The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems

From the inspired choice of E V Rieu’s ‘The Paintbox’ as a kind of preface, one comes to the rest of this anthology with high expectations. These are more than met in this veritable treasure trove wherein, beginning with Kathleen Raine’s ‘Spell of Creation’, Jackie Morris takes us on life’s journey from the womb to the grave and beyond, via such delights as Plath’s ‘Morning Song’, Poe’s ‘Annabel Lee’, Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’, Coleridge’s ‘The Birds’, Laurie Lee’s ‘wild trees of home’ and Lear’s ‘land of Bong-trees and runcible spoons’.

Such is her respect for the poems that Jackie Morris never allows her watercolour paintings to overwhelm the words on the page. Encompassing the natural beauty of earth’s flora and fauna, magic and mystery, love and friendship, war and bloodshed, death and destruction, this is a book to grow with.