe it as Western centric, I'd go further than that, saying it is Anglo American centric. Yes, there is some time given to the French Symbolists, not much and of not much insight either, and then there is a smattering of non Anglophone poet in those of the 20th......more

I found this to be an absolutely brilliant book.  John Carey, an Oxbridge professor, is an erudite guide to learning about poems and poetry.  But, he is not only an intelligent guide, he has written a book where I wanted to keep turning the pages.  This book encompasses the history of poetry from the......more