In his introduction to “The Best Loved Poems of the American People,” which was first published in 1936 and remains in print today, writer Edward Frank Allen put down some thoughts intended to remind readers of the “necessity” of poetry. “It recaptures beauty,” he writes. “It stirs wholesome emotions and gives glimpses across the border that, vague as they may be, are a preview of eternal things. It entertains, it inspires, and, in time of need, it comforts.”
A friend’s email prompted me to reopen my copy of “Best Loved Poems.” She’d been reading an Ideals publication, a 60-year-old treasure kept by her parents while they lived, and was struck by some of the poetry she found, the sense of peace these verses offered. If I correctly interpreted her email, my friend, who favors tradition in the arts, misses the mac-and-cheese comforts so often absent in today’s poetry.
