poetry

If you haven't been scared away by the pompous title, this book will satisfy your thirst for beautiful and rewarding literature. These are stories selected by Bloom, inc. according to the "worthy of rereading" litmus test, which is, after all, the only real gauge we have for deciding what and what not to read. The stories and poems are primarily drawn from the 19th century, and range from Melville to Lewis Carrol. The selections are arranged thematically by the seasons. The book is handsomely packaged and is a great bed-time reader. Enjoy it on a winter evening among friends, loved ones, and children of all ages. It will rekindle your passion for imaginative literature.

This wonderful anthology reminds me of a bookshelf in the house where I grew up. Every children's book we ever had eventually went onto that shelf, along with old anthology sets and even college literature textbooks that I assume had belonged to my parents. The children browsed at large, and there were always old favorites and new acquaintances to find.

This book is like that. Its arrangement (by the seasons of the year) might frustrate a linear mind but is nice for browsing. It contains selections for the quite young (my 3-year-old enjoyed Lear's "The Jumblies" and Kipling's "The Elephant's Child") as well as for rather precocious pre-teens (Hardy's "the Three Strangers" comes to mind). This makes the book worth having in hardback. Themes of love and death, contemplation and fancy, adventure and mystery are sounded by many of the most capable and sensitive authors of the West. The writing is excellent throughout, and there's a refreshing absence of condescension and pedantry.

As our shelf did, Bloom's book holds mostly stories and poems of the Western tradition. That limitation can be criticized, but it would be a mistake, in my view, to let that be a reason for not giving a child this book. You can still buy Ananzi stories or Chinese literature or whatever other books you want. And they'll fit right next to it on the shelf.

Harold Bloom is not only a leading literary critic and analyst; he is also a reader almost beyond measure. He has read more than even an avid reader would find possible in a couple of lifetimes. This makes it very easy for us to find things of value to learn from his writing and thinking about literature. At least it does for me.

Bloom has such passion and love for prose and poetry that it infects me and I find his bold pronouncements an invitation to question and my own conclusion and preconceptions. Of course, Bloom wouldn't expect you to agree with him simply because he said it. He would invite challenge and argument, but be prepared in your challenges!

This is a collection of forty-one stories and eighty-three poems that Bloom particularly loves and considers wonderful foundational reading. As he says, he does not believe in children's literature and these pieces wouldn't be found in most contemporary public primary school readings. But the poems are mostly short enough that a younger reader could go over them enough times to begin possessing them by heart in your memory. This is not a process of rote memorization, but of taking a kind of ownership through bonding with the material.

What a great body of material Prof. Bloom has given us here. It is a bound series or riches offered as a gift for us to return to again and again and draw from throughout our life.

Thanks, Prof. Bloom!