100 Poems to Break Your Heart

Do not miss this magnificent gathering of poems, from William Wordsworth and John Clare to Harryette Mullen and Meena Alexander. Each poem is expertly placed in its own chapter of eloquent context, like a perfect gemstone set in a shining golden ring. Possibly there is no living guide to poetry more deft and caring than Edward Hirsch, widely-published poet and president of the Guggenheim Foundation, who also edited the now-classic How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. He’s not only an anthologist, but also the most insightful interpreter of why some poems come to mean so much to so many people: how they penetrate the crush of babble around us and change us forever. Probably some of us feel our hearts have been broken plenty of times in the past few years. Of course, reading poems of empathy helps to mend us more than re-break us. This is a book to keep at bedside, to open when feeling low, to share with those who find poetry mysterious or difficult. It’s engaging, healing, and rich in every way.