Introduction

This is my attempt to chronicle my reading of The Viking Book of Poetry of the English Speaking World (4th edition) published in 1946. This edition has a few nice features:
1. The poems go chronologically starting with the first real recognizable English poem; Beowulf (you know, that guy that was in that move with Angelina Jolie). This is kind of cool as I can see the English language develop and watch history happen in eras about which I do not know enough.
2. The poetry ends somewhere right before 1923, thus they are all out of copyright. This means that they can be all found on the web, or if I want to I can reprint the poems with reckless abandon.
3. There is less than 30 pages of Shakespeare.

The goal is to actually COMPLETE the book, while reading each poem. The problem I have with reading is that unless people are fighting zombies or referring to studies in economics, I tend to skip around a bit. This is completely unacceptable in poetry, as each line has been crafted, fine tuned, and (in some cases) stood the test of time to be delivered to me without context in a nice anthology.

Plus this works as a great academic exercise in a semi-forgotten art. I mean "poetry" hasn't been forgotten, but anything that isn't super modern or considered a "classic" hasn't been read by my current generation. We are all too busy reading Jewel's book or some modern equivalent.

Besides, this is all considered part of a proper education, toward which I have constantly worked. My primary line of study was in philosophy, math, and Latin and just because I have to get a marketable skill does not mean I should stop my classical refinement.

Furthermore, to ensure that I understand what I am reading I am going to write a reflection paragraph on EACH POEM IN THE BOOK*.

So, class, turn to page one and let us begin.


*Come to think of it, this is a really bad idea.