My Fifteen Favorite Books of Poetry
Discover my fifteen favorite poetry books, featuring timeless works by Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Goethe, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Explore this curated list of essential, must-read poetry collections and dramatic verse that define the genre.
Book
Ariel
by Sylvia Plath
"In these poems...Sylvia Plath becomes herself, becomes something imaginary, newly, wildly and subtly created." -- From the Introduction by Robert Lowell
Book
Beowulf
by Seamus Heaney
Presents a new translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic chronicling the heroic adventures of Beowulf, the Scandinavian warrior who saves his people from the ravages of the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother.
Book
Faust I & II
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe's most complex and profound work, Faust was the effort of the great poet's entire lifetime. Written over 60 years, it can be read as a document of Goethe's moral and artistic development. Faust is made available to the English reader in a completely new translation that communicates both its poetic variety and its many levels of tone. The language is present-day English, and Goethe's formal and rhythmic variety is reproduced in all its richness.