Autobiographical poetry from one of Kentucky’s rising Affrilachian literary stars. Bernard Clay’s autobiographical poetry debut, English Lit, juxtaposes the roots of Black male identity against an urban and rural Kentucky landscape. Hailed as one of the most authentic voices of his generation, Clay artfully renders coming-of-age in the predominately Black West End of Louisville, Kentucky. Balancing the spirited grit of a farmer and the careful lyricism of a poet, English Lit is a triumph of new Affrilachian—African American and Appalachian—literature.

"Early Reviews of English Poets" by John Louis Haney is a literary critique about various English poets to assist readers in their studies and appreciation of the topic. Gray, Goldsmith, Cowper, Burnes, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Lamb, Landor, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, and Browning are all honored in this text. These poets continue to be important influences in the literary world to this day.

Every day people tune in to The Writer's Almanac on public radio and hear Garrison Keillor read them a poem. And here, for the first time, is an anthology of poems from the show, chosen by the narrator for their wit, their frankness, their passion, their "utter clarity in the face of everything else a person has to deal with at 7 a.m." The title Good Poems comes from common literary parlance. For writers, it's enough to refer to somebody having written a good poem. Somebody else can worry about greatness. Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" is a good poem, and so is James Wright's "A Blessing." Regular people love those poems. People read them aloud at weddings, people send them by e-mail. Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendance. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds. It's a book of poems for anybody who loves poetry whether they know it or not.

"The novelist and poet Ben Lerner argues that our hatred of poetry is ultimately a sign of its nagging relevance"--

A comprehensive reassessment of lyric poetry of the early 17th century directed at beginning and more advanced students of literature. It seeks to assimilate many of the theoretical concerns with readings of the authors of the period.

The most remarkable and affecting book of poetry I encountered this year. James Wood, The New Yorker