About the Author
Mark Strand is the author of nine books of poems. His most recent works include Dark Harbor, a collection of poems, and Hopper, a book on the American Artist Edward Hopper, part of Ecco's Writers on Art Series. In 1990 he was chosen by the Librarian of Congress to be Poet Laureate of the United States. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and son.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Sampling poetry from all eras, this book includes works by Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Anne Finch, John Keats, Stephen Crane, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Amy Clampitt, many others.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Choosing 100 great poems of the English language is a staggering prospect for even the worthiest editor. It involves the considerable task of culling from the entire canon a select group of poets and each one's single most important poem. In The Golden Ecco Anthology, Mark Strand, recent poet laureate of the United States and editor of Contemporary American Poets, Another Republic, and The Best American Poetry 1991, combines 100 poetic voices in a masterful celebration of the English language. With seamless grace he moves from era to era and voice to voice and his selections are often surprising, always remarkable. It is safe to say that Strand, who received the 1992 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry for his 1990 collection The Continuous Life and last year's prestigious Bollingen Prize, has a vision that encompasses both the consummate practice and informed appreciation of his art. The poems that Strand chooses do not in their intractable finesse slam the door on the poets' skills as if to say: "There you have it!" On the contrary, his choices hint at range in virtuosity and provide wonderful openings into the artists' greater work.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In the preface to his stimulating, brief anthology, Strand ( Dark Harbor ) notes that he set out to reach ``an audience unused to poetry,'' editing with this in mind. That doesn't mean the poetry offered is either ``easy'' or otherwise sold short. Instead, the book is punctuated by surprise, while also providing familiar classics. For example, one might not expect to find ``The House on the Hill'' by Edwin Arlington Robinson; any Stephen Crane; or T. S. Eliot's ``Animula.'' They're all here. But the point of an anthology as personal as this one may be to follow someone else's music--Strand's as conductor/editor. And to follow it properly, a reader might resist the editor's own advice to ``read casually--a poem or two at a sitting.'' For it's also worthwhile to read for an hour or more, and reread, slowly, wandering consecutively in and around the arranger's imagination. More anthologies like this one would be useful to have on hand, in part for individual poems and poets resurrected, and in part for the exercise offered in vicarious picking and choosing. (Aug.)

Booknews