Penguin's Poems for Life

by Laura Barber (Editor)

Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare's idea of the "seven ages" of a human life, this new anthology brings together the best-loved poems in English to inspire, comfort and delight readers for a lifetime. Beginning with babies, the book is divided into sections on childhood, growing up, making a living and making love, family life, getting older, and approaching death, ending with poems of mourning and commemoration. Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life - whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes - when only a poem will do.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Anthologies, Poetry Plays, Reference

389 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

PopSugar's 2015 Reading Challenge: a book based entirely on its cover

Poem for an Uninspired Poetry Collection

I have a very pretty book
its cover’s quite divine.
Clothbound, hard-backed, ribboned thing
No crinkles on its spine.

It claims its poems are for life
a most ambitious goal.
I’m sad to say, but not surprised
its best: a fraction of the whole.

It is the inevitable fate, it seems
for chocolate box collections
to be the sample, not a whole
from which to make selections.
Agabi, Lewis, Heaney: great
Dickinson, Plath: still owns
But there’s a jukebox in these stiff, white pages
and Blake is surely its Tom Jones.

But what of the subjects of this book?
Not surprising, I must say
that the themes that make up life, it seems
proceed in a very Hallmark way.
There’s birth and childhood, adolescence
fucking, love, and family
aging, loss and (seems I missed my card)
financial responsibility.

Life here is no bed of roses, but still
its vision seems quite lacking.
If Hallmark cards it were destined to fill, then fine
but Laura, I still say you’re slacking.

This book reeks of its glossy sheen
it’s a nuclear family, with a maiden aunt
a gay cousin, barely poking at the under-seam
I wanted more from this, but it can’t.

Fuck you.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice sprinkle of poems for each of Shakespeare's seven ages of a life---that's the inspiration for this book. Everything you'd expect to be here is here. William Wordsworth's Ode (Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood). Kipling's If. Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach. Keats' To Autumn. Eliot's Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Auden's Funeral Blues. But there are light poems, too, like Jenny Joseph's Warning ("When I am an old woman I shall wear purple") and Ogden Nash ("Candy is dandy") and A. A. Milne ("When I was One, I had just begun."

It's a good collection, but I think I'd have liked it better if it hadn't felt quite so heavy-handed, especially with old age. All in all, though, a very good collection.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

nb this rating is based on my own enjoyment, not necessarily the quality of the collection, so given that this was my first foray into poetry, it's unsurprising that I didn't get as much out of it as I could have. (also there were a few too many downright misogynistic ones, which yeah, historically relevant, but still annoying)

there were several poems in here that I really loved, though, and I enjoyed the structure of the book (it's based on that 'all the world's a stage' passage of As You Like It, so it goes from birth to death) so all in all, it was fairly enjoyable.

[Tjerk Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik las dit boek als ik niet kon slapen, als ik te lang lag te woelen en er even uit moest om na 10 minuten weer te proberen. Hielp elke keer!

Deze las ik dus vannacht uit, rond half 2. Het bevat een grote collectie aan verschillende gedichten met verschillende thema’s, van geboorte tot de dood, en alles er tussenin. Het boek zag er mooi uit, bevatte bekende en minder bekende gedichten en was slim opgebouwd. Leuk om er weer eens doorheen te bladeren, maar ik ben vooral blij dat het van mijn stapel af is en in de boekenkast staat :)

[Rikke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today I woke up and was in the mood for some poetry-reading, as the snow was gently falling down outside my window and my head ached terribly. My main problem was that I just couldn't choose between Yeats' mythical fairy-like poems or Tennyson's classic and undying writings, so I chose to settle upon this, which seemed (and was!) an agreeable compromise as it contained both.

"Penguin's Poems for Life" has a rather ambitious aim: to document and illustrate all aspect of life in various poems. It starts brilliantly with simplistic (and optimistic) poems such as "The End" by A. A. Milne and ends with poems of nostalgic longing and melancholia such as "Grayheaded Schoolchildren" by Charles Simic, giving a perfect impression of life's never-ending circular movements.
The poems are well-chosen, and covers many aspects of life in between growing up and growing old. First kisses, last kisses, school days and dull jobs are all represented and dwelled upon in a stunningly harmonious symphony.

Among my favorites were:

"You're" by Sylvia Plath
"Children's Song" by R. S. Thomas
"Jardin du Luxembourg" by Derek Mahon
"Rules and Regulations" by Lewis Carroll
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
"Mataatua" by Kirsty Gunn
"I like my body when it is with your body" by E. E. Cummings
"Dolor" by Theodore Roethke
"I Held You in the Square" by Ben Okri
"Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white" from "The Princess" by Lord Alfred Tennyson
"Love Poem" by Lemn Sissay
"To Autumn" by John Keats
"Warning" by Jenny Joseph
"When You Are Old" by W. B. Yeats
"Piano" by D. H. Lawrence
"Remembrance" by Emily Brontë
"Comparisons" by R. S. Thomas

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book opens with a beautiful, heart-felt preface from Laura Barber - the curator of this book of poetry. She tells the reader that the structure of the book was inspired by a passage from 'As You Like It' in which the character Jacques describes a human life as having seven distinct stages. This collection of poems is guaranteed to the reader to have something for every stage of your life, but I don't think it lived up to its guarantee. Death, mourning, and loss were a prevalent theme. Even during what I thought would be the more pleasant sections. That, coupled with the dense poetry, made for daunting and melancholy reading.

Poetry isn't exactly my kick, but I am getting better at reading it (I think). I'm certainly reading more broadly as this book features some well known poets (Sylvia Plath, William Blake, Thomas Hardy), as well as lesser known poets and poets from all walks of life. But I still only enjoyed twelve of the poems in this collection.

Some of the poems I enjoyed:-

Escape at Bedtime by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dutch Lullaby by Eugene Field
Childhood and His Visitors by Winthrop Mackworth Praed
Going Place by Lemn Sissay
Thirty Bob a Week by John Davidson
For Desire by Kim Addonizio
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot
A Song of a Young Lady/To Her Ancient Lover by John Wilmot
Dirge Without Music by Edna St Vincent Millay
The Unquiet Grave by an anonymous 15th century poet
Transformations by Thomas Hardy

[Laura Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was in many ways excellent, and brought me some truly wonderful poems that will stay with me forever. I thought that the structure felt a little heavy-handed at times, and a few authors given more airtime that necessary, at the expense of further diversity (which in general was pretty good). But my main beef was that the print quality was appalling: terribly thin, tacky paper that was impossible to write in pencil on (surely a necessity for a poetry anthology) and a cover that didn’t keep its shape. Felt a bit cheap and cheerful, which, in fairness, didn’t match the contents. Would also like to make a request for author dates, which became a bit tedious to look up each time, and necessarily provided contextualisation.

[beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a really fun and touching collection of poems that take you through each stage of life. i found myself tearing up and getting chills at many of them. as i always do with poetry collections and anthologies, i read each poem aloud to bring it to life and this collection was really helped by that. some poems i was left confused by and didn't understand at all but perhaps, later in life, i will get it. some of my favourites were you're by sylvia plath, father and child: I. barn owl by gwen harwood, for desire by kim addonizio, and last trees by julia alvarez (isn't it funny all of my favourite are by female poets huh)

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selection of what I loved:
Rudyard Kipling- "If"
Lewis Carroll- "Rules and Regulations"
Lemn Sissay- "Going Places"
WH Davies- "Leisure"
Ben Okri- "I Held You in the Square"
Kim Addonizio- "For Desire"
Lemn Sissay- "Love Poem"
Edwin Muir- "The Confirmation"
W Shakespeare- "Sonnet 116"
Philip Larkin- "This Be the Verse"
Thom Gunn- "The Hug"
George Gordon/Lord Byron- "So, We'll Go No More a Roving"
James Henry- "Another and Another and Another"
Dylan Thomas- "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night"
Alexander Pope- "The Dying Christian to His Soul"
John Donner- "Death Be Not Proud"
Christina G Rossetti- "Remember"
Alden Nowlan- "This is What I Wanted To Sign Off With"
Raymond Carver- "Late Fragment"
WH Auden- "Funeral Blues"
Douglas Dunn- "The Kaleidoscope"
Edna St Vincent Millay- "Time Does Not Bring Relief"

[Meri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely anthology of poems from Chaucer (with helpful definitions on the side!), right up to Carol Ann Duffy and everyone in between. A good range of Elizabethan, Romantic-Era and contemporary poets.

I like how the poems are grouped into the seven stages of life, based upon the famous 'All the world's a stage' monologue in Shakespeare's 'As You Like it', with an additional section on Mourning. These themes really help to create the image of a dialogue of sorts between poets, where one will initiate a thought and another will continue it or provide a completely different perspective. It adds real depth to reading.

It's a great book as a gift to a poetry lover or to dip into whenever the need to read poetry arises.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

It astounded me upon rereading how in this book Chaucer could be right alongside Carol Ann Duffy, but the themes within the words are similiar, with unaging complexity and beauty. It was so cool to read because of how connected one feels to these people in the past, who experienced the same emotions as we did, and it feels like almost these things like love and grief and joy and new life are these timeless, massive, uncageable and eternal things that we've just been trying to cope with by putting words to over the centuries. And the words are really beautiful too :)

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of poems where the main theme is going through the different stages of life. Very insightful and meaningful. Essentially, a joy to read! Birth, death. You name it, all the experiences are there!

[LeanBouquine · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai mis beaucoup de temps a le finir mais ça valait le coup
Certains de ces poèmes sont gravés dans ma tête et j'y pense souvent
Une super anthologie qui passe vraiment par toutes les époques de la vie et de la littérature

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book of poems, but not as good as Garrison Keillor's collection "Good Poems for Hard Times"

[Olivia Winchester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology is amazing for anyone wanting a great mixture of poems. It is split into sections for every part of life and there is a poem in there for anyone. Loved it.

[Kev Neylon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to general poetry, and will be useful to dip in and out of for future reference.

[Madeleine George · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best (perhaps the only ? ) thing to read when one is going the long way home, through a thunderstorm, to a funeral.

Because I guess, despite all they give to us, the true operation of Gifts is always, in the end, loss. They take the place of something missing, things done and not undone, said and unsaid, etc. They articulate memory. Enunciate want. Lend sound to the silent throes of grief.
Stories, fiction, words-- the elsewhere of prose-- are, at the end of things, our only and best weapon against lack. Aren’t they? Isn’t it?


notes:
wanted more Addonizio, Plath, Carver, Stevenson, and Auden
and fewer Carrolls, Hardys, Miltons.
Just the right amount of Wordsworth, Whitman, and Keats.

a (select) Gift:

From In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

VII

Dark house, by which once more I stand
Here in the long unlovely street,
Doors, where my heart was used to beat
So quickly, waiting for a hand,

A hand that can be clasped no more--
Behold me, for I cannot sleep,
And like a guilty thing I creep
At earliest morning to the door.

He is not here; but far away
The noise of life begins again,
And ghastly through the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully chosen and arranged collection, probably one of my favourites! I was delighted to see poets such as Sylvia Plath, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, and Carol Ann Duffy. Some of my favourite poems were:
First Love by John Clare
Still-life by Elizabeth Daryush
A Puppy Called Puberty by Adrian Mitchell was downright hilarious
First Love by Sasha Dugdale
A Shropshire Lad: II by A.E. Housman
Apple Blossom by Louis Macneice
Against Coupling by Fleur Adcock
For Desire by Kim Addonizio absolutely struck me, I really love that one
Two in the Campagna by Robert Browning
I finally got to read The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear!
The Toys by Coventry Patmore
For a Five-year-old by Fleur Adcock
In Reference to Her Children by Anne Bradstreet
Warning by Jenny Joseph
Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas
Last Trees by Julia Alvarez
Remember by Christina G. Rossetti

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://clavie.co/2020/01/22/book-rev...

The most difficult thing about a novel full of poems is what is in them. The person who has the job to decide and compose a novel of good poems to everyone’s tasting is a very hard job indeed. This book of poems is set on life and the seasons of life. From the the first memories to the last breath. This book has a well sort out theme of poems with very famous and mind breaking poets. Though a good book of poems and that has exactly what you want is very hard to find. In every book you have a problem with the plot or character or in some circumstances you absolutely love it.

I believe it is a decent novel and contains good old poetry. Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare, William Wordsworth and many other poems to relate to!

3/5 Stars

[Lissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to soak up poetry collections in possibly one sitting, reading poem after poem until I am so full of emotions that they transport me into a different world. This was impossible to do with this book, because while the poems are categorized by the issues they address, they are not in chronological order at all. Since I like to approach poetry from different ages in different ways, it was impossible for me to get into the "flow" of this book in the way I usually do with poetry collections.

This is in no means a bad book; you can tell that the poems were selected and organized with careful consideration. If you like picking up a book, flipping to a random page and reading one, two, maybe three poems before putting it back on the shelf until next month, this might be a great collection for you. But if you enjoy reading poetry like I do, then this might not be for you.

[Calum Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, varied and well chosen collection. A wide range of classic and modern writers; from Auden to Milligan, Wordsworth to Sissay.

Most poems are one or two sides max. (Important for someone with a short attention span) There’s also a wide range of backgrounds/nationalities.

Another positive is the collection introduced me to four or five poets I’ve never come across before (as, I believe a good poetry collection should).

There’s also my absolute, bug-bear of my most disliked poem of all time; ‘If’ by Kipling.

And two of my favourites ‘Time does not bring relief’ and ‘Remember’.

100% recommend. I’ll be buying this (as it was a library lend)

[LAYLA 51292 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of poems chosen specifically to fit into the 8 themes of life; birth and beginnings, childhood, growing up, making a living/love, family life, getting older, intimations of mortality, and death. There is a great range of poets including; Sylvia Plath, E.E. Cummings, William Blake, C. Day Lewis and many more. It's a beautiful read for those times when you want a little more poetry in your life!

[Richard Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The layout of the book - the seven ages of man, as delineated by Shakespeare - seemed interesting. However, I found that reading through poems each dealing with a similar theme became a plod. Some sections I found extremely dull. There are a lot of very familiar poems too, which I guess is par for the course for an anthology such as this but I would have liked to have heard a more diverse selection of voices.

[Natalie Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never thought this day would come 😂 I enjoyed this book for thr most part. A lot of thr poems resonated with me, however, many of them were dated which made them feel a bit irrelevant and out of place. But that's just my opinion.

[HollyAcademia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! Strongly advise anyone who loves poetry to read it. And even if you are not so much into poetry, if you're curious and want to start on that, this is the perfect collection to do so. There are so many poets I doubt it is possible to actually dislike it at all!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Included some great poems, but also a lot that didn't speak to me. (lots of old men). But that is a person opinion off course.

[Fotis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems for Life. Amazing collection.
I will certainly go back to this book again and again.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a cover buy, but it payed off in the end.

[Sigrun Hodne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent but not great, this book consist of too many fair to middling poems to make a strong impression on the reader.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book!