John Carey (1) (1934–)

Mixed feelings, in a positive vein. Carey takes us through a series of brief chapters, starting with the antique poets such as Homer and the Beowulf poet and then gearing up through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries especially.

First of all, I think Carey makes it clear quite early on that this is a personal history, and a focus on a particular throughline of poetry, namely the Anglo-American sphere as inspired by the older Europeans. This is quite clear and indeed obvious; if you're going to broaden out to world poetry, you're going to have a very different book that becomes partly ethnographic since it can't possibly chart the growth of every movement. I say this because quite a few reviews here seem to be complaining about that fact and, frankly, I think they're being performative. As an Australian, I could equally bemoan that our rich poetic history isn't given its due here, but that's not the point of the book, and there are plenty of others on this subject. So perhaps a bit less with the deliberate complaining in lieu of actual commentary.

The core challenge with a book like this, though, is that it's inevitably a taste-tester. These chapters are so very brief that they cannot do justice to any of the poets contained herein. For the earlier chapters and those focusing on longer works, Carey gives us very little (even sometimes nothing) in the way of excerpts, meaning we're just being given his brief overview and an exhortation to read the works. Which is clearly his aim, so it's not a failure, but I think the volume would have benefited from attaching a single full poem to as many of the chapters as possible. The brevity of the chapters means that it isn't for complete novices to the written arts, but equally there's not much in the way of revelatory commentary for those of us who enjoy many of these works. And perhaps that's fine. Perhaps this book will reach its core audience - those who have dabbled in, or are genuinely open to, the reading of poetry - and provide them with dozens of points on which they can jump and begin new journeys. (The later chapters I found most pleasing, as the splintering of the poetic voice in the years around WWII makes for more challenging reading that rewards us hearing as many viewpoints on them as possible.)

A lovely volume in its way, but not one of the better broader overviews of poetry out there.… (more)

The title is correct, and this is a quite cursory and anglocentric survey of poetry from Gilgamesh to Mary Oliver. Almost no poems are printed in their entirety, there is very little discussion of any depth about what poetry is, the author's opinions are given freely, and sometimes without any clear support. Nevertheless, if you have had no exposure to poetry, perhaps you are a high school student, and you read English, this is an entertaining and brief introduction that might lead you somewhere good.… (more)