I read this lovely anthology a few poems at a time, so as to savor the experience. Some poems were familiar "greatest hits" of well-known poets, but others were more obscure and from poets not as widely read in the U.S. Just a fabulous collection.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a lovely poetry anthology to add to any poetry lovers' collection. I hadn't realized how many poets had a home at FSG, and this volume, organized in rough chronological order from the 1950s to today, makes clear the breadth of poets that FSG published. Plenty of favorites here as well as so many others yet to discover, which will make this the perfect volume to dip in and out of frequently.

Many thanks to NetGalley and FSG for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. A pleasure.

This is a great collection that I was very happy to explore. Many of the poems were ones I had encountered elsewhere but I always love a good collection that gathers some good choices together in one place. Definitely one to get for the shelves one day.

This poetry anthology highlights some of the best poets and poetry coming out of FSG over the last few decades. I found a few well-loved favorites of my own and a few names I didn't know but liked. Can you really ask anything more from an anthology? It is organized both chronologically but also in more subtle ways, connecting poems by theme or focus at times. Subtle but appreciated!

Some of my favorites:

We are Many by Pablo Neruda
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-ar...

Night by Louise Bogan
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...

Crossroads by Louise Glück
https://medium.com/@mj1982m/crossroad...

A Winter Night by Tomas Tranströmer, translated by Robin Robertson
https://www.npr.org/2012/01/09/144904...

Dancer by Nelly Sachs, translated by Joshua Weiner
(And interestingly, I think this is a new translation, because I found one called "Ballerina" that has parallels but is not the same... use this anthology to read this version)

In broad dayliGht black moms look grieving by Roya Marsh

And this leads me to say that overall it is very western and very white and very male as one would expect in a retrospective. There are some small beacons of otherness and I did enjoy some of these translations (Mark Strand on Neruda for instance,) but let's hope they include more of the wide world of voices in the next set of decades!

I also took note of a few Russian poets I may want to read for my project next year - Joseph Brodsky, Aleksandr Kushner, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The FSG Poetry Anthology presents poems and poets from the very beginning of Farrar, Straus and Giroux's publishing history, through to the present day. The anthology, arranged in a loose chronological order, celebrates the publisher's history of poetic achievement and charts its literary sensibilities across time.

This was a solid poetry anthology. I don't think every poem in any given anthology is for every reader, but I think every reader could easily find one, or two, or ten poems in this anthology that speak to them on that deeper level which compels all of us to turn back to poetry at some point in our lives.

As a reader who's mostly only had exposure to FSG's longer-form publications, it was interesting and refreshing to see how the publishing company's award-winning sensibilities translated into poetry. I certainly was not disappointed. From Grace Paley to Pablo Neruda to Elizabeth Bishop, the poets on the page were all of high caliber, and the scope of the collection left me wanting very little.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A complete anthology of the poetry published by FSG. The anthology includes some well known names in the literary world. Some are complete surprises. A welcome addition for all poetry lovers.

So I have just been reading one poem a day from this anthology since I received it. Some of the poems are familiar, of course, but I have discovered many others that I haven't read and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Sometimes your tone
transforms us for a moment,
we believe - truly -
that every day is sacred,

that poetry - how to put it? -
makes life rounder,
fuller, prouder, unashamed
of perfect formulation.

- Adam Zagajewski, "Reading Milosz"
(Trans. Clare Cavanagh)

***

Dialogues fade out,
they are made of thought,
repeated by an echo.
A silence is invoked,
fingers on a windowpane,
a step taken between tables.
Since one is benevolent,
one says song and light.

- Marie Étienne, "King of a Hundred Horsemen"
(Trans. Marilyn Hacker)

***

And don't we live a parallel life in thought,
an attentiveness not unlike

a natural prayer of the mind and not-mind?
The shadow cast between them.
Where an unlight burns.

Karen Solie, "Affirmations"

***

...I hope there's
Someone, that it cast its spell
beyond the small cone of light
Hovering over my desk, and that
what started out one night
So long ago in silence doesn't end
that way. I fantasize
I can hear it somewhere in the realm
of possibility,
But only now and then, in intervals
between breaths.

- John Koethe, " What Was Poetry?"


Thanks to NetGalley and FSG for the ARC of this splendid anthology consisting of a constellation of brilliant poets.

A collection of poetry that has been published by Fsg.A collection of 75years of poetry.A wide variety of poems and poets.A book poetry lovers will dip in and out of.This anthology would make a wonderful gift.#netgalley#fsg

On the one hand, I did really enjoy some of these poems and there are certainly great poets in these pages. There's some diversity in not just race and gender but also language and style. That said, the introduction hit on one of the things I dislike so much about the established poetry community. It gleefully tells of how the friendships of the editors and poets led to their inclusions in the journal over the years, and to their friends in turn being welcomed into the fold. The published poetry community has always been a sort of snobbish private club. So many voices have been unwelcome until recently when the rise of Instagram poetry (heaven help us), small presses and other avenues have finally begun to open up poetry for readers and writers of all types. If you enjoy the "best" poets of the past near-century in terms of who got the most press and accolades in their own incestuous elite poetry circles, you will find them here. And they are good. But it is very much a look to a very selective group of pretty people, so to speak. It all felt a little old and done to me.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

I tried giving this book a shot but couldn't get into it. I'm more of a modern poetry reader than stuff that is dated back a couple hundred years.

Poetry lovers, or those who want to explore poetry in the hopes of becoming one, mark your calendar for this book’s publication date. It is an incredibly generous and wide-ranging collection of poetry over the 75 years of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux’s history.

The book is organized by time periods. The first poems included are from the 1950s and they keep going from there, right up until the 2020s. There are so many wonderful poets in here that I cannot possibly name them all. Just a few from the first section of the book to give readers an idea; Pablo Neruda, T.S. Eliot, Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop and Randall Jarrell to name just some. By the time readers approach the 2020s, they can read works by Sylvie Baumgarten, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Spenser Resece and others. In between there are a cornucopia of choices.

I highly recommend this title. Get it for yourself or as a gift for someone you know. It is worth it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.