Reviews for Catching Life by the Throat: How to Read a Poem and Why with CD (Audio)

The average rating for Catching Life by the Throat: How to Read a Poem and Why with CD (Audio) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-19 00:00:00 Jerry Dunavant What a great introduction to, as Josephine Hart categorizes them, "Eight Great Poets"! Although familiar with Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath, I was happy to be introduced to the work of Auden, Kipling, Larkin, Marianne Moore, and Yeats; how I managed to have missed them all these years, I do not know. I particularly surprised myself by really liking Larkin. Hart introduces each poet with a short biography, then a line or two on each of the poems included in the collection, and then the poems themselves. I could hear her voice (having listened to a couple of CDs that collect segments of her Poetry Hour) in the bios and intros, and although I am far from understanding every poem, I'm happy to have had this introduction.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-10-06 00:00:00 Kathy Baer Although subtitled "How to Read Poetry and Why," the how mostly comes from listening to the accompanying CD and the why is mostly missing. The biographical sketches and artistic summaries are interesting but do not merit the subtitle. The CD includes many great actors and is enlightening; I consider it the best part of the book.