Prescott Library: Poetry Presentations (Ahlborn, Funnell, Ringiewitz): Poetry Resources

Poets to Consider

Here are the names of a few poets that might be worth exploring. It is definitely an incomplete list:

Adrienne Rich
Billy Collins
Carolyn Kizer
Charles Simic
Charles Wright
Donald Hall
Dylan Thomas
e. e. cummings
Elizabeth Bishop
Emily Dickinson
Franz Wright
Frederico Garcia Lorca
Glyn Maxwell
J. D. McClatchy
James Tate
John Keats
Jorie Graham
Kay Ryan
Langston Hughes
Louise Bogan
Louise Glück
Marianne Moore
Marilyn Nelson
Mark Doty
Mary Oliver
Mary Szybist
Maxine Kumin
Maya Angelou
Naomi Shihab Nye
Nikki Giovanni
Octavio Paz
Pablo Neruda
Paul Muldoon
Philip Larkin
Rainer Maria Rilke
Rita Dove
Robert Frost
Robert Lowell
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Seamus Heaney
Stephen Dunn
Sylvia Plath
T. S. Eliot
Ted Hughes
Ted Kooser
Theodore Roethke
Thom Gunn
Tracy K. Smith
Vicente Huidobro
W. B. Yeats
W. H. Auden
Wallace Stevens
Walt Whitman
William Blake
William Carlos Williams
William Stafford
William Wordsworth
Yusef Komunyakaa

Poetry Reference

The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics by Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan.
Call Number: REF 808.103 New
Singing School by Robert Pinsky
Call Number: 808.1 Pin
Publication Date: 2013
Robert Pinsky presents an approach to writing and reading poetry using 80 great poems of the past.
The making of a poem : a Norton anthology of poetic forms by edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.
Call Number: 821.008 Mak

Listen to Poems

Lannan Audio Archives

Over 20 years of video and audio of poets and writers, from the Lannan Foundation

Upper School Librarian

Finding poems at Prescott

Poetry books are housed on the 3rd Floor of the Prescott library in the 800 section of the stacks. Try browsing through the following call numbers:

808.81's -- Poetry Anthologies
811's -- American Poetry
821's -- British Poetry
841's -- French language Poetry
861's -- Spanish language Poetry

Mobile Poetry

Many of the best poetry websites now help you find poems on your smart phone or other mobile device.

With Mobile Poetry from the Academy of American Poets, you can search for poems based on different themes.

With the POETRY app for iThing and Android from the Poetry Foundation, you can spin to find poems based on mood and subject.

TOP TEN Poetry Anthologies, an incomplete list

American Sports Poems by R. R. Knudson (Compiled by); May Swenson
Call Number: 811.008 Ame
Publication Date: 1988
A collection of poems on sports, ranging from running, hunting, and fighting, to football and baseball from the spectator's point of view.
A book of luminous things : an international anthology of poetry by edited, and with an introduction by Czeslaw Milosz.
Call Number: 808.81 Boo
Presents three hundred poems from across the world, written by a variety of authors throughout history, organized under eleven headings such as "Epiphany," "Nature," "Places," and "The Moment," and includes brief commentary on each featured poet.
The Columbia anthology of British poetry by edited by Carl Woodring and James Shapiro.
Call Number: 821.008 Col
An anthology of British poetry drawn from over the course of twelve centuries, including works from Scottish, Welsh, and Irish authors, as well as many often-excluded women writers, with introductory biographies for each featured poet.
Committed to memory : 100 best poems to memorize by edited, with an introduction, by John Hollander.
Call Number: 821.008 Com
A collection of over 100 poems selected specifically for memorization, emcompassing a wide variety of genres, structures, and patterns, and drawn from a period ranging from Biblical times through the mid-twentieth century.
Good poems by Garrison Keillor (selected and introduced by)
Call Number: 811.008 Goo
A collection of 294 poems, chosen and introduced by Garrison Keillor, host of National Public Radio's "The Writer's Almanac," including selections from classic and contemporary poets, grouped by topic.
The Hungry Ear by Kevin Young (Editor)
Call Number: 811.6 Hun
Publication Date: 2012
A collection of poems celebrating food and drink.
Poems to read : a new favorite poem project anthology by edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz.
Call Number: 808.81 Poe
An anthology of poetry that emphasizes the actual pleasures of reading poems, including hearing the poem read out loud, talking about it, sharing it with others, and taking excitement or comfort from it.
Poetry speaks : hear great poets read their work from Tennyson to Plath by editors, Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby ; series editor, Dominique Raccah ; advisory editors, Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove and Dana Gioia.
Call Number: AUDIO 811.509 Poe
Collects works by more than forty important poets, arranged chronologically by birth order from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, to Sylvia Plath, and includes biographies, essays by accomplished contemporary poets, and CD recordings of each featured poet reading his or her own works.
The rattle bag by edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.
Call Number: 821.008 Rat
A collection of more than 400 hundred poems from all around the world.
State of the Union by Joshua Beckman (Editor); Matthew Zapruder (Editor)
Call Number: 811.008 Sta
Publication Date: 2008
Poems about United States politics and government written by various authors, including John Ashbery, James Tate, Dara Wier, and others.

Great Titled Books

Alien vs. Predator by Michael Robbins
Call Number: 811.6 Rob
Publication Date: 2012
A collection of poems by twenty-first century American poet Michael Robbins.
Horse Latitudes by Paul Muldoon
Call Number: 821.914 Mul
Publication Date: 2006
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes
Call Number: 811.54 Hay
Publication Date: 2010
A collection of more than thirty-five poems by prize-winning American poet Terrance Hayes.
Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove
Call Number: 811.54 Dov
Publication Date: 1986
The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins
Call Number: 811.54 Col
Publication Date: 2005
Presents a collection of poems from America's two-term Poet Laureate that cover topics as wide ranging as boyhood, jazz, the passage of time, and writing.

Watch poets!

Visit the Lannan Foundation's You Tube page for videos on more poets and links to longer recording. Here's poet Mary Oliver.

Poetry LiveBinder

LiveBinder Resources from the English Department
Contact your English teacher or the librarian for access code.

Poetry Online

How to read a poem (and fall in love with poetry)
Poet Edward Hirsch's first chapter from his book is reprinted on the Poetry Foundation's webpage. Its 16 sections provide strategies for reading poems, and each section has plenty of links to examples of poems in our archive to illustrate the points.
Find the whole book on our shelves at 808.1 Hir!
Poems for Every Occasion
From the Academy of American Poets. Find poems to fit a certain mood or theme. Find information on poems and poets as well as audio and video at this website. A great resource!
Poetry Daily
Every day a new poem is featured, often from a current journal that publishes contemporary poets.
The Poetry Foundation
Find poems related to a specific topic, or learn more about a certain poet.
Poetry 180 - a poem a day for high schools
Former poet laureate, Billy Collins, created a program that introduced a new poem into the classroom everyday. Here are the 180 poems.
American Life in Poetry
Former poet laureate Ted Kooser regularly wrote a newspaper column highlighting a contemporary poem--here is the archive of poems he shared.

Additional Anthologies

Poetry about Love & Loss

A Book of Love Poetry by Jon Stallworthy (Editor)
Call Number: 821.008 PEN
ISBN: 0195197747
Publication Date: 1986
Selections of love poems ranging from ancient Egypt to modern times by 190 poets arranged thematically.
Love Is Like the Lion's Tooth by Frances McCullough (Editor)
Call Number: 808.81 Lov
Publication Date: 1984
A collection of poems about the various stages and effects of love.
The Love Songs of Sappho by Sappho; Paul Roche; Page duBois (Introduction by)
Call Number: 884.01 Sap
Publication Date: 1999
Contains a collection of poems on the themes of romance, heartbreak, and personal relationships by one of Greece's greatest female lyric poets.
Pierced by a Ray of Sun by Ruth Gordon (Compiled by)
Call Number: 808.819 Pie
Publication Date: 1995
An international anthology of poems about loneliness.
What Have You Lost? by Naomi Shihab Nye; Michael Nye (Photographer)
Call Number: 808.819 Wha
Publication Date: 1999
A collection of poems by 140 authors that deal with different kinds of loss.

Poetry about Sports & Recreation

Baseball : a literary anthology by Nicholas Dawidoff (Editor)
Call Number: 810.803 Bas
Publication Date: 2002
A collection of stories, memoirs, poems, news reports, and insider accounts by various authors which deal with every aspect of the game of baseball.
Call Down the Moon by Myra Cohn Livingston
Call Number: 808.81 Cal
Publication Date: 1995
A collection of contemporary and traditional poetry about music, singers, instruments, and the feelings music evokes.
Losing Season by Jack Ridl
Call Number: 811.54 RIDL
Publication Date: 2009
A collection of poetry by American author and educator Jack Ridl in which he explores topics surrounding high school sports, including family dynamics and the weather.
Motion by Noah Blaustein; John Edgar Wideman (Foreword by)
Call Number: 811.008 BLAU
Publication Date: 2001
A collection of poems by American authors about sports.

Poetry about Politics & War

From both sides Now by Philip Mahony (Editor)
Call Number: 811.008 Fro
Publication Date: 1998
A collection of poetry from Vietnamese and American poets about the different experiences each country went through during the Vietnam War.
Peace and War by Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark (Editors)
Call Number: 808.81 Pea
Publication Date: 1990
An anthology of nearly 200 poems chronicles the many voices of peace and war from Ancient Greece through Vietnam.
Poetry of the World Wars by Michael Foss (Editor)
Call Number: 808.81 Poe
Publication Date: 1990
Presents poetry about the world wars by a wide variety of authors.

Additional Thematic Anthologies

Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep by Michael Harper and Anthony Walton (Editors)
Call Number: 811.5408 Eve
Publication Date: 1994
A collection of more than 200 poems by post-World War II African-American poets.
Faith and Doubt by Patrice Vecchione (Editor, Illustrator)
Call Number: 808.81 Fai
Publication Date: 2007
A collection of poems from around the world in which the authors speak to issues of faith and doubt.
The Open Boat by Garrett K. Hongo; Garrett Hongo
Call Number: 811.5408 Ope
Publication Date: 1993
Anthology of contemporary poetry by Asian Americans reflecting their histories, cultures, and aesthetics.
Time you let me in : 25 poets under 25 by selected by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Call Number: 811.608 Tim
A collection of poems selected by Naomi Shihab Nye from twenty-five poets, each under twenty-five years of age.
Verse and Universe by Kurt Brown (Editor)
Call Number: 811.008 Ver
Publication Date: 1998
Contains works by eighty contemporary poets in which they reflect upon the wonders and power of science and technology.
Voices : poetry and art from around the world by selected by Barbara Brenner.
Call Number: 808.81 Voi
An anthology of poetry and art from sources on six continents.