Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work From Tennyson to Plath (Book w/ Audio CD) Hardcover – October 1, 2007

I was bitterly disappointed by this package, which I bought entirely for the recordings. Many of the recordings of the longer poems are cut halfway through. Some even start halfway through. Imagine buying a music anthology and finding the songs were cut halfway through. No decent music publisher would take such liberties with music, yet this lot feel able to cut poetry.Although most of the recordings are complete, don't expect that you're going to hear all of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', 'Howl','Hugh Selwyn Mauberley' or 'She Bowed to Her Brother'.Disgracefully, the person whom you'll hear most of in total over the 3 CDs is one Charles Osgood, who provides short, unnecessary introductions to each poet. What a waste of CD space. Who's buying the CDs to hear Mr Osgood? His intros, if they must exist, could easily have been set down in print.I was also fooled into thinking that all the contents of the book - a worthy selection - would be represented on the CDs. Wrong. Only some poems from each poet are. While Robert Frost has 5 recordings, most poets only get 2-3. Don't expect to hear '13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird' (Wallace Stevens) or 'My Last Duchess' (Browning). Disappointingly also, Stein's 'If I Told Him' doesn't feature (it does on other poetry CD compilations).If you want to be sure what you're getting and to listen to these poets read their poems through from beginning to end, then you need to look elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. The poems selected for this book show a great range and are an excellent example of each poets' work. It was great to hear some of these poets read their own poems. Hearing their tone and inflections and the places they choose to insert pauses really adds to the power of the works. I used a couple of the recordings in a 7th grade class I taught and the students really enjoyed hearing Walt Whitman read his poems. I highly recommend this book and advise you to make sure you get a copy that includes the CDs. Even without them, the book is an excellent collection of poems.

Hearing all these poets read their own work is amazing. The reviews by fellow poets are very interesting and give a different insight into the poet/writer. We have used this in a poetry reading group which includes teachers, writers, and folks who know very little about poetry but want to learn. It is good for all of us. It is an oversize book and weighs about five pounds, and it also includes three disks of the poets reading some of their work. It is a book to keep and dip into when you need a lift.

Book in good condition but the upper and lower of the headband of the book are bent.All pages present and no scribbles.Clean product.The cd's compartment was open, but all CDs are present and no scratches.

An excellent book for learning about poetry and listening the poets reading their own poems.Un libro excelente para los que deseen aprender sobre poesía y escuchar a los poetas leer sus propios poemas.

We love this book and give it out as a gift!

It was a gift to a poet, which was greatly appreciated

Excellent