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Tales from the Ballet

by Louis Untermeyer (Editor), Martin Provensen (Illustrator), Alice Provenson (Illustrator)

4.36 of 5 stars 4.36 · rating details · 11 ratings · 1 review

Hardcover, 92 pages

Published January 2000 by Golden Books (first published November 1969)

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Aug 25, 2007 Arianne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: guiltypleasures

I just bought this book from a used book store for the cover alone- it's so tragic that goodreads doesn't have the book cover image because the illustrations by A. and M. Provensen are stunning. Plus the book has that smell of my youth- old musty libraries. love it!

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May 22, 2013 Love Amelia marked it as to-read

Apr 26, 2013 eric marked it as to-read

Apr 10, 2013 Igraine marked it as kinderbücher

Mar 02, 2013 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 23, 2013 Ciara marked it as to-read

Feb 04, 2013 Ipek rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 04, 2013 Indiana added it

Shelves: 1970s, ballet, childrens, anthology

Nov 28, 2012 Andréa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-books, classics, collections

Oct 24, 2012 Sarah Barga rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

Jun 24, 2012 Ana Cristina Perez marked it as to-read

Shelves: hard-to-find-titles, picture-books

May 08, 2012 Pearl Vick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Mar 21, 2012 Bobbi marked it as to-read

Mar 06, 2012 Kerri-Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mar 03, 2012 Drazen Kozjan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nov 13, 2011 Augusta Leigh marked it as to-read

Jul 10, 2011 Ria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jul 09, 2011 Susan marked it as to-read

Shelves: dance

Jun 07, 2011 Karin Feeney-Cass rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Apr 23, 2011 Mallory added it

Shelves: picture-books

Apr 08, 2011 Sophie Luna marked it as to-read

Dec 24, 2009 anonymous marked it as to-read

Oct 04, 2009 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ballet

Sep 04, 2009 Chandra marked it as to-read

Shelves: kids-young-adult, short-stories

Aug 22, 2008 bluetyson added it

Jun 29, 2008 ouija marked it as to-read

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About Louis Untermeyer

Louis Untermeyer was the author, editor or compiler, and translator of more than one hundred books for readers of all ages. He will be best remembered as the prolific anthologist whose collections have introduced students to contemporary American poetry since 1919. The son of an established New York jeweler, Untermeyer's interest in poetry led to friendships with poets from three generations, incl...more Louis Untermeyer was the author, editor or compiler, and translator of more than one hundred books for readers of all ages. He will be best remembered as the prolific anthologist whose collections have introduced students to contemporary American poetry since 1919. The son of an established New York jeweler, Untermeyer's interest in poetry led to friendships with poets from three generations, including many of the century's major writers. His tastes were eclectic. Martin Weil related in the Washington Post that Untermeyer once "described himself as 'a bone collector' with 'the mind of a magpie.'" He was a liberal who did much to allay the Victorian myth that poetry is a high-brow art. "What most of us don't realize is that everyone loves poetry," he was quoted by Weil as saying, pointing out the rhymes on the once-ubiquitous Burma Shave road signs as an example.

Untermeyer developed his taste for literature while still a child. His mother had read aloud to him from a variety of sources, including the epic poems "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Hiawatha." Bedtime stories he told to his brother Martin combined elements from every story he could remember, he revealed in Bygones: The Recollections of Louis Untermeyer. When he learned to read for himself, he was particularly impressed by books such as Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Dante's Inferno. Gustave Dore's illustrations in these books captivated him and encouraged his imagination toward fantasy. Almost fifty years later, Untermeyer published several volumes of retold French fairy tales, all illustrated by the famous French artist.

In addition to children's books and anthologies, Untermeyer published collections of his own poetry. He began to compose light verse and parodies during his teen years after dropping out of school to join his father's business. With financial help from his father, he published First Love in 1911. Sentiments of social protest expressed in the 1914 volume Challenge received disapproval from anti-communist groups forty years later; as a result of suspicion, Untermeyer lost his seat on the "What's My Line" game show panel to publisher Bennett Cerf. During the 1970s, he found himself "instinctively, if incongruously, allied with the protesting young," he wrote in the New York Times. In the same article he encouraged the spirit of experiment that characterized the decade, saying, "it is the non-conformers, the innovators in art, science, technology, and human relations who, misunderstood and ridiculed in their own times, have shaped our world." Untermeyer, who did not promote any particular ideology, remained a popular speaker and lecturer, sharing criticism of poetry and anecdotes about famous poets with audiences in the United States and as far away as India and Japan.

Untermeyer resigned from the jewelry business in 1923 in order to give all his attention to literary pursuits. Friendships with Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Arthur Miller, and other literary figures provided him with material for books. For example, The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer contains letters selected from almost fifty years of correspondence with the New England poet. The anthologist's autobiographies From Another World and Bygones relate as much about other writers as they do about his personal life. Bygones provides his reflections on the four women who were his wives. Jean Starr moved to Vienna with Untermeyer after he became a full-time writer; Virginia Moore was his wife for about a year; Esther Antin, a lawyer he met in Toledo, Ohio, married him in 1933; fifteen years later, he married Bryna Ivens, with whom he edited a dozen books for children.

In his later years, Untermeyer, like Frost, had a deep appreciation for country life. He once told Contemporary Authors: "I live on an abandoned farm in Connecticut ... ever since I found my native New York unlivable as well as unlovable.... On these green and sometimes arctic acres I cultivate wha(less)

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Books by Louis Untermeyer

Modern American Poetry and Modern British Poetry

New Enlarged Pocket Anthology of Robert Frost's Poems

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