101 Famous Poems

Originally published in 1916, Roy J. Cook's "101 Famous Poems" is one of the finest collections of poetry ever assembled. The book seems to include a poem, word, or even a phrase (e.g. tinnabulation and runcible spoons) for just about everyone. There are poems of encouragement (such as Frank Stanton's "Keep a'Goin") and poems to delight both children and the young at heart-such as Eugene Field's "Little Boy Blue," Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy Cat," and Mary Howitt's "The Spider and the Fly." There are also light-hearted poems with good points for even today, such Eugene Field's "The Duel" (an entertaining tale about the gingham dog and calico cat that scrapped so wildly they ate each other up).From the World War I era, we read Alan Seeger's "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," which tragically came true in his case. Other heart-wrenching war poems from that era include "In Flander's Fields" by John McRae, "Grass" by Carl Sandburg, "The Spires of Oxford" by Winifred M. Letts, and "