In The Treasuries the author, Clare Bucknell, explains that collections of poetry have been published since the time when printing became a reality. In the early days of printing official permission had to be obtained before books could be published but secret printing presses produced anthologies of revolutionary poetry to share ideas and enthuse people for change. Today we are familiar with collections of poems but the story of anthologies is really one of social and cultural change.
The book covers British history and how various collections have been censored but also about how they became staples in schools. She tells the story of The Golden Treasury and the Oxford Book of English Verse and shows us the reasoning between what was included and what was omitted. We learn of the importance of copyright and how that affected the availability of poetry and how some collections became identified with “high” culture and others didn’t. I began to understand that anthologies were a way of allowing many people to be exposed to poetry in a way that wasn’t off-putting.
Although I own quite a few poetry anthologies I had never thought about how they were compiled or even what the aim and purpose of their editors was in bringing certain poems together. Looking at the various poetry collections reveals much about our social and cultural history which I found fascinating. I did find, however, that occasionally I found this book dull. I realise that this was because I was more interested in the history than the poems. It’s a well thought out book that reveals things about history and literature through an unusual subject and I am pleased that I read it.
Anne Is Reading 