Collects works by forty-seven important poets, arranged chronologically by birth order from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, to Sylvia Plath, and includes biographies, essays by accomplished contemporary poets, and CD recordings of each featured poet reading his or her own works.

Rev. ed. of: Poetry speaks, 2001. Includes index.

Ulysses /Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) --Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) --; Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) --; Tithonus /; Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) --; Crossing the bar /; Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) --; My last Duchess --; Robert Browning (1812-1889) --; Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister /; Robert Browning (1812-1889) --; Meeting at night /; Robert Browning (1812-1889) --; Crossing Brooklyn Ferry /; Walt Whitman (1819-1892) --; Bivouac on a mountain side /; Walt Whitman (1819-1892) --; Last invocation /; Walt Whitman (1819-1892) --; Adam's curse /; William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) --; Second coming /; William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) --; Among school children /; William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) --; Sailing to Byzantium /; William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) --; Crazy Jane on the day of judgment /; William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) --; If I told him /; Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) --; To earthward /; Robert Frost (1874-1963) --; Come in /; Robert Frost (1874-1963) --; Chicago /; Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) --; Fog /; Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) --; Fabliau of Florida /; Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) --; Bantams in Pine-Woods /; Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) --; Thirteen ways of looking at a Blackbird /; Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) --; Idea of order at Key West /; Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) --; Chamber music II /; James Joyce (1882-1941) --; Chamber music X /; James Joyce (1882-1941) --; Chamber music XVIII /; James Joyce (1882-1941) --; She weeps over Rahoon /; James Joyce (1882-1941) --; Ecce Puer /; James Joyce (1882-1941) --; Spring and all /; William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) --; To a poor old woman /; William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) --; Sort of a song /; William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) --; River-merchant's wife: a letter /; Ezra Pound (1885-1972) --; In a station of the Metro /; Ezra Pound (1885-1972) --; Garden /; H.D. (1886-1961) --; Orchard /; H.D. (1886-1961) --; Helen /; H.D. (1886-1961) --; Oread /; H.D. (1886-1961) --; Hurt Hawks /; Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) --; Purse-Seine /; Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) --; Carmel Point /; Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) --; Painted head /; John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974) --; Equilibrists /; John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974) --; Dead boy /; John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974) --; Journey of the Magi /; T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) --; Burnt Norton from Four Quartets /; T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) --; First fig /; Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) --; Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink /; Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) --; News item /; Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) --; Pig's-eye view of literature /; Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) --; Lady's reward /; Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) --; In just /; E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) --; Love is a place /; E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) --; May I feel said he /; E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) --; Pity this busy monster /; E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) --; Ulysses /; Robert Graves (1895-1985) --; Return of the Goddess /; Robert Graves (1895-1985) --; Amergin's charm /; Robert Graves (1895-1985) --; With her lips only /; Robert Graves (1895-1985) --; Time of waiting /; Robert Graves (1895-1985).; Medusa /; Louise Bogan (1897-1970) --; Daemon --; Louise Bogan (1897-1970) --; Sleeping fury /; Louise Bogan (1897-1970) --; Lambda /; Melvin B. Tolson (1898-1966) --; O vocables of love /; Laura (Riding) Jackson (1901-1991) --; Take hands /; Laura (Riding) Jackson (1901-1991) --; I, too /; Langston Hughes (1902-1967) --; Good morning /; Langston Hughes (1902-1967) --; Luck /; Langston Hughes (1902-1967) --; Trouble with women is men /; Ogden Nash (1902-1971) --; Portrait of the artist as a prematurely old man /; Ogden Nash (1902-1971) --; Laments for a dying language /; Ogden Nash (1902-1971) --; O where are you going? /; W.H. Auden (1907-1973) --; Funeral blues /; W.H. Auden (1907-1973) --; As I walked out one evening /; W.H. Auden (1907-1973) --; Bagpipe music /; Louis MacNeice (1907-1963) --; British Museum Reading Room /; Louis MacNeice (1907-1963) --; Star-gazer /Louis MacNeice (1907-1963) --; Sloth /; Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) --; In a dark time /; Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) --; Map /; Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) --; Armadillo /; Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) --; One art /; Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) --; In the waiting room /; Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) -- At Truro /; May Swenson (1913-1989) --; Orbiter 5 shows how Earth looks from the moon /; May Swenson (1913-1989) --; July 4th /; May Swenson (1913-1989) --; Woods at night /; May Swenson (1913-1989) --; Frederick Douglass /; Robert Hayden (1913-1980) --; Homage to the Empress of the Blues /; Robert Hayden (1913-1980) --; Words in the mourning time /; Robert Hayden (1913-1980) --; From Letter to the front /; Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) --; Ballad of Orange and Grape /; Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) --; Passing remark /; William Stafford (1914-1993) --; Saint Matthew and all /; William Stafford (1914-1993) --; Report to Crazy Horse /; William Stafford (1914-1993) --; 90 North /; Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) --; Next day /; Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) --; From the Dream Songs /; John Berryman (1914-1972) --; "Sole Watchman" from Eleven Addresses to the Lord /; John Berryman (1914-1972) --; And death shall have no dominion /; Dylan Thomas (19141-1953) --; In my craft or sullen art /; Dylan Thomas (19141-1953) --; Do not go gentle into that good night /; Dylan Thomas (19141-1953) -- "To speak of woe that is in marriage" /; Robert Lowell (1917-1977) --; For the Union dead /; Robert Lowell (1917-1977) --; Epilogue /; Robert Lowell (1917-1977) --; Boy died in my alley /; Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) --; Speech to the young /; Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) --; Structure of Rime I /; Robert Duncan (1919-1988) --; Sentinels /; Robert Duncan (1919-1988) --; 7th chorus from Orizaba 210 Blues /; Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) --; from Biographical Resume, Fall 1957 /; Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) --; 99th chorus from Mexico City Blues /; Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) --; 114th chorus from Mexico City Blues /; Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) --; Rimbaud /; Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) --; Whitson Weddings /; Philip Larkin (1922-1985) --; Wild oats /; Philip Larkin (1922-1985) --; This be the verse /; Philip Larkin (1922-1985) --; Come into animal presence /; Denise Levertov (1923-1997) --; Talking to grief /; Denise Levertov (1923-1997) --; Woman alone /; Denise Levertov (1923-1997) --; America /; Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) --; Why I am not a painter /; Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) --; Poem (Hate is only one of many responses) /; Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) --; Day lady died /; Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) --; Her kind /; Anne Sexton (1928-1974) --; For my lover, returning to his wife /; Anne Sexton (1928-1974) --; Rumpelstiltskin /; Anne Sexton (1928-1974) --; Howling of wolves /; Ted Hughes (1930-1998) --; Crow's first lesson /; Ted Hughes (1930-1998) --; Pink wool knitted dress /; Ted Hughes (1930-1998) --; Hard Rock returns to prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane /; Etheridge Knight (1931-1991) --; Dark Prophecy: I sing of shine /; Etheridge Knight (1931-1991) --; Violent space /; Etheridge Knight (1931-1991) --; Tulips /; Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) --; Morning song /; Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) --; I am vertical /; Sylvia Plath (1932-1963).; Disc 1; From "The bugle song" --; From The charge of the light brigade --; How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix --; From America --; Yeats on "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" --; Lake Isle of Innisfree --; Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931 --; Christian Berard --; She bowed to her brother /; Oven bird --; Road not taken --; Stopping by woods on a snowy evening --; Nothing gold can stay --; Silken tent --; Grass --; cool tombs --; 107 from The People, Yes --; So-and-so reclining on her couch --; Not ideas about the thing but the thing itself --; From Anna Livia Plurabelle from Finnegans Wake --; Queen-Anne's-Lace --; To Elsie --; Red wheelbarrow --; Cantico del sole --; Hugh Selwyn Mauberley --; XLV from the Cantos --; From Helen in Egypt --; Day is a poem (September 19, 1939) --; Oh, lovely rock --; Captain Carpenter --; Bells for John Whiteside's daughter --; Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock --; La Figlia Che Piange.; Disc 2; Recuerdo --; I shall forget you presently, my dear --; Childhood is the kingdom hwere nobody dies --; One perfect rose --; Resume --; Afternoon --; From anyone lived in a pretty how town --; As freedom is a breakfastfood --; Castle --; To Juan at the Winter solstice --; Blue-fly --; Dream --; Song for the last act --; Ex-judge at the bar --; Dark symphony --; Death as death --; Nothing so far --; Negro speaks of rivers --; Mother to Son --; Weary blues --; Harlem --; I do, I will, I have --; I must tell you about my novel --; In memory of W.B. Yeats --; Musee des Beaux Arts --; If I could tell you --; Conversation --; Meeting point --; My Papa's waltz --; Waking --; I knew a woman --; Fish --; From Crusoe in England --; Question --; Watch --; Those winter Sundays --; El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) --; Night feeding --; Poem as mask --; Waiting for Icarus.; Disc 3; Star in the hills --; Traveling through the dark --; Death of the Ball Turret Gunner --; Selle im Raum --; Ball poem --; 4 from the Dream Songs --; 22 from the Dream Songs --; Fern Hill --; Among those killed in the dawn raid was a man aged a hundred --; Skunk hour --; Home after three months away --; Song in the front yard --; Kitchenette building --; We real cool --; Poetry, a natural thing --; Often I am permitted ot return to a meadow --; MacDougal Street Blues: Canto Uno --; From Book of Haikus --; Places, loved ones --; Old fools --; Secret --; Her sadness --; From Howl --; Supermarket in California --; Ave Maria --; Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!) --; Truth the dead know --; From the Operation --; Thought-fox --; February 17 --; Idea of ancestry --; Belly song --; Daddy --; Lady Lazarus.