I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud: And Other Poems You Half-Remember from School

This was a lovely book...Was disappointed that most of the poems are just the first few verses and most are not printed in their entirity. I purchased it to read with an elderly aunt, who can remember all the poems - we were just disappointed that although she could complete all of them, it would have been better if it it had been made clear that the poems were not published in full.

I bought this book for my grandmother as a christmas present and she loved it. The poems are all well known, with a little bit about the poet written before each of them. I'd recommend the book to anyone from the 40+ age group, as I think it would make them feel nostlgic about what they learnt at school etc. I think any poetry lover would enjoy it though!

I love poetry and have several dozen poetry books so I didn't really need another, especially one whose contents would almost certainly be replicated elsewhere on my bookshelves. But it was tempting to have another means of finding all the half-familiar lines in one volume, although the Golden Treasury and Oxford Anthologies achieve the same end.

As the editor of this little anthology says, the choice of poem is subjective and it would be impossible to include everyone's much loved or half-remembered poems. Even so, I was disappointed that The Way through the Woods (Kipling), and I Remember, I Remember (Thomas Hood), a particular favourite of my mother's - she would often read it to me when I was a small child - were missing. It shouldn't matter as I have them elsewhere, but somehow it did. Being realistic though, it's almost inevitable that everyone will be disappointed about some omission or other.

Again inevitably, only short extracts of longer poems are included so the selection from, say, Hiawatha may not be your favourite part of the poem. Nevertheless, the book provides a taste. I was also pleased to find one or two poems that I was not familiar with, together with a couple of poets I'd never heard of.

The poems are arranged in chronological order, from Chaucer and Marlowe right up to Wendy Cope (Bloody Men) and Carol Ann Duffy, which places them in their context more intuitively than, say, an alphabetic listing of the poets by surname. I like too the notes about the individual poets and some of their poetry as these provide a taste of their lives and work.

There are more comprehensive anthologies available but at Amazon's price for the hardback edition, with an attractive cover - a sort of moiré-effect - this would make a lovely stocking filler or tree present, or a gift for someone you'd like to tempt into poetry. I shall eventually put mine in the guest room for people to dip into before they go to sleep. If you treat it as it's no doubt intended - as a taste and a reminder - it's a delightful little volume.