The Essence of Words

If books and literature in novel and short story form are the power of words, then poetry may be considered the essence or flavour of words. Sometimes short and pithy, sometimes longer and rambling, they take the reader on a personal journey.



Auckland Libraries now has a fantastic resource for all poetry lovers that you can access with your library card.


Columbia Granger's World of Poetry contains over 250,000 poems in full text and 450,000 citations. The poems in full text are the most widely-read in the English language, as well as in Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Included also is poetry in Portuguese, Polish, Yiddish, Welsh, Gaelic, and other Celtic languages, as well as poems in the ancient languages: Anglo-Saxon, Provencal and Latin. There is complete coverage of the works of several individual great poets, including the complete poems of Shelley, Blake, Burns, Keats, Marvell, Poe, Unamuno, Heine, Baudelaire, and other major poets.

In addition you will find a wealth of current poetry from some of the best poetry periodicals, such as Poetry Magazine, The Southern Review, and Poetry Northwest.

Plus you can find commentaries on the poems and biographies of the poet's lives. Full text copies of entire books are included in the resource including titles on Chinese and Asian literature.

If poetry closer to home is more your think, pick up the just released Chords & other poems by Kiwi balladeer Sam Hunt. This slim volume contains the melancholic irreverance I have come to expect from Sam Hunt. It suits the moods of the rainy cold winter months admirably.