Buy used:
$5.99
FREE delivery May 20 - 24. Details
Or fastest delivery May 14 - 17. Details
Used: Like New | Details
Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore
Condition: Used: Like New
Comment: Pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

The 20th Century in Poetry Paperback – August 1, 2013

by Michael Hulse (Author), Simon Rae (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 53 ratings
See all formats and editions

The history of the 20th century as seen through the eyes of our greatest poets, from Thomas Hardy and W.B. Yeats to Seamus Heaney and W.S. Merwin.

This impressive anthology presents over four hundred poems written during the twentieth century. Covering every major period of our cultural history―supporting their stance that no poet works in isolation from contemporary events―the editors have placed each poem within its historical context as well as the century’s overall poetic development.By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see these poets in a new light. Here A. E. Housman rubs shoulders with T. S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against the modernist orthodoxy.Including poems by Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Frost, G. K. Chesterton, Ezra Pound, Philip Larkin, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, W. H. Auden, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Frank O’Hara, Ted Hughes,Sylvia Plath, John Updike, Robert Penn Warren, and a host of others, this richly rewarding collection captures the history of the twentieth century within one monumental volume.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    864 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  4. Publication date
    August 1, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6.1 x 1.9 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1605984558
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1605984551
  8. See all details
Next page
All the Little Raindrops: A Novel
"All the Little Raindrops: A Novel" by Mia Sheridan for $10.39
The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Poets Hulse and Rae take a fresh and encompassing approach to the symbiosis between history and poetry in this prodigious harvest of more than four hundred twentieth-century poems. An entire universe of poetry lives here.”
- Booklist, starred review

About the Author

Michael Hulse teaches poetry at Warwick University and regularly does reading tours in England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. He is based in Warwick, England.

Simon Rae is a playwright, novelist, and broadcaster. He lives in Oxfordshire. Both Michael Hulse and Simon Rae are published poets and winners of the National Poetry Competition in England.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; Reprint edition (August 1, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 864 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1605984558
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1605984551
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.9 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 53 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
53 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John Everard
5.0 out of 5 stars A good anthology
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
This is a good, imaginative selection of twentieth-century poetry. The introduction is intelligent and the notes are useful, and the poems are well formatted. I have enjoyed reading it.
Helpful
 Report
Gary
4.0 out of 5 stars Hard to beat this one
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2018
Verified Purchase
Despite a few puzzling choices, a very good anthology that provides some of the greatest poetry and glimpses of recent history.
Helpful
 Report
Timbo
5.0 out of 5 stars A better view of our collective past
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2012
Verified Purchase
Thank goodness Amazon has taken the plunge and provided quality poetry. This anthology is an absolute delight for all lovers of poetry and a needed balance to received views of the last century. Present are poems and poets from the world over. As with all anthologies, there are some familiar and many others presented for the first time to many readers.The poetry gives creative artists' insights into the events and trends that shaped the twentieth century without the bluster of historians getting in the way and insights into the ordinary, the everyday. Here are the sharp critical views of those many disregard - poets. The anthology is enhanced by the brief commentary at each section. More great poetry please.
9 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jim R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good olio, well organized
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2015
Verified Purchase
Not every 20th Century poet, but most of the better known ones are represented. It's easy to read on my Kindle and fairly easy to jump around. Includes great variety from romantic to humorous to World War I ironies to the somewhat more challenging obscurities by Wallace Stevens, just about every genre you would want to see in a book with this title. Excellent for use in doctors' waiting rooms when you want to be entertained for a few minutes, or for settling in on a winter afternoon with the fire blazing and good music on the stereo.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
John R. Dunn
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017
Verified Purchase
Great collection at a fair price.
Helpful
 Report
kleetraveler
5.0 out of 5 stars One poetry collection you need by your bed.
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
One poetry collection you need by your bed.

Great poetry anthology.
Great collection of 20th century poetry.
You can understand how the poets followed the times.
Very worthwhile to have one copy at home.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
anne ewbank
5.0 out of 5 stars GOOD SELECTIONS
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2013
Verified Purchase
I OWN MANY BOOKS OF POETRY BUT THIS SELECTION IS UNIQUE IN THAT IT CONTAINS POEMS NOT GENERALLY WELL KNOWN OR AT LEAST OFTEN FOUND IN OTHER COLLECTIONS.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Some good poetry, terrible collection
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2013
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book from my mother's Christmas wish list; she is a poet and I am a former history major, so the concept of telling the history of a century through poetry appealed to both of us. After we both made attempts to read it, however, we decided it deserved no more than a return. While some of the poetry in this anthology is well done (thus the 2-star rather than 1-star rating), the collection as a whole is a depressing, despairing, and almost unrelentingly negative. In paging through these offerings, the reader is left with the impression that the 20th century was a new Dark Age of unceasing war, pestilence, death, and destruction. The editors' selections by and large ignore or, worse, denigrate the great achievements and successes that highlighted these years. We'll be looking for another anthology that offers at least some degree of balance in its treatment of this historical period.
31 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Rupert Garcia
5.0 out of 5 stars Mum Loved it!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2023
Verified Purchase
I must say, I haven't read any of this book at all, as it was a present for my dear old Mum, but she was over the moon with it. A quality purchase and very highly recommended.
Report
Margaret Bignell
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2015
Verified Purchase
good resource and interesting in the varied styles.
Report
Canon Bryan Barrodale
5.0 out of 5 stars Both Useful and Beautiful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2012
Verified Purchase
For the person like myself who loves poetry as a mirror reflecting every human mood, like the Bible's Book of Psalms, this collection has it all...all human life is there. You will meet the familiar which has already sounded echoes in your heart, and the new which will take you, whatever your age, into new and challenging places. It is a book to comfort but in the Latin meaning of the word:"to strengthen".
5 people found this helpful
 Report
Nikki Bond
5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant surprise
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2019
Verified Purchase
Great book! I bought this as a gift, and it turned out to be a big hit.
Report
G. Wylie
5.0 out of 5 stars Most pleasing collection!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2012
Verified Purchase
I enjoy reading poetry when I get a quiet moment and find that this collection is the most interesting and satisfying that I have come across in many years. I look forward to pleasant browsing!
3 people found this helpful
 Report