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The FSG Poetry Anthology
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
8 posts | 1 read | 2 to read
To honor FSG's 75th anniversary, here is a unique anthology celebrating the riches and variety of its poetry listpast, present, and future Poetry has been at the heart of Farrar, Straus and Giroux's identity ever since Robert Giroux joined the fledgling company in the mid-1950s, soon bringing T. S. Eliot, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop onto the list. These extraordinary poets and their successors have been essential in helping define FSG as a publishing house with a unique place in American letters. The FSG Poetry Anthology includes work by almost all of the more than one hundred twenty-five poets whom FSG has published in its seventy-five-year history. Giroux's first generation was augmented by a group of international figures (and Nobel laureates), including Pablo Neruda, Nelly Sachs, Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and Joseph Brodsky. Over time the list expanded to includes poets as diverse as Yehuda Amichai, John Ashbery, Frank Bidart, Louise Glck, Thom Gunn, Ted Hughes, Yusef Komunyakaa, Mina Loy, Marianne Moore, Paul Muldoon, Les Murray, Grace Paley, Carl Phillips, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, James Schuyler, C. K. Williams, Charles Wright, James Wright, and Adam Zagajewski. Today, Henri Cole, francine j. harris, Ishion Hutchinson, Maureen N. McLane, Ange Mlinko, Valzhyna Mort, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Frederick Seidel are among the poets who are continuing FSG's tradition as a discoverer and promoter of the most vital and distinguished contemporary voices. This anthology is a wide-ranging showcase of some of the best poems published in America over the past three generations. It is also a sounding of poetry's present and future.
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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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FSG (AKA Farrar Strauss & Giroux, currently owned by Macmillan, one of the big 5) has the most impressive track record when it comes to publishing poetry, as this anthology pub last fall proves. To celebrate their 75th anniversary, FSG released an anthology of poetry that they had previously published. The anthology is arranged by decade of publication, which makes for an interesting & lively reading experience. For example: Seamus Heaney's* is

vivastory included in the 2000's section, while Maria Headley's lively colloquial rendering of Hrothgar's troubles is included in the final section. Certain poets are provided more room than others, for obvious reasons (several poems by recent Nobel winner Louise Glück or the recent centennial of John Berryman). One of the big surprises while reading this collection was reevaluating certain authors whose work had previously left me indifferent. To cite a 3y
vivastory few examples: I mentioned being moved by Lowell's Waking Early Sunday Morning in a prior post, I also couldn't stop thinking about his work Skunk Hour. I found the works included by Paul Muldoon terrific, a poet that I never particularly cared for before. I was deeply, immensely affected by Larkin's Aubade. This anthology, while largely English language poetry, contains a generous portion of translated work (Paul Celan, Mahmoud Darwish, Tomas 3y
vivastory Transtromer immediately springs to mind). This is hands down one of the best poetry anthologies that I have recently read & I will certainly be purchasing a copy for my personal library.
(*Seamus Heaney's Beowulf)
(edited) 3y
Centique I am entranced by the poems you showed us and have put this on my wishlist. This always happens when I read your reviews! 3y
vivastory @Centique You are too kind, Paula! There were many many more poems that I would have liked to have posted. I think you'll love it 3y
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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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There have been a few Louise Glück poems in the tagged anthology and every single one has been fantastic.

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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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Poem by Spencer Reece

Gissy ❤️ 3y
Centique That is amazing ❤️ 3y
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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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Rowan Ricardo Phillips' Over the Counties of Kings and Queens Came the Second Idea is fantastic, as I hope the above excerpt indicates.

Gissy ❤️ 3y
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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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From Frederick Seidel's Mu'allaqa

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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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vivastory
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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I downloaded the ebook sample of the tagged book a few days ago. I have been going through it since, reading a poem here and there and I will definitely be picking up the complete collection. It seems like a thoughtful selection & includes several moving works by poets that I don't necessarily care for (ie the above final stanza from Lowell's Waking Early Sunday Morning).

Leftcoastzen That is a really good poem ! 3y
vivastory @Leftcoastzen I don't remember why but for some reason I was always a bit annoyed by Lowell. I went into it with an open mind & was honestly floored. 3y
Leftcoastzen He has his issues for sure . 3y
batsy That stanza... So haunting. 3y
vivastory @batsy It really is. I reread it several times. There were some other gems strewn throughout the poem. 3y
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WanderingBookaneer
The FSG Poetry Anthology | Jonathan Galassi, Robyn Creswell
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from John Berryman‘s “Dream Song #22