The Wisdom of
101 Famous Poems
Just about every American family has a copy of it in their living room:
The beloved poetry anthology 101 Famous Poems.
When I was a kid, its poems were like any other poems. But when I picked it up again as an adult, I realized that the anthology was unique – these were not random poems thrown together just because they were “famous” – they were about a certain kind of American philosophy of life. Unlike most modern poetry, they reflected values – often conservative values, and certainly the values that made America great.
What’s more, these are values we’re largely forgotten today. And they are values we all need today more than ever.
In my video project The Wisdom of 101 Famous Poems, a few friends and I put each poem onto video and add to an Essa about the values reflected in it – in the hope that maybe someone out there could use it a little perspective right now.
On Sympathy with the Devils of this World
–
Mercy
by William Shakespeare
On the Inherent Selflessness of Christmas
–
Christmas Everywhere
by Phillips Brooks
The Miracle of Family
–
The Children’s Hour
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
On the Constant Renewal of Life
–
The Snow-Storm
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
On Human Photosynthesis
–
Trees
by Joyce Kilmer
On Service to Your Country
–
The Spires of Oxford
by Winifred Letts
America is an empire of Ideas
–
Recessional
by Rudyard Kipling
On Building the Houses of our Lives
–
The Builders
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Why Women are Always Beautiful
–
She was a Phantom of Delight
by William Wordsworth
On Giving in Secret
–
The Cloud
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Winning the Rat Race without Running It
–
The World Is Too Much With Us
by William Wordsworth
On Suffering Well
–
How Did You Die?
by Edmund Vance Cooke