This book, published first in 1936, is a compilation of poems requested by readers of the Queries and Answers page of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. The book is dedicated to Adolph Ochs, who went from being a newsboy in Knoxville, Tennessee, to being editor of arguably the greatest newspaper in American history, THE NEW YORK TIMES. He was inspired by poetry, and carried his love for it throughout his life. It was he that inspired this book. In his introduction, the author of it, Edward Frank Allen, opens our hearts to poetry''s beauty and its necessity (bear in mind also that this was written during the depths of the Great Depression) for our comfort, inspiration, entertainment, satisfaction of our hunger for beauty and for reliving memories of pleasant and happy times past. He further states that poems are kept alive by the love of the people, whom he credits with, ultimately, being the editors of this book. There are the following sections of various classifications and kinds of poetry (each section having varying numbers of poems in it):
I. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
II. INSPIRATION
III. POEMS THAT TELL A STORY
IV. FAITH AND REVERENCE
V. HOME AND MOTHER
VI. CHILDREN AND HOME
VII. PATRIOTISM AND WAR
VIII. HUMOR AND WHIMSEY
IX. MEMORY AND GRIEF
X. NATURE
XI. ANIMALS
XII. VARIOUS THEMES.
At the end of this volume is an index arranged alphabetically by author and another index of first lines. Many of the poems included are by UNKNOWN, the great author who loved poetry more than fame. Other authors include such well-known, much-loved, and critically acclaimed poets as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lord Byron, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. Others, such as Edgar Guest, are much beloved by the people, though often scorned by most critics. There are many, many poems you may have loved and forgotten until encountered here; many more that may speak to your soul and become among your favorites; others that will en-trance you later in your life and experience. It is one of the best anthologies of poetry ever published in the English language.