The Giant Book of Poetry

By: William Roetzheim - editor

Narrated by: John Aviles, Richard Baird, Joel Castellaw, Kris Griffen, Marti Krane, Robert Masson, Courtney J. McMillon, Olga Mieth

Here is a massive collection of poems from classics through contemporary, grouped by poetry subject, including: Romance; Inspiration and faith; Lust, betrayal and lost love; Eternity; Growing up and growing old; Children; Ghosts, evil and superstition; Loss and sorrow; Nature; the Human condition; Working; that Make a Statement; Choices; War and Peace; and Writing, art, and poetry.

"This book is the result of a massive amount of love and work by its editor, William Roetzheim, and the result is a comprehensive collection of many of the most important poems and poets of all time. It belongs in the collection of every poetry lover."
—Mark Strand

The complete list of narrators includes Audessa Siccardi, Courtney J. McMillon, Crystal Verdon, Heather Rupy, Jason Tolin, Joel Castellaw, John Aviles, Kris Griffin, Marti Krane, Olga Mieth, Regina Roetzheim, Richard Baird, and Robert Masson.

©2011 The Giant Book of Poetry (P)2011 The Giant Book of Poetry

Great poetry selections, so so narrators

Any additional comments?

Overall, the audiobook is pretty good. I do like most of the selections included. However, there is one narrator in particular that is atrocious!

Audio Book does not follow the Printed Format

This audio book is the audio version of the published printed book and is not read in sequence from the beginning to the end as one might expect from an unabridged audio book. In the audio version, the poems are categorized based on their subject matter and are read in that order. The printed version, however, is arranged chronologically based on the birth date of each poet followed by his or her poems. As one who is new to poetry and likes to look up every unfamiliar word in a poem, I found it very frustrating to find each individual poem in the printed book. At the beginning of each poem, the reader announces the title and the poet, but there more than 100 pages of index (author, title, first line, etc.) at the end of the book, which are all incorrect and of no help to unearth the poem. I had to purchase the eBook version and use the search feature of the reader to look up the poems instead.

Twelve readers read this audio book, and this brings variety and reduces monotony. Not all the readers are of the same caliber, and it is unfair to place them all in the same basket. I had encountered the poem “Ozymandias” by Shelley previously, but the three distinct voices in this reading helped me to understand the deeper meaning of the poem. On the other hand, some readings of some of the widely known poems fall at the very bottom when compared to the presentations that are available on the web.

I already own the audio book, the printed book and the electronic book versions of the Giant Book of Poetry. I have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to listen to a specific poem in this anthology, when one wishes to, is to own the cd version as well. However, similar to the audio version, I suspect that the index at the end of the printed book pointing poems to cds could also be index incorrectly. For now, I will pass on the cd version as I have already done my part to help the economy and make Mr. Roetzheim rich.

Terrible readers!

The readers on this audio book were over dramatic, obnoxious and loud. It was impossible to actually "hear" or enjoy the poetry. I only listened to about one and half sections before I couldn't stand anymore. I would not recommend it. Perhaps young children might like some of it; but I even doubt that.

Poor performances mar decent selection

I own almost every poerty collection available from Audible and this collection was appealing in its variety both of authors and the poems selected. However, virtually every performance is over done, featuring either overacting, yelling, heavy breathing, and, perhaps worst of all, bad fake Irish, English, and Scottish accents. Save your money and look into some of the other collections available, such as the Best Poems of All Time (vol. 2 especially) and The Classic Hundred Poems.

This is the shit that today’s degenerates call poetry

Like today’s “art”, this is mostly just collections of words. It is no more poetry than Jackson Pollock or Warhol is art when compared to Caraveggio or Titian or even Manet or Van Gogh. This is declared poetry by charlatans who are as false as the works.