From Song of Myself (A Poem from The Poets' Corner)

The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

By: John Lithgow

Narrated by: John Lithgow

From listening to his grandmother recite epic poems from memory to curling up in bed while his father read funny verses, award-winning actor John Lithgow grew up with poetry. Ever since, John has been an enthusiastic seeker of poetic experience, whether reading, reciting, or listening to great poems.

The wide variety of carefully selected poems in this book provides the perfect introduction to appeal to readers new to poetry, and for poetry lovers to experience beloved verses in a fresh, vivid way. William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Dylan Thomas are just a few names among Lithgow's comprehensive list of poetry masters. His essential criterion is that "each poem's light shines more brightly when read aloud." This unique package provides a multimedia poetry experience with a bonus MP3 CD of revelatory poetry readings by John and the familiar voices of such notable performers as Eileen Atkins, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, Billy Connolly, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Lynn Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Gary Sinise, and Sam Waterston.

Every reader will enjoy reciting or listening to these poems with the entire family, appreciating how each one comes to life through the spoken word in this superlative poetry collection.©2007 The Watershed Company; (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Wonderful readings by well-known voices

Any additional comments?

Four stars for the content, elevated to an enthusiastic five stars for this audiobook version because trust me, you have not lived until you've heard Billy Connolly reading Robert Burns' "To a Mouse". What an absolute blast that was to hear. His reading of Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" is also lots of fun; I played those tracks easily three or four times over before allowing myself to move on. Morgan Freeman's reading of T.S. Eliot's "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" is exceptional, too, and merits attentive listening. Most of the other readings are also quite good, with really only two or three that fell kind of flat.

There are 50 poems in this collection. Each poem is preceded by a short biographical sketch of the poet and is followed by a few words of appreciative commentary and a short list of other favorites by that poet. I appreciated that the poets were presented in alphabetic rather than chronological order, which made for a nice variety of tones and styles throughout, rather than having to march through time and listen to, say, all the Romantics all at once, which at least for me would probably have started feeling a bit tedious.

Overall, very enjoyable. I'll be coming back to this one before too long.

A true audiobook

Interesting commentaries and fantastic interpretations. Poetry is one of the best uses of audiobook. I finished the book far better than I have begun it

Awesome!

Favorite Actors performing renowned works of literature. I loved it! All of it! Highly recommend to poetry lovers

Totally delighted

Love John lithgow so much. Such a fantastic narrator. Loved all the guest speakers. It’s definitely not a typical collection of poetry and that was nice. There were some old reliables in there. But overall it was nice to be introduced to poems if not heard and his analysis of them is superb so even if I didn’t like the poem I really enjoyed his analysis, commentary and final words. I was able to appreciate those I didn’t like and listened twice to ones I loved. I especially appreciate the chapters actually being listed so I could go back to specific poets and analysis. Really enjoyed this. I want more.

A book even the poetry adverse can enjoy

Lithgow doesn't just read the poems, he provides context about the poets, who they were, when they lived, how they wrote. And, after reading the poem he offers suggestions of other poems by the same author for the listener to enjoy. This format is far more effective then just reading the poem. And the "guest readers" do an amazing job.

Poetry tends to be undervalued in our modern society, but this is a book that even the poetry-adverse can enjoy.