Over the River and Through the Wood

It is said that the nineteenth century invented children's literature and in doing so reinvented childhood. This magical and very delicious book sets us down right in the middle of that rich act of imagination. I imagine that children are going to love this book as much as the adults who will be reading it to them. A wonderful gift. An amazing act of (deft, almost invisible) scholarly recuperation. -- Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1995-1997, and Distinguished Professor in Poetry and Poetics at the University of California at Berkeley I have been wanting a book like this for as long as I can remember. It is a tremendous accomplishment; one of those rare books that is an absolute 'must own' for anyone with an interest in children's poetry, and even poetry in general. -- Kenn Nesbitt, Children's Poet Laureate Kilcup and Sorby have done us a huge service here in bringing this collection of superb poetry for children by nineteenth-century poets under a single cover. It's a major contribution to literary studies, of course. But more so, it's a book that every child-whatever his or her age-will enjoy. I expect to spend long hours with this book in my old age! Strongly recommend to all lovers of American poetry. -- Jay Parini, award-winning poet, fiction writer, critic, and editor This delightful anthology, gathered from the golden age of children's verse, offers a wealth of poems for (and often by) children. The book is divided into sections according to theme, and that is a brilliant idea because children's poetry of the latter 19th century was not often grim and admonitory, and the poems of any section tend to be full of amiable interplay. Speaking for myself, as I read these poems and enjoy their variety, I feel as if I were present at a warm-hearted gathering of family and friends. -- Richard Wilbur, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1987-1988 What a vast, rich, astonishing collection... a book to savor, to delight in, and above all, to teach. -- Robin Bernstein, Harvard University

By turns playful, contemplative, humorous, and subversive, these poems appeal to modern sensibilities while giving scholars a revised picture of the nineteenth-century literary landscape.Over the River and Through the Wood is the first and only collection of its kind, offering readers an unequaled view of the quality and diversity of nineteenth-century American children's poetry. Most American poets wrote for children - from famous names such as Ralph Waldo Emerson to less familiar figures like Christina Moody, an African American author who published her first book at sixteen. In its excellence, relevance, and abundance, much of this work rivals or surpasses poetry written for adults, yet it has languished - inaccessible and unread - in old periodicals, gift books, and primers. This groundbreaking anthology remedies that loss, presenting material that is both critical to the tradition of American poetry and also a delight to read. Complemented by period illustrations, this definitive collection includes work by poets from all geographical regions, as well as rarely seen poems by immigrant and ethnic writers and by children themselves. Karen L. Kilcup and Angela Sorby have combed the archives to present an extensive selection of rediscoveries along with traditional favorites. By turns playful, contemplative, humorous, and subversive, these poems appeal to modern sensibilities while giving scholars a revised picture of the nineteenth-century literary landscape.