Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection

This book is a children's collection of poetry. However, it appears that Michael Rosen has attempted to balance the chipper, happy poems of many children's anthologies with more intense, darker ones. The overall tone is fairly serious, though beautifully so. He combines such sweet verse as Skating by William Wordsworth, with more wistful or even death-filled ones, such as La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats. The book is written chronologically, from Shakespeare and William Blake to Langston Hughes and Judith Wright. He includes from one to five poems from each of his 40 or so collected poets, with a short, thoughtful biography of each. The book is strikingly illustrated by Paul Howard, who alters his style and technique for each poem, aptly evoking the feeling and time period of each poem. I would consider this as a readaloud for children ages 8+; younger children are likely to be disturbed by some of the darker selections. This book is more newly published in paperback as The Walker Book of Classic Poetry and Poets .

Wisely chosen and beautifully illustrated,this book shows how entertaining and exciting poetry can be. It instantly held the attention of my six year old. He wanted to write a thank you note to Lord Byron!