Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Caroline Kennedy (Selected by), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Editor), Caroline Kennedy (Introduction)

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"Read for escape, read for adventure, read for romance, but read the great writers," Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis once advised. "You will find to your delight that they are easier and more joy to read than the second-rate ones." This collection of Mrs. Kennedy's favorite poetry, selected and introduced by her daughter, confirms that judgment. Yeats, Dickinson, Shakespeare, and Homer are all represented. The anthology also includes one poem by the late first lady herself.

From the Publisher

Timed to the publication of the author's new illustrated children's book, A Family of Poems, the national bestseller is now available in a specially priced gift edition

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis loved literature, especially poetry. “Once you can express yourself,” she wrote, ”you can tell the world what you want from it . . . All the changes in the world, for good or evil, were first brought about by words.” Now, Caroline Kennedy shares her mother's favorite poems and the worlds behind her strong belief in the power of literature. A wonderful volume for reading aloud or by yourself, a meaningful gift or keepsake, The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis offers an intimate view of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' world, and a poignant glimpse into her heart.

The poems in the book span the centuries and include works by:
-Langston Hughes
-William Shakespeare
-Homer
-W. B. Yeats
-Emily Dickinson
-E. E. Cummings
-Robert Frost

Caroline Kennedy is the editor of the New York Times bestselling The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, A Patriot's Handbook, and Profiles in Courage for Our Time, and the coauthor of The Right to Privacy and In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action. She serves as the vice chair of the Fund for Public Schools in New York City and president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

People Magazine

Great works that parents will enjoy reading to their children.

Publishers Weekly

The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis have been selected by someone who should know: Caroline Kennedy. While Caroline's two confirmed appearances on the Today Show, a first serial in Good Housekeeping, and further publicity should make this easily the bestselling poetry title of the season, it doesn't hurt that Jackie's taste was excellent. Charming poems from John Clare, Kipling, and a young Jimmy Kennedy are complemented by work from Langston Hughes, Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop and by 14 b&w family photos. Caroline Kennedy has organized more than 100 poems into seven sections ("America"; "Adventure" etc.), written short, intimate introductions to each and included a small selection of Jackie's own poems. (Oct. 3) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Introduced and with a running commentary by Caroline Kennedy, these are poems her mother shared with her and that she in turn shares with her own children. It's not surprising, therefore, that many are cute little poems about animals (though written with the adult audience in mind). Others are by Robert Frost (and the tape includes him reading at JFK's inauguration), Shakespeare, Yeats, Dickinson, and several excerpts from the Greek classics. Particularly striking, set against the backdrop of the 1960s when the Kennedy children were growing up, are the poems by Langston Hughes (a particularly memorable piece about a boy looking for the Jim Crow section of the carousel), Countee Cullen, and Jean Toomer. Unfortunately, Kennedy's commentary is wooden and often refers to works not on the tape. The Lord's Prayer, America the Beautiful, and passages from the Bible seem a little too "inspirational." Still, with the inclusion of four poems written by the former First Lady herself, this is bound to be a popular item; recommended for most public libraries. Rochelle Ratner, formerly with "Soho Weekly News," New York Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0641911491
  
• ISBN-13: 9780641911491
• Format: Hardcover, 180pp
• Publisher: Hyperion
• Pub. Date: September 2005
• Edition Description: Bargain
• Edition Number: 1

• Table of Contents
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

America

The idea of America -- freedom, equality, possibility -- has been celebrated in poetry, song, political rhetoric, and judicial opinion. The poems that follow serenade America and explore the individual's role in shaping our national destiny. They describe heroes like Paul Revere, the American Everyman about whom Walt Whitman sings, and those who have been shut out of the American dream but whose struggles are given voice by Langston Hughes. These poems remind us that no matter who we are, we each have an opportunity to help create the kind of society we want to live in. For America's story is still unfolding -- in the words of Robert Frost, it is our country, "such as she was, such as she will become."

"Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow always reminds me of my grandmother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. When I was a child, she was the most patriotic person I knew. At family gatherings, she used to recite this poem from memory and encouraged (with varying degrees of success) her grandchildren to do the same. She was baptized around the corner from the Old North Church and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. Since she had been born before 1900, to me it was perfectly possible that she might have even caught a glimpse of Paul Revere.

Grandma's recitation of the poem combined patriotism, her Irish antipathy toward the English, her love of language, and her conviction that one man's courage could change the course of history. She instilled in us the belief that perhaps, if the chance came again, we would be the one to inspire others, just like Paul Revere. (Of course, as my daughter recently reminded me, it was really the poet who inspired us since there were two other men who rode that night, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, whose names are largely forgotten.)

To me, the most meaningful poem in this section is Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright," which the poet recited at my father's inauguration. By asking Frost to read that day, my father expressed his belief in the power of language and connected the inaugural ceremony to an enduring tradition of using poetry, in a sense, to sanctify an occasion.

A snowstorm had blanketed the Capitol the night before, but the morning was glistening bright. When Frost stood to read the poem he had written for the occasion, the glare was so strong he couldn't see the words on the page. He recited "The Gift Outright" from memory. The contrast between his age and my father's youth, the poet's frailty and the power of his words gave the moment a special significance.

Three years later, at the dedication of a library named for Robert Frost, President Kennedy said, "The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation's greatness, but the man who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power, or power uses us…. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."

Throughout her life, my mother took great pride in the role of poetry and the arts in my father's administration. She celebrated American arts and artists in the White House, believing, as my father did, that America's artistic achievements were equal to her political and military power, and that American civilization had come of age.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day -- at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
  For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
  Above the fruited plain!
    America! America!
  God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
  From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
  Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
  Across the wilderness!
    America! America!
  God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
  Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
  In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
  And mercy more than life!
    America! America!
  May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
  And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
  That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
  Undimmed by human tears!
    America! America!
  God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
  From sea to shining sea!