Deborah L Halliday

Potpourri Deborah L Halliday

"Potpourri" is the tenth and final volume in the Godey's Poetry Anthology Series. It presents a varied collection of poetic styles and themes both humorous and serious; as such, it is perhaps the volume most truly representative of Godey's poetry overall. From the beginning, the aim of this anthology project has been to rediscover and present voices from the past, giving new life to long-forgotten or overlooked poetry. By no means did every poem fit into the category of "great" poetry, but each of the 470 poems used in the series told us something about the lives and times of the poets and the readers of nineteenth century America. Each of the nine previous volumes was organized around a theme: the sea, mourning, sonnets, nature, etc. but inevitably, at the end of the process, there were poems left over that had not found their way into any of these categories. Rather than leave them out altogether, seventy of them were collected and included in this volume: a real miscellany of voices and ideas. Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1877) was the most widely circulated American magazine of the nineteenth century. As such, it represents a unique time capsule of American experience, ideas, and expression. By reading and rediscovering the poetry published in Godey's we can not only connect in some way with nineteenth century experience, we can often find poems that resonate with and touch us today. I hope you find much to enjoy in this volume.