Poems to Learn by Heart - Ana Sampson

'To store up a memory bank of poems is to build up your own unique library for life. The verses are your personal armoury…' - Ana Sampson

I don't read as much poetry as I'd like to, so when I do read some, I often reach for a collection like this, which offers a mix that I can dip in to, and then prompts me to revisit my shelves/a bookshop/the library to read more from a favourite or someone I have newly discovered. I personally found this an interesting, varied, enjoyable and satisfying selection, with some of my favourite poems included, as well as some I knew a little of, and then some that I didn't know at all before reading them here. 

The poems here are grouped into nineteen chapters, each with a theme, and each theme has a short passage introducing it and relating it to the medium of poetry. There's magic, adventure, love, reflection, family, death, war, courage, faith, advice, anger, nature and more. At the end of some of the sets of poems grouped under a particular theme, there is a quote relating to poetry and to learning it. At the back there's an index of poets and an index of titles, first lines and well-known lines.

When I pick up a book like this, it always reminds me of the joy of poetry and how some poems capture a moment, a dream, a thought or an emotion perfectly sometimes.

The focus here is on the idea of having some of these poems that you love, or connect most with, stored in your mind so that you can bring the words to mind whenever, wherever you are. The compiler writes: ' I hope that you will discover and cherish the pleasures of learning and knowing poetry by heart.' I remember learning a lot of poems as a schoolchild, and though there was always the element of 'having' to know them for the purposes of reproducting elements of them in essays and exams, I've found as the years have gone by that some of the poems I learnt back then have always stayed with me, and indeed mean more to me now than they did then. 

As with any such collection, there are always omissions, but there is certainly a broad enough selection here to prompt me to investigate some of the poets further, and also to return to my own copies of more in-depth collections by my favourites, such as Dylan Thomas and John Donne. For some of the longer poems featured here just an extract is given. 

This is a very nicely presented hardback volume; it would be lovely to give as a gift to someone special, to someone who is interested in poetry and is looking for an accessible place to start, or indeed as a gift to yourself! There's a place on the endpaper to write who it is a gift for, and who it is from, should you wish to. This is a book that I will treasure.

Some of my favourites from this collection are: 
The Good-Morrow - John Donne
To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas
Anthem for Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen
The Soldier - Rupert Brooke
Night Mail - W.H. Auden
Not Waving But Drowning - Stevie Smith
This Be the Verse - Philip Larkin


Do you have a favourite poem that you know by heart, or have always meant to learn?

Source - publisher

Publisher - Michael O'Mara 

Faerytale - Rachael Fuller

'Twisted tales, giant monsters, burning silver rain,

Girls with wings and evil witches out to cause you pain.'

Faerytale is a story about two young sisters, Ellie and Lucy. They are playing hide and seek, when Lucy realises that Ellie has vanished down a rabbit hole. She quickly follows her, and finds herself in a strange land, a place where fairy tales are not what you would traditionally expect. They are darker, and twisted, and the fairies are no longer friendly and kind. The three classic tales of Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow While are taken here, and given a fresh, dark twist. 

Lucy must try and discover where Ellie is and rescue her before they are trapped forever in this strange, dark land. It is written in narrative rhyme throughout, and it also features black and white illustrations. Lucy is the elder of the two sisters, and she teases Ellie for her love of fairytales, as do the other children. Ellie wishes she could escape the world and step into the fairy stories she reads:


'How she longed to live within the pages of her books,
To challenge evil witches and take back what they took,
Swim in silver seas with mermaids, listen to fairies sing,
And soar across the golden skies, on unicorns with wings.'

But little does she realise that there is a darker side to the three fairy tales contained here, with 'fairytales now brought to life, far darker than they'd seemed.' They are altered, and it's interesting and entertaining to remember these classic tales from childhood, and then find out how they are employed here. As Lucy journeys through each of the tales, the search for Ellie progresses.

A genuine sense of fear is created, there is an atmosphere of tension, as unexpected elements appear, frightening the sisters:


'Overhead she heard the screams of monsters taking flight,
The ground beneath began to shake with creatures of the night,...'

It's enjoyable to read passages aloud, to yourself or to others, and enjoy the poetry even more. The author has a really nice use of language, and has created an unusual, intriguing take on what we think of as fairy tales. This makes for a very clever, fun and magical read. 

Visit the website for the book here and find out more about the story and the author.

Published by Safkhet Publishing and available now in paperback and ebook formats. 82 pages.

Thank you very much to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.