Some Poetry Anthologies

The books in question are on my bookshelves.

This afternoon I spent a few hours attempting to sort out books in my library - always a dangerous thing to do as I end up reading, and indeed re-reading, rather than sorting, putting away or recycling.  Any book lover certainly knows this compulsion well.  Anyway, I chanced to spend more time perusing poetry books and anthologies, and now I will share with you a short review of five anthologies - with all of which Niall MacMonagle has had some connection.  MacMonagle is a teacher, broadcaster and critic here in Ireland.  Four of these anthologies form the series called Lifelines - Lifelines, I, II, III and Lifelines New and Collected - all published by Townhouse, Dublin,  1992, 1994, 1997 and 2004 respectively.  The fifth and final anthology is  Off The Wall, Marino, 2002.

The word "anthology" has an unusual etymology, to say the least, viz., it derives from the Greek word ἀνθολογία (anthologia; literally “flower-gathering”) for garland — or bouquet of flowers. The term "miscellany" is also used, but it was more common in the past.  In medieval Europe the term "florilegium", again meaning a collection of flowers, was used for an anthology of Latin proverbs and textual excerpts.  I also remember a wonderful anthology our primary teachers used with us called: Flowers from Many Gardens, and it was compiled and edited by the Irish Christian Brothers for use in their schools.  Perusing an anthology of poems is like sauntering through a garden.  One can stop here or there as this, that or another poem or flower grabs our attention.

The first four anthologies named above were all brought out under the auspices of a charity endeavour by Mr MacMonagle's students to raise money for developing countries.  These anthologies proved very successful indeed - hence the title of the fourth edition.  Essentially this inspiring teacher got a committee of interested students together and they wrote to people of note to get them to name their favourite poem and say why they liked it in a paragraph or two.  They had practically 100% response to their request.  Indeed, their request was so novel that the respondents immediately reacted positively.  Amongst the respondents were Roy Foster (historian), Graham Norton (broadcaster), Bertie Aherne (Taoiseach), Doris Lessing (novelist), Richard Dawkins (scientist and professor), Iris Murdoch (philosopher and novelist), Cathal Ó Searcaigh (poet), Tomás O Fiaich (Cardinal), James Plunkett (novelist), Nuala O Faoláin (journalist and novelist), John Gielgood (stage and screen actor), Arthur Miller (dramatist) and Jeremy Irons (actor).  There were hundreds more, too.  While the poems they each chose were in some cases well-known and anthologised many times, in other cases, they were less well-known and quite uniquely new and surprising for this reader at least. In many cases, the letters in which these respondents gave the reason for their choice were equally as rewarding and inspiring as the poem chosen.

The final anthology listed above is Off the Wall which has an array of poems from disparate places and poets, a veritable garden of multifarious flowers.  Oftentimes, I find poems so short that they are haiku-like in intensity and say a lot when pondered upon in a zen-like fashion.  One poem I quite like - a three-liner from the hand of Irish poet and professor Brendan Kennelly runs:

The Back of My Hand

I know myself like the back of my hand.

I rarely glance at the back of my hand.

Question me not about the back of my hand.

(p.134)

There are roughly 150 poets anthologised in this final anthology, many of whom I have never heard of before, and indeed that is a very good thing.  All these anthologies have good indices of titles, first lines, poets and short biographies. 

Good anthologies never go ignored on any bookshelves - like beautiful flowers in a garden - so to speak.