A contemporary new treasury of verse for every age of life. The extraordinary success of Daisy Goodwin's best-selling poetry collections has brought tens of thousands of new readers to the classics and to the work of many relatively unknown contemporary poets. Her instinctive sense of the way in which poetry in all its myriad forms can play a part in our daily lives, and her distinctive commentary on how it can do so, together with her acclaimed television series for BBC2, has made poetry, always close to the British heart, more popular than it has been for years. Now, in a book inspired by Palgrave's Golden Treasury, she chooses a much more ambitious selection. From Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and C. P. Cavafy's Ithaka to Wendy Cope and Vicki Feaver, this sumptuously produced, beautifully designed compendium of poems appropriate to every stage of our lives, from the moment we enter trailing clouds of glory to the time we first set foot upon the primrose path, will be a source of entertainment, consolation, insight, amusement, solace and ruminative satisfaction to people of all ages at all times of the year.
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(HarperCollins, 1 January 2004, hardback, 320 pages, bought from Borders Books, now closed)
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I fondly remember each re-read of this enormous, gorgeous book. Poems to Last a Lifetime is my favourite poetry anthology. It features poetry on a wide variety of themes such as Childhood, First Love, Commitment Problems, Domestic Bliss and Infidelity. The poems come from all walks of life and eras and include some household names. What I love most about this book is that how each poem is gorgeously illustrated and laid out. This is a pleasure to read if a little on the heavy side. I need to read it at a table because it's so large and heavy. I love all of the poems in this collection, too many to name my favourites. I'd recommend this.
