Rating: 
Summary: Good anthology but a bit expensive
Review: "Poetry Speaks" is quite a good distillation of poetry from the English language. The poems cover over a century and a half, and the recordings over a century.The book itself is quite attractive as a "coffee table" book. Each poet is introduced by a one page biography and an essay by a guest writer, then several poems follow surrounded by a good amount of white space (without seeming empty). In all, the book's layout is good and it is very easy to read. The CDs are narrated by Charles Osgood, who introduces each poet with a short essay on the poet's influence and oratory style. The utter lack of discographical information is a bit annoying to a phonophyle like myself though, and the CD "case" (more a slip cover pasted to the inside cover) is annoying. On many tracks the poets were not their best interpreters, but in others they provide good insight into what they were hearing in their minds when they wrote the poems. I should note that many of the poems (mostly on the first disc) came from cylinders and home acetates, and as such most anyone born after about 1965 will find them "horrible!", but anyone who remembers grandma's old Edison Dictaphone or Victor Victrola should not have much trouble. All that said, if you're looking to fill out your library, your money may be better spent at used book stores. And if you're looking for recited poetry, may I recommend cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell?
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment, to say the least.
Review: As a grade eight teacher, I am always looking for good teaching resources. In this instance, it was my need for poetry materials that made me decide to purchase Poetry Speaks. Having seen the physical layout of the book, I knew that I was not getting a lot of value for the money in terms of the number of poems. What made me decide to take the risk were the three audio CD's featuring a wide variety of poets. I want my students to improve their oral and drama skills, in particular, how they orally interpret poetry. Well, the selections on the CD's are sometimes interesting, sometimes entertaining, but too often the sound quality is poor and the voices of many poets comes across as wooden and often monotone, and will not be the model examples I had hoped for. For example, the sound of W.B. Yeats's readings could either break my students in hysterics or just leave them cold. It is one thing to have the gift to write good poetry, but it is another matter to be able to give a skillful oral presentation. Many of these famous names gave terrible readings of their fine words. Perhaps some context would have helped. The poet could have been asked why he or she read the poem as they did. If you want good anthologies of poetry, look elsewhere. This book is like the pretty package that, once you get the lid off, only holds disappointment. I find the enthusiastic reviews for this book to be artificial. If it is [not worthy], why give it four or five stars? Perhaps there are people who don't want to admit that they have been cheated and they can't send the book back because they have listened to the CD's. In the end, the book and CD's did not meet my teaching needs.
Rating: 
Summary: What Would Be Like To Listen To Great Poets?
Review: Did you ever wonder what it would be like to listen to Alfred, Lord Tennyson recite some of his most well known poems?
How about T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, William Butler Yeats, Gertrude Stein, Robert Browning, Ogden Nash and many more.
These are only a sampling of some of the 42 deceased poets, who speak to us in book so appropriately entitled,
Poetry Speaks. Unfortunately, many of us never had the opportunity to experience poems that, as the editors of this wonderful book indicate, "speaks to each of us at another level, below our consciousness. Like music, it reaches inside to touch us." Not only does this book and its accompanying 3 CDs enable us to listen to these great men and women of letters, but we also can read along with them, and learn about the different schools and types of poets- Victorians, Imagists, Modernists, Harlem Renaissance poets, Black Mountain poets, Beat poets, and Black Arts Movement poets. To facilitate the reading and appreciating of the book, the editors have conveniently provided us with a table of contents listing the poets' names, their life span dates, poems included in the book, as well as a track list of the recited works contained on the CDs. Each chapter devotes itself to one specific poet, and the chapters are arranged in chronological order by birth date.
Within each chapter readers are presented with a short biography that is meant to be an introduction to the poet's life.
To further pique our interests, the editors provide essays about the poets written by prominent living poets.
As indicated, "these essays can help you gain a very different insight into each of the poets."
What is also fascinating is the inclusion of many rare handwritten manuscripts, letters, or photographs that aid in our understanding of the poets. One word of caution, when listening to some of the poems you will notice that some of the readings are very different from the published versions. As the editors indicate, "poets are constant revisers and they sometimes change a poem even in the middle of a reading. This is another level of understanding that can't be achieved by simply reading or listening to a poem."
British essayist, William Hazlitt, most aptly described poetry, when he stated in his essay entitled, On Poetry in General,
"Poetry is the universal language which the heart holds with nature and itself. He who has a contempt for poetry, cannot have much respect for himself, or for anything else."
After devouring this remarkable book and the accompanying CDs, I can well understand why Hazlitt came to this conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable collection
Review: Fourty-two poets read their own work on three CDs. The accompanying text is a large and rather weighty book with a chapter for each of the poets. Each chapter includes a one-page biography, a two or three page essay on the works, and several representative poems including those read on the CD. Poetry fans of all stripe will be fascinated by the readings, which range from early (and difficult to understand) recordings by Lord Tennyson to fairly recent (and good quality) recordings by Sylvia Plath. Some of the recordings are quite rare and hard to find; others have been widely available for many years. The great interest in this collection, of course, is the opportunity to actually hear a great poet--and possibly one of your own favorites--read their own work. And the result can be disconcerting, magical, and sometimes both. The earlier poets found in the collection do not read their poems so much for content as they do for rhyme, giving the rythms of their work emphasis above all else; later poets, however, are prone to read very dramatically, sometimes to the exclusion of all else. And there are a number of suprises. Carl Sandburg reads with a significant accent and such a lilt that he often sounds as if he is about to flow into song. Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker, two poets as different as night and day, have unexpectedly rich and warm voices. e.e. cummings reads very, very slowly--almost to a point at which you'd like to shake him by the shoulders and ask him to speed it up! Interestingly, it becomes increasingly obvious to the listener that a poet is not necessarily the best reader of his own work, for some are clearly more successful readers than others. The recordings, be they good or bad, are always interesting. The same cannot be said for the text. The short biographies of each poet are reasonable, but the essays concerning their works are a very mixed lot. Some are quite interesting, addressing elements in both the poetry and the poet's reading of it; a few are so completely spurious that one wonders why the editors bother to include them at all. (I also find it a bit frustrating that two personal favorites--Marianne Moore and Stevie Smith--are not included in the collection, but this of course is a matter of personal taste.) In spite of the very occasional short-comings in the text, POETRY SPEAKS would be an ideal purchase for both budding and lifelong poetry lovers. It would also be ideal for the English teachers, literature professors, and librarians in your life. Since none of the editorial reviews actually include the poets found in this collection, I note them here: Lord Tennyson; Robert Browning; Walt Whitman; William Butler Yeats; Gertrude Stein; Robert Frost; Carl Sandburg; Wallace Stevens; William Carlos Williams; Ezra Pound; H.D.; Robinson Jeffers; John Crowe Ransom; T.S. Eliot; Edna St. Vincent Millay; Dorothy Parker; e.e. cummings; Louise Bogan; Melvin B. Tolson; Laura Riding Jackson; Langston Hughes; Ogden Nash; W.H. Auden; Louis MacNeice; Theodore Roethke; Elizabeth Bishop; Robert Hayden; Muriel Rukeyser; William Stafford; Randall Jarrell; John Berryman; Dylan Thomas; Robert Lowell; Gwendolyn Brooks; Robert Duncan; Philip Larkin; Denise Levertov; Allen Ginsberg; Frank O'Hara; Anne Sexton; Etheridge Knight; and Sylvia Plath.
Rating:
Summary: Speaking Up
Review: I admit that I found the book itself to be pretty but ultimately not all that useful. It will be displayed on my public bookshelf (which is of course much better looking and better organized than my overloaded private shelves), and I may occasionally take it out to read a poem or two, but I doubt I'll use it more than that. But that was fine with me, because the allure of this purchase was the CDs. After all, it's relatively easy to find more comprehensive collections of poetry if you're looking for printed collections. But to hear poetry read by the poets themselves is a rare thing indeed, particularly in the case of older poets who passed away before audio recordings were a matter of routine. Unfortunately, the CDs were easy to lose track of, since the sleeve attached to the book cover was less than handy to use. Initially, I felt like I didn't get what I bargained for, since many of the recordings were terribly poor in quality. Even more to the point, I felt that some of the poets were poor... no, if I'm going to be honest, I have to call them terrible readers. I set the disks aside with a feeling of disappointment. But when I picked them up again later, I found enough gems to make this a more than worthwhile purchase. There are some readings in the mix that are not read but performed, and the contrast between those works and the dreaded monotone (or perhaps even worse, the overacting) of other poems really made me think about what makes a good spoken word poem versus a good visual or printed one. As a result of this purchase, I evaluate poetry on more levels than I did before, and that's a valuable thing indeed. When you combine a handful of priceless readings with the lessons to be taken from the less entertaining ones, it makes for a worthwhile purchase overall.
Rating:
Summary: Ticket to an all star reading
Review: I have been attending poetry readings for over forty years, yet never till I heard these C.D.s "speak out loud and bold" have I witnessed anything so grand. Here is the ebb and flow of the language of the greatest poets of the last century in the English speaking world presenting their own works in their own voices. This is not designed as a scholarly volume, but the knowledge available here is unique and beyond compare. For example, scholars were aware of the dramatic quality of Tennyson's readings. His friends remarked on the point. Mrs. Browning made a sketch of him reading "Maud" and remarked on his manner. Yet without the evidence the recording provides, one would never appreciate the cadences and pauses he heard in his works. Somewhat of-putting to the bookish ear, Yeats' chanting delivery, so in tune with his philosophical speculations on the function of poetry, is beautifully demonstrated. The changes in method of reading and intonation which the recordings of Auden reveal are treasures for interpretation. A lifetime of familiarity with some of these works makes the recordings even more astounding. It is fairly well known that for Edison the motion picture was an afterthought to the phonograph. He thought history could always view portraits but actual voices were overwhelmingly personal. Wow, was he right! While the C.D. s are the main focus of the work, the accompanying texts, not all of which are presented in recorded form, the biographical and bibliographic notes and supplements are useful. My one regret is the book's exclusion of living poets.
Rating:
Summary: Ticket to an all star reading
Review: I have been attending poetry readings for over forty years, yet never till I heard these C.D.s "speak out loud and bold" have I witnessed anything so grand. Here is the ebb and flow of the language of the greatest poets of the last century in the English speaking world presenting their own works in their own voices. This is not designed as a scholarly volume, but the knowledge available here is unique and beyond compare. For example, scholars were aware of the dramatic quality of Tennyson's readings. His friends remarked on the point. Mrs. Browning made a sketch of him reading "Maud" and remarked on his manner. Yet without the evidence the recording provides, one would never appreciate the cadences and pauses he heard in his works. Somewhat of-putting to the bookish ear, Yeats' chanting delivery, so in tune with his philosophical speculations on the function of poetry, is beautifully demonstrated. The changes in method of reading and intonation which the recordings of Auden reveal are treasures for interpretation. A lifetime of familiarity with some of these works makes the recordings even more astounding. It is fairly well known that for Edison the motion picture was an afterthought to the phonograph. He thought history could always view portraits but actual voices were overwhelmingly personal. Wow, was he right! While the C.D. s are the main focus of the work, the accompanying texts, not all of which are presented in recorded form, the biographical and bibliographic notes and supplements are useful. My one regret is the book's exclusion of living poets.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad effort, fills a hole
Review: I love poetry and I love hearing poets recite their own work. I can't think of another CD which brings together such a broad collection of recordings. It really is an idea whose time has come. This collection has exposed me to some poets I didn't know before, has deepened my appreciation for some that I had barely heard of, and has given me a real feeling for how tastes in poetry reading change over time. So basically it is a good book/cd set. If you have a lot of money, or if you have been yearning for this kind of thing for a long long time (as I had), then you might consider getting it.
Now the problems. Interspersed with the poetry tracks are tracks of a really dorky sounding narrator (that would be Charles Osgood) giving you a bio on the poet who follows. He sounds like a cheesy voice-over speaker from an overproduced tv documentary. He is so annoying that I cannot bear to let the CD run, as I do my other recorded poetry CDs. And who wants to keep listening to bios, anyways? It's as if the CDs were made to be listened to only once. I have the terrible feeling that the editors thought this narration would be helpful for high-school teachers. I cannot even imagine being forced to listen to his voice while sitting in class . . this kind of thing is what made high school intolerable. Especially when you move from Osgood's narration to someone like Etheridge Knight reciting, the disparity couldn't be more disheartening. When I want to listen to the poems, then, I have to sit by the player or keep a remote in my hand to keep skipping the narration tracks. It really has dampened my appreciation for this effort, since my favorite way to listen to poetry is while washing dishes (hands occupied). I wish they had decided just to let the poets speak for themselves. The biographical information is in the book, anyways.
I rated the set so far down because my sense is that in their effort to make it 'accessible,' the editors of this set overprocessed it. The text layout and the presentation of information (what information they choose to provide as well as the way of providing it) have a sterile, commercial feel (even forgetting the narration on the CD). The book is far too heavy. The editors could have included all the same poets, all the essays, biographical information, etc. in a much simpler set, in paperback perhaps, with clean lines and normal book paper, and they would have created an instant classic. It's disappointing that poetry lovers would have such bad taste. So get it, but don't expect to be really happy with it.
Rating:
Summary: I should have known!
Review: I ordered this collection because I love listening to poetry and I was particularly fond of some of the poems included. But I should have paid attention to the Apr 23, 2003 reviewer; each poem is introduced by an extremely irritating speaker who tells you what you already know about the poet and what you're supposed to appreciate in the poem. So there's no way I can play the CDs, nor can I return them because I've opened the package....Be warned!
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not for the price
Review: The CD's are interesting & fun to listen to if you're curious about what your favorite poet's voice sounded like. For me, it was a blast to hear Jeffers. But the narrator, Osgood, is mediocre & likes to babble about things he doesn't know & understand. The book is not worth buying for the price, because the essays vary, depending on the author & poet. Some poets are mediocre & should have been avoided, but it's no big deal. I would recommend checking it out at your public library, & since the Cd's are the most interesting, technology can take care of the rest, if you really want your own copies.
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