100 Essential American Poems (Paperback)

The way we view our nation---its history, its traditions, even our distinctly American voice---is largely determined by our literature. In this rewarding and thought-provoking book are gathered poems that have been essential components of our common American culture, from the earliest days of our nation through canonic works of the nineteenth century and up to the present day. "100 Essential American Poems" includes fondly remembered works by such familiar figures as Longfellow, Poe, and Whitman, and popular classics like "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and "Casey at the Bat," but it also features passionate outcries from poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes that highlight our ongoing national racial tensions, and poems by such women as Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay that supply a distinctly female perspective on American life. Also included are the lyrics of such expressions of the American spirit as "Yankee Doodle," "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "This Land Is Your Land," in addition to a few surprises! The immortal poems and songs included here, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, will remind every reader of the richness and variety of the poetry of America and its people.

Leslie M. Pockell is an editor at a major publishing house in New York. He is has compiled several highly acclaimed poetry collections, including the bestselling "The 100 Best Poems of All Time."

The understanding of the United States--its history, its traditions, even the distinctly American voice--is largely determined by literature. Gathered in this rewarding and thought-provoking book are poems that have been essential components of our common American culture, from the earliest days of the nation through canonic works of the nineteenth century and up to the present day. "100 Essential American Poems" includes works by such familiar figures as Longfellow, Poe, and Whitman, and popular classics like "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and "Casey at the Bat." It also features passionate outcries from poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes that highlight our ongoing national racial tensions, and poems by such women as Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay that supply a distinctly female perspective on American life. Also included are the lyrics of such expressions of the American spirit as "Yankee Doodle," "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "This Land Is Your Land," which represent another facet of American literary tradition! The immortal poems and songs included here, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, will remind the reader of the richness and variety of the poetry of America and its people. "[Pockell] focuses on poems that have fueled the American identity. Covering 400 years, the poems range from classic, to familiar (and for nostalgics, poems most likely memorized and recited), to those that touch upon the seminal events in America's history. The collection aims to present an evolving American 'voice' while following the country's growth in human rights, feminism and diversity. A short author bio prefaces each selection . . . A work that serves as reference, comfort, and a reminder poetry's significance in the everyday experience of American life, this is a volume worthy of any shelf."--"Publishers Weekly" "Pockell, associate publisher at Time Warner Books Group, focuses on poems that have fueled the American identity. Covering 400 years, the poems range from classic, to familiar (and for nostalgics, poems most likely memorized and recited), to those that touch upon the seminal events in America's history. The collection aims to present an evolving American 'voice' while following the country's growth in human rights, feminism and diversity. A short author bio prefaces each selection, beginning with the 17th century's Anne Bradstreet, who celebrates being female in a harsh environment. Well known names like Herman Melville, Emily Dickenson, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath are represented by their seminal works, and the beauty of this collection is the coming together of the best loved poems of the best loved American poets. A work that serves as reference, comfort, and a reminder poetry's significance in the everyday experience of American life, this is a volume worthy of any shelf."--"Publishers Weekly"

Table of Contents
Introduction
"The Prologue" by Anne Bradstreet
"The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet
"Before the Birth of One of Her Children" by Anne Bradstreet
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet
"Amazing Grace" by John Newton
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" (traditional)
"The Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key
"A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore
"Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant
"Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Barbara Frietchie" by John Greenleaf Whittier
"Snow-Bound" by John Greenleaf Whittier
"Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Deacon's Masterpiece, or The Wonderful "One-Hoss Shay"" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
"To Helen" by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
"What Is So Rare As a Day in June" from "The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell
"Billy in the Darbies" by Herman Melville
"What is the grass from Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman
"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" by Walt Whitman
"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman
"A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman
"I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman
"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by Walt Whitman
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" by Walt Whitman
"Battle-Hymn of the Republic" by Julia Ward Howe
"Go Down, Moses" (traditional)
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" (traditional)
"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" by Stephen C. Foster
"Old Folks at Home" by Stephen C. Foster
"Wild nights!--wild nights!" by Emily Dickinson
"There is no frigate like a book" by Emily Dickinson
""Hope" is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson
"I taste a liquor never brewed" by Emily Dickinson
"I'm nobody! Who are you?" by Emily Dickinson
"Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
"The Face on the Barroom Floor" by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy
"Git Along, Little Dogies" (traditional)
"Sioux Ghost Dance" (translated by James Mooney)
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus
"Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field
"Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
"Anne Rutledge" from "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters
"A Man Said to the Universe" by Stephen Crane
"In the Desert" (from "The Black Riders and Other Lines") by Stephen Crane
"The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service
"The Shooting of Dan McGrew" by Robert W. Service
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson