A Little History of Poetry by John Carey

A Little History of Poetry Reviews

• 
  Jaidee

  3 "hypomanic, whirlwind, tongue in cheek" stars !!
  
  Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Yale University Press for an e-copy. This was released April 2020 and I am providing my honest review.
  
  Well, I picked this up in the hopes that it would propel me back into reading poetry again. I have barely touched this art form since my early twenties and I wanted very much an overview and some ideas of where to begin this journey. As much as I enjoyed and relished my recent read by Lana Del Rey( the heavenly goddess of midtempo pop) I know I need to read more and more deeply of this genre.
  
  So I picked up this book and started to read. I was dizzy, annoyed, interested in what this author had to say. This is basically an extremely concise yet opinionated account of English Language poetry. The focus is on Western Europe and America with a bit of smattering from other cultures.
  There is a fair bit on the women poets and a lot less on people of color. Nonetheless I feel that the author did a valiant job on providing some fun (if glib) education on poetry through the ages as well as providing some examples and commentary on poetry excerpts. This is definitely for the semi-intelligent layperson who does not mind a lighthearted and non-academic approach to the subject matter. I did not always enjoy this read but I always left my reading session with additional knowledge.
  
  So yes I did come away a bit inspired and have come up with a mini poetry project that will consist of the following:
  
  1. a biography on Yeats (he always fascinated me and I took a half course on his poetry in Uni)
  2. a collection of the poetry of Christina Rosetti
  3. a collection of poetry by Anne Sexton likely her book Transformations
  4. a book on the friendship between Plath and Sexton by Gail Crowther
  
  I am glad I read this despite my mixed experience !
  
• 
  Roman Clodia

  It's difficult to know who the intended readers are for this book. It's essentially a whistle-stop tour of western poetry with all the usual suspects present and correct. Carey does an awful lot of 'storytelling' rather than analysis of how and why poetry works, combined with potted biographies of the poets. Anyone who has studied literature at university or in a self-directed way will find little new here. Anyone who hasn't studied literature may come away with a map of western poetry which duplicates typical history of European literature/western canon focused books but with little insight into what makes one poetic text resonate while another leaves one untouched - this book doesn't model poetic textual analysis or discuss how interpretation may work.
  
  There's something essentially old-fashioned about Carey's approach: he makes sweeping judgements with nothing to back them up ('of all world-famous poets none is less likely to appeal to the modern reader than Dante'), he rates poets against each other according to their personal likeability ('Petrarch seems to have been more likeable than Dante'), he falls back into that old chestnut of to what extent the poem is merely autobiography in verse ('many are about a real-life love affair and reflects its ups and downs'), and he drops value statements ('Philip Sidney cannot compare with Shakespeare or Marlowe as a poet') without giving any explanation for this simplistic and, to me, unfathomable judgement.
  
  There are places, too, where Carey is plain wrong: he claims 'Aeneas is depicted as an ideal leader' in the Aeneid when, surely, even a cursory reading will reveal him to be indecisive, vacillating, silent when he should be rallying his men, and disturbingly bloodthirsty at the end, cutting down a surrendered enemy even though Anchises himself has claimed clemency as a great Roman virtue.
  
  While this does mention a handful of female poets (Sappho, Bishop, Rossetti, Dickinson, Plath), it's inattentive to the wealth of feminist scholarship of the last 40 or so years which has been uncovering women's writing, including poetry. Mary Wroth, for instance, is dismissed in a few words as Philip Sidney's niece who 'wrote sonnets herself'.
  
  I think I would have found this book useful when I was at school, maybe around A levels, for its compact and abbreviated romp through western poetry - its essentially descriptive rather than analytical approach might have bothered me less and it would have given a bite-size history of poetry which allows an overview and context for western poetic writing.
  
  Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.
• 
  Ulysse

  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 modernists, and the Russian duellists — most of the poets mentioned here are English-speaking.
  
  What this book has a lot of is enthusiasm. After reading a chapter or two you’ll find it hard not to blow the dust off your old copy of the Collected Works of Shelley and climb the rooftops of the world shouting: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings/ Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ It’ll also make you curious about poets you’ve ignored up until now like John Skelton, Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick, John Clare, Heinrich Heine, Arthur Hugh Clough, Christina Rossetti, A.E. Housman, Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas, Charlotte Mew, Siegfried Sassoon, John Betjeman, Stevie Smith, and many, many others.
  
  On the other hand, what this book lacks is some depth. There’s hardly any mention of form, or how poetry works, or the why of poetry, or the alchemy of rhythm and sound, or the mysteries of the muses nine, or anything of that sort. I understand these pages were intended for the common reader (like myself) and that John Carey didn’t want to offend that reader (moi) with any kind of highfalutin shop talk; but I suspect the real reason is simply that Mr. Carey is not a poet himself and thus not interested in how poems get writ. But that’s ok, plenty of poets have written about their craft, and even they sometimes make a mess of it. So I’m happy with the story as it is told, which has the virtue of reminding me that poetry is a vast, impenetrable forest of words I love to get lost in.
• 
  Livia

  Well-written and interesting, but annoyingly anglocentric. The book follows the academic perception of civilisation as something that originated in Mesopotamia, was passed on to Ancient Greece and Rome, Renaissance Italy and later England, and largely ignores everyone else in the meantime. A large majority of the chapters were about English-speaking poets. For example, total number of Middle Eastern poets mentioned? I counted one. I'm not an expert, obviously, but surely there must be a great deal that is omitted here, poetry being such a universal artform. I get that translations may be an issue here, so I don't know if I would totally blame Carey personally for this, as this is how Western academic discourse currently works, but in one chapter he deals with "East meets West" and focuses on the translation of Chinese poems by Westerners - and these get the spotlight - instead of the original authors? Another annoying thing was his designation of female poets as "Women Poets," and his decision to have a designated separate chapter to deal with these remarkable Woman Poets and working class poets, and that nerves me. I hate it when people put "Woman" in front of any profession that men get to simply live and be - "Woman Poet," "Woman Archaeologist," whatever. Why are they not Poets? Your attempt to be inclusive just turned out to be... not genuinely inclusive.
  That said, it was highly readable and understandable, and I did enjoy it and learned a great deal. It was a good introduction to poetry, but I was disappointed that it was so restrictive.
• 
  Poetforlost

  I love this book with all my heart.
  It wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea because at times, it could feel like reading academic mandatory material.
  However, this book is written with sheer love for poetry, and even more importantly, with love for the poets. The wide range of poets is not treated as some distant figure of the literary world, but as living human beings. Not an impersonal introduction, but a caring interest.
  Each chapter is short but packed with information and written at such a quick pace, easily catching and holding your attention. Stephanie Burt said: Many people may find new favourites here.” and I couldn’t agree more. I want to read more of T.S Eliot and Rainer Maria Rilke solely because of the brilliant introduction this book gave them.
  Such a lovely, lovely book.
  
• 
  Adam

  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
• 
  Simone

  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 language is simple enough for everyone to be able to follow and the examples from primary texts are wonderfully explained.
  
  Despite being passionate about Poetry and even having studied it, I went into this book with the mindset of how would my friend who never read a single poem in their lives react to this? How would my mum, whose knowledge about literature doesn't go far beyond what I told her in one of my ramblings? How would a young person, who finds a poem they like for the first time and want to know more about the art-form in general?
  
  This is an ideal book for such people. There are a lot of different topics covered, the book mainly keeps to the poets represented in the canon but I love that it focuses on women's poetry more than most other books do. I even found a thing or two in there that I previously didn't know and highly enjoyed reading about those. I would've loved to learn some more about poetry in countries that do not belong to the western realm, e. g. Japan with their Haiku culture, but again, there is only so much you can cover in a general book such as this one, so I definitely understand that there are some parts that had to be left out.
  
  The reason for my rating it with three stars instead of a full five, is that I liked it overall, but I think there were some things missing (for me). For example, while reading the chapter on Petrarch, I was waiting for a mention about how he basically invented the form of the sonnet or that a sonnet is typically a love poem. In the chapter about Shakespeare, I would've loved to read about how Shakespeare's sonnets were sort of a sarcastic reply to Petarch's art and how he changed the sonnet form, thus establishing the two most famous sonnet forms that exist. But that might just be my opinion. Obviously, the author couldn't focus on everything, he did try to put 6000 years of art into ~300 pages after all.
  
  The other thing I wasn't crazy about while reading is - keeping the novel poetry reader in mind - the blatantly obvious personal opinion of the author. As any art-form, people should be able to make their own minds up about the poems they read. I found myself disagreeing with the author on some points, which I was able to do, because I do already have some knowledge about poetry. To keep with my example of my mother: She would definitely read the chapter about Shakespeare and take from it that his poetry was inferior to other poet's (which is a personal opinion. However, not mine, I happen to like Shakespeare's sonnets) and that he should be criticised because we can't know whether he wrote from his own experience or with his ability to write from the POV of a fictional character (honestly, I do not care, as long as the words resonate with me - and i think they are quite emotionally engaging actually - there is no reason to criticise).
  
  All in all, I think this is a great book in a language that is easily understandable for newbies- would definitely recommend! However, any reader should take the opinions stated in this book with a pinch of salt and instead rather make up their own minds about the poems and the writers.
• 
  Ilana

  ´What is poetry? Poetry related to language as music relates to noise. It is language made special, so that it will be remembered and valued´.
  
  As I am fighting hard to update my poetry TBR, reading about poetry can also be a helpful incentive. This is why I considered seriously going through the suggestions in A Little History of Poetry by John Carey, pen and paper on the side.
  
  The book reads easily, the references are not complex from the academic point of view, the perspective is chronological-historical and there are also enough quotes to inspire your next read. If you really want to have a systematic overview of the poetic works of humanity. Especially if you are a beginner literature student or looking for some basic writing, this book can be really helpful to update the information.
  
  On the other side, with some noticeable exceptions, the references are predominantly from the English-speaking realm. It starts with the Epic of Gilgamesh - because it is history after all - it mentions Hafez, Villon (but not the rich poetry of the French Middle Ages), Dante and Petrarch, Heine, Rilke and Goethe, Pushkin and Lermontov. In the final chapter, Poets in Politics, there is place for Spanish-speaking poets like Paz and Lorca and even Yehuda Amichai is mentioned. However, those poets do not necessarily appear as part of the wider history of poetry - in terms of influences, impact on the history of poetry etc. - and are rather present to add diversity to the bigger picture.
  
  Therefore, use this Little History of Poetry without too many expectations, just as a reference that can encourage your poetry reading plans. As for me, I will keep reading more poetry, no matter the original language was written in.
  
  Rating: 2.5 stars
  Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
• 
  Peter Crofts

  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 century, but far to few.
  
  The analysis of actual poems borders on non existent and at the end of the day all you're really walking away with is a handful of information which can then be used to sound informed about the house of verse without being so. Maybe that's the point.
  
  Paglia's "Break, Blow, Burn" is a far better choice if you are looking for an introduction to Anglo American poetry, some of the analysis is quite deep.
• 
  Ula

  Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own
  
  I’m a self-proclaimed literature geek and one of my favorite things is listening to Great Courses about
  Classics of American Literature by Arnold Weinstein (I highly recommend that one!). That’s the main reason why I was excited about A Little History of Poetry; I thought it would shed some light on poems that were neglected during my school years.
  
  Unfortunately, my excitement was short-lived.
  
  You may think that in the book about poetry should include a poem or two... but not this one! Even if the author gives an elaborate review of the plot, to get a full insight into these less known poems, they need to be read alongside.
  
  The book is also almost exclusively about English poems and the heritage of non-English speaking countries is very briefly reviewed. I was also missing remarks about emancipation works and more people of color as authors.
  
  It’s a course-book and not a standalone position for literature amateurs. I was expecting this book to more inclusive for a wide audience and not only English major students. But, if you happen to be an English major, that book would probably help you better understand the classes.
• 
  Oz Paszkiewicz

  A book that really lives up to its name. Carey tries to cover hundreds of years of literature in one short read. The autobiographical information about each poet is exceptionally brief, as is the point, and leads you to do more research on your own, but it mostly covers the western, male, white literary canon with snippets of other poets along the way. It's a good starting place, but ignores major literary movements which I found some what frustrating. It did help organize names and dates in my head better than they were before, but might be overwhelming for someone who wants to learn about poetry for the first time. I used this book mostly as a refresher, and I would be lying if I said I didn't learn anything, but I wish the book had been organized differently.
• 
  Dan

  The 'Movement' poets were not a group, but they had common aims. They believed poetry should make sense, and should communicate with ordinary people, not just highbrows. It was an English movement. Nothing like it happened in America. The poets involved did not choose to be called the Movement. It was a journalist's label first used in the Spectator in 1954.
  
  In A Little History of Poetry, John Carey provides vignettes of poets and poetic movements through the ages, starting with
  The Epic of Gilgamesh and stopping with
  The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray. He organizes his material into short chapters, quoting some, paraphrasing others. He has a decidedly British focus; he includes "non-Anglo" references, but they are not as detailed. He spends chapters delineating British WWI and WWII poets--which are footnotes in "the history of poetry."
  
  I enjoyed Carey's scope, though. He doesn't provide deep analysis or insight into all poets or poetic movements, but he whets the literary appetite. After each chapter, I wanted to either re-read a favorite poet or read the work of someone I have either missed or ignored. He gives short-shrift where he shouldn't and spends too much time where he shouldn't, but, in the end, it's not really a "history of poetry," it's a little history of poetry. So he provides a little insight into the multifaceted world.
  
  It's worth a look-see. You won't agree with him 100% of the time, since he is prone to hyperbole regarding status and worth. But if you want a rough guide to poetry through the centuries, this is a good place to start as any.
• 
  Chris Merola

  My buddy lent this to me and I figure I'd give poetry another shot.
  
  A Little History is interesting and inconsistent.
  
  The book moves chronologically through the recorded history of poetry, offering readers a sprinkling of detail about the lives and works of major poets as it goes. For some authors, we hear more about their life stories than their work. For others, we get a brief window into the critical reception the work received at the time. For many, Carey makes claims about the author's "best" work, or makes unsubstantiated claims about the author's rank among great poets.
  
  This is the big friction for me - the book is intended to be an introduction to the history of poetry and its major figures, but it insists on telling me the merit of its poets without ever giving me the tools to analyze the poems and come to my own conclusion. Why is one work from Hughes better than another? What makes Wordsworth more of a major poet than Mary Oliver? Why make so many claims if you aren't going to explain your reasoning?
  
  Carey sometimes offers the briefest of textual exploration, citing a word or two here or there and mentioning how their inclusion adds flavor or rhythm to the piece. But generally, I'm lost in the woods as I read this thing - I'm still feeling locked out of the artsy farsty club, wondering if anything worthwhile is inside.
  
  In all fairness, though, I left this with more than a few inklings about poets I'd dig. Murray, Angelou, Plath, Stevie Smith, and William Carlos Williams look like great authors to read in my search for poems that can touch my cold wittle heart.
• 
  Dominique

  Satisfying to have finished this on national poetry day — though I’m not sure I would have had I not been mainly listening to the audiobook. Whilst this is entertaining and gives a nice précis about a lot of famous poets I’ve been curious about, the tone leans (at times) into value judgements and generalisations that got on my nerves after a while. Particularly when they happened to be negative opinions about some poets/poetry I really like. E.g according to John Carey the famous ‘But i in a rougher sea / Was whelmed into deeper gulfs than he’ by Cowper is actually just a reflection of how self-pitying and insane he is rather than just an artistic depiction of what it is like to live with depression and the delusive thoughts that accompany that. And don’t get me started on his views about Hughes and Plath. Ugh.
  
  I guess I thought that — I wish I hadn’t known that — about a lot of the poets I read about. Some of them were far more problematic than I ever had any idea of and now I’m not sure if I’m ever gonna be able to look beyond that. But still, this did introduce me to some poets I’ve always wondered about and encouraged me to look them up!
• 
  Rina (arcaneprocedures)

  Thanks to Netgalley and Yale University Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
  
  "A Little History of Poetry" by John Carey turned out to be the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Let me be clear about this, I was expecting a book half poetry half history, and this is only straight-up history. And it's actually pretty amazing? The book starts at the very beginning of history with the Epic of Gilgamesh, then moves through the centuries to Dante and Petrarch, Shakespeare and Marlowe, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Montagu, Keats and Shelley, Byron, Goethe, Whitman, and Dickinson. It is a very white western male history of poetry rather than a universal one, though. Women poets and non-English (or American) poets are marginal, and they make very few appearances.
  It is a great book nonetheless, and I learned a lot of things I was unaware of. It will be an excellent reference for the poetry collections I plan to start during the summer.
• 
  John Fredrickson

  This book is an outstanding, albeit light, treatment of many different poets, treated in a chronological fashion, as one would expect. Rather than presenting a very dry treatment of poetic movements, Carey begins with Gilgamesh, considering the nature of poetry. As he moves through history, he discusses how poetry changes over time. This discussion is always done in the context of a select group of representative poets of the period.
  
  What makes the book so good is that the poets are introduced by way of a poetic movement, but each poet is discussed as an individual, with enough background biography for the reader to get a sense for some of the issues or concerns that drove that individual, and to see how they fit into the presented history. This is a unique anthology of poets and poems.
• 
  Nancy

  It all started with A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. Then, when I was eleven, discovering the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. By fourteen I was borrowing every poetry book on the school library shelves, spending my scanty allowance to buy the poets I really liked.
  
  I was drawn to some poets and ignored others. I knew little about the lives of the poets I was reading or the social and historical context of the poems.
  
  My education included survey Lit courses, a Modern Poetry class, and an honors class on Milton. I was so ignorant that when my Modern Poetry professor asked me about Ezra Pound's antisemitism and alliance with Fascism it was the first I had heard of it. (My school history classes never seemed to make it past the Civil War.)
  
  My high school World Lit class covered the entire Western Canon. We received mimeographed handouts (yes, I am THAT OLD). We learned about philosophers and economic and scientific thinkers and writers and poets. I went to the library to read from the original works. The brief excerpts piqued my curiosity and I needed to know more.
  
  I tell this story for a reason. John Carey's A Little HIstory of Poetry reminded me of that World Lit Survey class. Carey ploughs through the entire history of poetry in the Western world, starting with Gilgamesh and ending with Mary Oliver and Les Murray.
  
  I was quite familiar with my favorites, but I had given little attention a great many others. It was interesting to fill that gap in my knowledge.
  
  Some poets are mentioned by name or with a few lines, but those Carey deems more important (or perhaps, with more interesting or scandalous lives) get pages.
  
  This treatment has its limitations but also its uses as an introduction. Like my survey course did, readers may be inspired to read further. And readers will know all about Ezra Pound.
  
  I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
• 
  Muaz Jalil

  Fascinating read. Provides good short biography and critical appraisal of poet's work. It seems many of good poets were commoner like Shakespeare, Milton, Keats and others (not Shelly or Byron). Did not know Ezra Pound was so rightwing!
• 
  Jess Smith

  somehow i’ve managed to complete this during the span of two train journeys and let me tell you it’s been a scrumptious ride… this was the perfect book to get me excited for the second year of my english degree as it reignited my love for poetry whilst also being so incredibly informative!!
• 
  Bret

  Short bios of poets going waaaay back. Enjoyable format that gives a sampling to whet your appetite. Fun, if you're into that sort of thing....
• 
  Leonie

  A great, opinionated and biased book to dip into. I read a chapter here, a chapter there and it has been educational, irritating and occasionally enlightening.
• 
  Rochelle

  I lovely general history of poetry and the intriguing people who create it. Its refreshing to hear about the real elements behind the historical characters, the particulars of each historic period and how these elements went on to create the masterpieces we still read today. This book is a perfect introduction to Englisj language poetry throughout the ages. Its refreshing, easy to read and terribly enlightening. Highly recommend.
• 
  Bernie Gourley

  This book offers a wealth of biographical insight into poets, stretching back beyond Homer, but without getting caught up in the minutiae of full biographies. Rather, it’s more about presenting tidbits of information that help uncover why a given poet’s verse is as it is – both mixing an understanding of where the world was during that poet’s time and what the individual was going through. But that’s not all the book does. It also shows the reader how poetry changed over the centuries, how changes in society influenced poetry, and – sometimes -- how poetry influenced society.
  
  If covering poetry from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” through poets of the 20th century in a book with the word “little” in the title seems impossible, it is. It’s done in this volume by being English language poetry-centric. (Some might prefer to call it Western-centric because it discusses the likes of Ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as some German, French, Russian, and Italian poets, but these discussions are largely in the context of those poets interacting in the larger world of poetry.) That is, while it discusses foreign language poetry, it’s mostly with respect to poetry that influenced (or in some cases was influenced by) English-language poets. This focus is most profoundly seen in the book’s dalliances with Asian poetry, which are few and brusque. The book discusses a few Chinese poets as well as Japanese haiku poets, but explicitly in the context of how they influenced Arthur Waley and Ezra Pound. (Also influencing the minimal mark of Indian and Zen schools of poetry is the fact that the Beat poets were lost from the selection process as well.) The only other noteworthy mention of poetry of Asian origin is about Rabindranath Tagore, mostly because he was a Nobel Laureate and was globally prominent enough to influence poets of the English-speaking world (most of his work was originally in Bengali, though he did a lot of his own translations to English.)
  
  The previous paragraph is not so much of a criticism as it might sound. It’s clear that any book that opts to take on an artform with as much longevity and universality as poetry in a single compact volume is going to have to be highly selective. However, I wouldn’t want anyone entering into the book thinking they would learn something about where Norse poetry or Hungarian poetry or Arab Ghazals (none of which bears a substantial mention) fit in the broader poetic scheme, and I can see how someone from an African or Asian tradition would come away offended by the lack of acknowledgement of global poetry. In short, what the book does, I felt it does very well, but its title could make people think it’s a different book than it is.
  
  As a history, the book’s forty chapters are, quite logically, chronologically arranged. However, there are sometimes overlapping time periods because of how poets are thematically grouped. Each chapter shines a light on anywhere from one to about twenty poets (two or three is most common) who were exemplars of the time period. Generally, the chapters describe key details about each poet and his or her place in the art, and then dissects a particularly important work or two from said poet. Except in the case of a few short form pieces, whole poems aren’t presented, but rather illustrative lines or stanzas. (In many cases, I found myself pulling up whole poems on the internet because of curiosity that Carey aroused. Except for a few of the most recent poems, almost all the works discussed are in the public domain, and can be readily accessed.)
  
  I learned a great deal from this book, and I was turned on to some poets that I hadn’t thought much about before by learning of their lives. I’ll definitely be reading more Spender, Wheatley, Auden, and Rossetti. There are many poets I’ve read without any touch of biographical insight beyond a vague notion of when they lived, and so it was interesting to gain an inkling of the world of each.
  
  If you’re interested in poetry or the history of literature, I’d highly recommend this book. While it is English language-centric, if one approaches it knowing that, I think you’ll find it well worth your time.
  
• 
  Nicole Bannister

  I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I Like the setting,the writing style,the plot,the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing.I would gladly reread it again
• 
  Mishehu

  Not so much a history of poetry as a series of (for the most part) chronologically ordered historical/biographical vignettes in the history of poetry (with a few thematic ones tossed in as well). The book is quick-reading and informative but very light. One learns a bit about the lives of the 'major'/'canonical' poets (mostly western, mostly English speaking/writing) and their craft. (Some seriously crazy lives among them!) The book quotes a fair amount of poetry, giving an impression of how the style and focus of poetry has evolved through the ages. The overall effect of the book is that of a pleasantly entertaining/illuminating read, but not a deep one. Chapters are brief. Certain ones (especially the last) are rushed. And a great deal of the history of poetry is omitted (something Carey might have noted more explicitly). If you're a serious student of poetry, I doubt you'll find much to delight in or chew on in this brief treatment. But if, like me, you're a dilettante, you'll likely find this book to be a fine few hours' diversion.
• 
  Bookthesp1

  John Carey is fabulously erudite and this Little introduction is the best I have read in this series and the best introduction to poetry I have come across. He manages to include a very large number of poets but almost every sentence is informative; opinionated; contextual and combined with well chosen quotes to illustrate the style and the point being made. Starting with Gods Heroes and Monsters and the epic of Gilgamesh and ending with Australian poet Les Murray this is a roughly chronological trawl through the ages outlining not just poets but movements, schools and trends. Easy to read short chapters means it can be dipped in and out of but I found it easy to read in longer stretches and it also looks like a worthy reference guide for some pithy point or quote. Was even considering getting the audio version as well which it might be completely suited for. Carey doesn't read this but I could hear his RP drawl in my head as I read the pages. Overall an excellent read; easily digestible but not dumbed down. Coverage of poets is wide and inclusive. Highly recommended.
  
• 
  Vera

  For a book about poetry, this has very little poetry in it, besides the odd line or quote here and there, completely out of context. So little information is provided about poetry itself that this book would only really be useful to fake, wannabe intellectuals who like to drop random snippets of information into conversation in the hopes of sounding educated. Barely any connection is drawn between poets or trends, and there is no overarching picture of the history of poetry - instead it's short paragraphs about a selection of poets throughout. I don't know what exactly I expected from this book, but definitely not this. Only giving it two stars as, on rare occasions, I enjoyed some interesting facts about the poets I like.
• 
  JJS.

  Really good history of poetry, great for anyone looking to get into poetry, but not sure what to start with. Begins with the earliest remains of poetry in ancient times and goes all the way up to current poets.
  Only issue with this book was that the title should probably be "History of Western Poetry" (meaning Europe and the Americas) since it neglects the major poets outside Europe like Rumi, only mentioning him in passing, and some other movements of poetry are ignored like the Russian Futurists (though Mayakovsky, granted is mentioned).
  
  Otherwise, this is a great book to start with on poetry or if you just want to learn about the history of poetry in Europe and the Americas.
• 
  Jilly

  I really enjoyed this very readable 'Little History of Poetry'. It is a fascinating history of poets, their lives, their influences and their poems. I liked seeing them in chronological order as it helped me put them in perspective in relation to things happening in the world when they were writing. It would have been nice to see a few more poems but it has given me an appetite to search out some of the poets mentioned and explore further. Thank you to John Carey, NetGalley and Yale University Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.