A LITTLE HISTORY OF POETRY

After taking us from Mesopotamia to Rome, this audiobook focuses primarily on English-language poetry. Brief excursions take place into other languages, but the only one whose poetry is considered in any real depth is English. Its exploration of that is pretty thorough, though, and Ralph Lister's narration is exemplary. He clearly differentiates between the historical and critical material, and he inhabits the poems in ways that focus on the points John Carey makes about them. And those points are not only about why the poems and poets were interesting in their times but also about why they are worth reading today. The audiobook makes that case quite well. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2020]