Book Review: "The Penguin Book of Unrespectable Verse" ed. by Geoffrey Grigson

It's been a while since I've read a poetry anthology and this one just happened to be sitting in my drawer. First of all, the writer wants us to understand that this is not a book of satirical poetry (even though it seems like that is exactly what it is at times) and in fact, this book is poetry at its most disrespectful and insulting. I've often found it difficult to reason with this kind of poetry because more than often the poet is trying to be funny and it takes me a while to see what's so funny. I'm also not one for comedy - I don't laugh easily. Be that as it may, there was a lot to enjoy about this anthology and so, I want to take you through my favourite poems of the book, hopefully this will give you a good overview of what's within.

The poem I Reason, Earth is Short by Emily Dickinson is a poem I've encountered before and yet, every time I read it I am drawn to it for some reason. Emily Dickinson's poetry has often been called some of the best in American history but this one I think, is best representative of that title. The poem itself too, is short, but the way in which it covers a whole range of emotions is captivating. The poem doesn't use many words to portray these ideas, but it still creates an expansive picture to those who read the poem. I would say that this is not only one of the best poems in this anthology, but it is also one of my favourites by the poet herself.

Arthur Rimbaud is featured quite a bit in this anthology and that's perhaps one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. His anti-war poem Evil is one of the better ones chosen. It seems to not only hate war because of the prospect of it, but it also shows that those who go off to war are "fools". The only people who receive any sympathy in the poem are the mothers who have birthed these "fools" who must be contented with the idiocy of the entire system in which their sons die in battle. Arthur Rimbaud didn't hold back with this one, but I think it also represents a bit of a reductive understanding of war in which he seems to suggest that these soldiers had a choice. What do you think?

Another poem featured is the famed A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg which covers the shadows of modern life whilst the poet talks almost anxiously to Walt Whitman. I like this poem for its imagery though I have always had a bit of a problem with Ginsberg myself - he seems to almost get lost in his own sense of being a poet. The loneliness of the modernising world though is almost captured perfectly through the rhetorical questioning, the observations and the recitations of side-talking to Walt Whitman as the narrator wanders around the day - looking for a cure to this crushing feeling. It's something that I find, is still relatable in this modern day. Plenty of people are looking for a cure for their loneliness, for a connection. But for every person who is looking for a connection there is another who wishes to be left to their own devices.

The book covers topics like love and war, authors and the way we live our lives. The poets included included are, but are not limited to: Lord Byron, PB Shelley, William Blake, Jonathan Swift, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, EE Cummings, WB Yeats and many, many more. However, I do want to address the lack of female poets within, I won't subtract too many marks for it. There are plenty of women who have written poetry that has pissed someone off, but for some reason the anthology has fallen short of including them. It's a sad state of affairs because I would've liked to see at least three or four - but most of what we are given is by Emily Dickinson and even then, it's only one poem.

All in all, despite the lack of women poets and even the lack of male poets of colour, this book is comprehensive though it is short. There are a lot of things to love about this anthology so I won't sit and sulk about what could've been.