<B>Don’t be cruel: appreciating the year-round joys of poetry</B> For those of us who write poetry, this time of year is always occasion to reflect upon T.S. Eliot’s dictum that "April is the cruelest month." For the past decade or so, April has become even crueler paradoxically enough because of the Academy of American Poets’ proclamation of it as National Poetry Month.

While the brief and slightly heightened attention paid to poetry during these 30 days is, of course, welcome, it also serves to remind us of the diminishment of poetry in our time. Just as we need Black History Month or National Women’s History Month to remind us of the historical invisibility of particular populations, we apparently require a special month for poetry. Or perhaps the situation is more dire than that. Could it be that National Poetry Month is as necessary National Breast Cancer Awareness Month as a kind of public service attempt to decrease a high mortality rate? However we may view the privileging of the form during the month of April, it is always a relief to come upon truly excellent and profoundly readable volumes of poetry that offer the promise of winning audiences back to the genre. Here are three.

In <B>Song ∧ Dance</B>, Alan Shapiro continues the beautifully agonizing chronicle of the demise of his family. Earlier works have addressed the death of his sister from cancer and the aging of his parents. <I>"Did you ever have a family?"</I> he asks himself in the title poem. This new volume takes as its subject the struggle of the poet’s brother, David Shapiro, with an incurable brain cancer. It is almost unbelievable that any one family should have suffered from terminal illness to the extent that Shapiro’s has. And yet, Shapiro’s real contribution lies in showing us how ordinary his family’s suffering ultimately is. His poems impress upon us his vision of the great, ongoing human misery, and how that misery can be balanced out by the loving and loyal attentiveness of family and friends who stay the course. In the inventive, well-wrought forms of these poems, Shapiro reveals the company and solace that can be offered the dying and the bereaved. "By god it’s summer and/you’ve cleared the bases," he says in "Up Against." "There’s no one out./The inning could go on forever." With the testimony of poems like these, the author’s brother is sure to "go on forever," and in that way no one shall ever lose him.

Charles Wright’s new volume, <!–BPLINK=0374263027–><B>A Short History of the Shadow</B><!–ENDBPLINK–> (Farrar, Straus, $20, 96 pages, ISBN 0374263027), gives us his familiar, laconically philosophical voice and the long, limpid lines for which he has become famous. Though Wright is known for his elegant ruminations on nostalgia and the mysterious passing of time, this volume, with its plethora of seasonal allusions and insistent referencing of times and images past, has an even more elegiac cast than his earlier work. Perhaps it is the titling of one section, "Millennium blues" or even our realization of the poet’s age (67 this year), that makes these poems sound almost like a last will and testament. "I think of nightfall all the time," he says in one poem. This is a hauntingly lovely volume of mature ruminations on memory, aging and the inevitable, but not unfriendly, approach of death by a poet who has lived richly, courageously and with profound dedication to the unsentimental practice of his art. In her six volumes of poetry, Linda Bierds has revealed herself as one of the most imaginatively interesting of the mid-generation of American poets. Her most recent book, <!–BPLINK=0399147861–><B>The Seconds</B><!–ENDBPLINK–> (Putnam, $24, 88 pages, ISBN 0399147861), gives us more examples of her sure hand with imagery and the delicate voicing she brings to narrative. Here, the poems often originate in a painting or in the details of an artist’s or a writer’s life Vermeer, Marie Curie, Andrew Wyeth, Zelda Fitzgerald, Franz Kafka and they are alive with the narrative imagery that Beirds is so good at evoking. This is a book for readers who love to lose themselves in the minutiae of poems constructed around a substantial thematic core. Decorative and detailed, Bierds’ poems do not stop there, but address themselves to subjects that resonate with the realities of contemporary readers’ lives. <I>Kate Daniels is a poet who teaches in the English Department at Vanderbilt University.</I>

Nothing inspires fear in the hearts of readers quite the way poetry can. The hoary literary category is something most of us attend to only in school. But this holiday season, poetry gets a lift from the literature lovers at Sourcebooks, who have designed a beguiling gift around the most overlooked genre in the publishing industry. Poetry Speaks, a trio of audio CDs accompanied by an impressive anthology, offers a star-studded lineup of authors reading their own classic poems aloud. Hear the prize winners and the poet laureates, the writers who nursed their verse to near-perfection modernists like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound; confessionalists Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell. Beginning with Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose 1888 reading from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is offered here on audio for the first time, Poetry Speaks spans more than a century and presents the recordings of 42 writers, including Edna St. Vincent Millay’s crisp, prim delivery of "I Shall Forget You" and a sonorous reading of "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" from William Butler Yeats. Crackling with age, Walt Whitman’s recitation from "America" is ghostly, and T. S. Eliot’s alert to his audience as he prepares to read "Prufrock" is priceless: "I must warn you, it takes a little time always to warm up the engine." The Poetry Speaks companion volume includes photos of the writers and selections of their work. Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Mark Strand and other luminaries contributed biographies and essays on each author. From symbolism to imagism, free verse to blank verse, Poetry Speaks offers a quick literary fix to those who’d rather listen than read.

Gorey details One of the most singular figures in American letters is celebrated in Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, which collects a quarter-century’s worth of interviews with the inimitable artist and author, who died last year. Organized chronologically and drawn from sources like The New York Times and The New Yorker, these pieces reveal their subject’s wide-ranging tastes and unmatchable intellect. Gorey, who had no formal art training, attended Harvard in the 1940s. He eventually wound up in New York, where launching a 40-year literary career he devised the demise of many an innocent in wonderfully whimsical, slightly disturbing books like The Gashlycrumb Tinies ("K is for Kate who was struck with an ax, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks," so the story goes) and The Chinese Obelisks. Gorey’s trademarks the furtive figures, the violence set to verse initially gave him a cult following until he gained the wider audience he deserved. Over the course of countless books, he did for cats what James Thurber did for canines. His lanky dancers jetŽd their way across the pages of a ballet book called The Lavender Leotard. In Ascending Pecularity, he discusses his influences the choreography of Balanchine, the paintings of Balthus, the stories of Borges an artistic assimilation that fed his singular style. With abundant photos of the artist as well as samples of his work, Ascending Pecularity reveals what made Gorey, the ultimate eccentric, tick.

A medieval classic It’s no surprise that one of Gorey’s favorite reads was the 11th century Japanese classic The Tale of Genji. (He frequently named his cats after the story’s characters.) Considered by many to be the world’s first novel, Genji, a narrative of intrigue, romance and manners set in medieval Japan, remains a hallmark of world literature more than 1,000 years after its debut. Written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese courtier, the novel follows the beautiful prince Genji through a series of stormy love affairs and risky political ventures, introducing along the way a large cast of characters, both good and evil. The story spans 75 years and given the fiery nature of its protagonist contains plot twists aplenty. Royall Tyler’s fresh, lyrical translation of the novel, heralded as a literary event comparable to Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, sets a new standard for approaching the narrative. Tyler, a renowned Japanese scholar, compiled glossaries, notes and a list of characters for this distinctive, two-volume boxed edition. Delicately illustrated with black-and-white reproductions from medieval scrolls and texts, this new, world-class version of Genji brings ancient Asian culture to life the way few literary works can. Truly a timeless tale.

Nothing inspires fear in the hearts of readers quite the way poetry can. The hoary literary category is something most of us attend to only in school. But this holiday season, poetry gets a lift from the literature lovers at Sourcebooks, who have designed a beguiling gift around the most overlooked genre in the publishing industry. Poetry Speaks, a trio of audio CDs accompanied by an impressive anthology, offers a star-studded lineup of authors reading their own classic poems aloud. Hear the prize winners and the poet laureates, the writers who nursed their verse to near-perfection modernists like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound; confessionalists Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell. Beginning with Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose 1888 reading from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is offered here on audio for the first time, Poetry Speaks spans more than a century and presents the recordings of 42 writers, including Edna St. Vincent Millay’s crisp, prim delivery of "I Shall Forget You" and a sonorous reading of "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" from William Butler Yeats. Crackling with age, Walt Whitman’s recitation from "America" is ghostly, and T. S. Eliot’s alert to his audience as he prepares to read "Prufrock" is priceless: "I must warn you, it takes a little time always to warm up the engine." The Poetry Speaks companion volume includes photos of the writers and selections of their work. Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Mark Strand and other luminaries contributed biographies and essays on each author. From symbolism to imagism, free verse to blank verse, Poetry Speaks offers a quick literary fix to those who’d rather listen than read.

Gorey details One of the most singular figures in American letters is celebrated in Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, which collects a quarter-century’s worth of interviews with the inimitable artist and author, who died last year. Organized chronologically and drawn from sources like The New York Times and The New Yorker, these pieces reveal their subject’s wide-ranging tastes and unmatchable intellect. Gorey, who had no formal art training, attended Harvard in the 1940s. He eventually wound up in New York, where launching a 40-year literary career he devised the demise of many an innocent in wonderfully whimsical, slightly disturbing books like The Gashlycrumb Tinies ("K is for Kate who was struck with an ax, L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks," so the story goes) and The Chinese Obelisks. Gorey’s trademarks the furtive figures, the violence set to verse initially gave him a cult following until he gained the wider audience he deserved. Over the course of countless books, he did for cats what James Thurber did for canines. His lanky dancers jetŽd their way across the pages of a ballet book called The Lavender Leotard. In Ascending Pecularity, he discusses his influences the choreography of Balanchine, the paintings of Balthus, the stories of Borges an artistic assimilation that fed his singular style. With abundant photos of the artist as well as samples of his work, Ascending Pecularity reveals what made Gorey, the ultimate eccentric, tick.

A medieval classic It’s no surprise that one of Gorey’s favorite reads was the 11th century Japanese classic The Tale of Genji. (He frequently named his cats after the story’s characters.) Considered by many to be the world’s first novel, Genji, a narrative of intrigue, romance and manners set in medieval Japan, remains a hallmark of world literature more than 1,000 years after its debut. Written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese courtier, the novel follows the beautiful prince Genji through a series of stormy love affairs and risky political ventures, introducing along the way a large cast of characters, both good and evil. The story spans 75 years and given the fiery nature of its protagonist contains plot twists aplenty. Royall Tyler’s fresh, lyrical translation of the novel, heralded as a literary event comparable to Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, sets a new standard for approaching the narrative. Tyler, a renowned Japanese scholar, compiled glossaries, notes and a list of characters for this distinctive, two-volume boxed edition. Delicately illustrated with black-and-white reproductions from medieval scrolls and texts, this new, world-class version of Genji brings ancient Asian culture to life the way few literary works can. Truly a timeless tale.

If you don’t count Jewel, then Billy Collins just may be the most popular poet in America. In June, Collins was appointed to the post of U.S. Poet Laureate, and this month he celebrates the release of his seventh poetry collection, Sailing Alone Around the Room, which includes almost 100 poems, 20 of them new.

The work follows the success of his previous offering, Picnic, Lightning, which has sold some 40,000 copies bestseller status for poetry. Collins’ broad popular appeal is often attributed to the accessibility of his distinctive tone, described by one critic as a casual, blue-jeans kinda style. In his new work, he disarms the reader by writing about himself: how much he used to enjoy cigarettes, what kind of house he lives in. He uses clear language, routinely incorporating humor even as he shows marked insight. In fact, the poet who usually finishes a poem in one sitting describes humor as a door into the serious. Collins also calls his poetry a form of travel writing and likes to question life from a different perspective, as he does in Walking Across the Atlantic. But for now I try to imagine what this must look like to the fish below, the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing. Collins will probably be doing a bit more traveling now that he has a three-book, six-figure deal with Random House, an unheard of offer for a literary poet. The lover of jazz and good whiskey is a professor of English at Lehman College and lives in Somers, New York, with his wife, Diane, an architect.

As a child, I used to run barefoot along the sand dunes that snaked in and out of the Mississippi River like a benign creature of habit. Later, when I was older, I often camped on those dunes, especially those located at the edge of big, swampy forests that pressed down close against the river.

One of the best things about camping on the dunes is that you never see other human footprints. It is a wild, secret place that seldom has human visitors. At night, it is a spectacular place to be alone. There is no light, except for the moon reflecting off the river, and you can run all night across the sand, chasing fireflies and stampeding the bats that swoop down to feed on them, without ever feeling foolish.

As wide as the Mississippi River is and as deep as it runs it is stone-cold silent on summer nights. There is no rushing of water, no swirling, gurgling currents that battle for supremacy. It is as quiet as a church and almost as spiritual.

I am the river, Deep and strong.

From ice and snow my life began As melting glacial waters ran In rising, frigid floods that found A thousand paths to lower ground. Written as a long poem, this book tells the story of the Mississippi River from a time when giant mammoths roamed the continent, up to the present day. It is a story packed with Indians and riverboats, Civil War gunships and modern tugs, floods and bountiful harvests and, of course, a vivid assortment of alligators and snakes.

The quiet days had surely passed With changes coming hard and fast.

I heard the mighty gunboats roar Amid a bloody civil war, Then watched the country, torn in two, Be reunited, born anew. Author Diane Siebert is no stranger to children’s books that blend simple, one-word themes with allegory and fantasy. Her other children’s books include Cave, Mojave and Train. To research this book, she says she “crossed just about every bridge across the Mississippi,” and I believe her. The illustrations by Greg Harlin are nothing short of spectacular. The artwork alone is justification enough for owning this book. Richly textured and passionate, they tell stories that words alone cannot address. This is his first picture book, but his award-winning work has been featured in museums around the country and in exhibits for the National Park Service.

Mississippi is touted for children of all ages and that is probably true, insofar as the illustrations are concerned but the poetic format of the book may be too challenging for younger children. It is by no means too challenging to be heard. What children cannot see with their eyes, they often can hear in minute detail.

Naomi Branch reviews nature, health and children’s books. She wrote this review while on a botanical expedition on the Tennessee River.

<B>Function and form: poetry’s place in contemporary America</B> The poet W.H. Auden once dismally proclaimed, "Poetry makes nothing happen." Since September 11, however, poetry seems to have assumed an increased visibility and importance for many people. Perhaps because poetry is the language most attuned to psychically extreme states, it is the medium we tend to turn to in moments of high emotion: births, weddings, graduations, the intentional crashing of jet airliners into two skyscrapers full of Tuesday morning workers.

Whether or not poems are capable of making anything discernible happen in the public world, it is clear that poetry is still influential in the private worlds of people. What poetry makes happen on a private scale is soul-soothing. Here, for National Poetry Month, are two fine volumes that do just that.

In <B>Lay Back the Darkness</B>, his sixth volume of poetry, Edward Hirsch (recently named president of the Guggenheim Foundation) gives us an elegiac, but celebratory, collection of poems that move back and forth along a dialectic of life and death. Numerous poems feature the author’s father, who died last year of Alzheimers: <I>My father in the night shuffling from room to room is no longer a father or a husband or a son but a boy standing on the edge of a forest listening to the distant cry of wolves . . .</I> Even though these are poems of loss, the overall tone remains life-affirming. Hirsch is a purveyor of grand-scale perspective: "Life flows on," he says in "Reading Isaac Babel’s Diary on the Lower East Side," "wretched, powerful, immortal /and voices blur across the century." As always, Hirsch reveals his passion for the visual arts, embellishing the collection with poems emanating from the work of Gerhard Richter and Agnes Martin. A particularly compelling poem is "Two Suitcases of Drawings from Terezin, 1942-1944." Even here, at a Nazi concentration camp, Hirsch’s essential optimism asserts itself. Even if the only release possible is the cathartic release of art, it is still an experience to be valued. At the end of this harrowing poem, Hirsch insists on the spiritual freedom to be found in art: "Somewhere a blue horse floats/over a sloping roof/and a kite soars away from its string." Kevin Young is a younger poet, the author of two previous volumes of poetry and the editor of <I>Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Poets</I>. In his new collection, <!–BPLINK=0375414606–><B>Jelly Roll: A Blues</B><!–ENDBPLINK–> (Knopf, $23, ISBN 0375414606) we find 184 pages of short, energetic, tensile, often sassy and sexy poems that capture much of the kinesis at the center of the music and dance tropes Young uses for the occasions of poems like "Torch Song," "Country and Western," "Early Blues" ("Once I ordered a pair of shoes/But they never came.") and "Honky Tonk." Like the blues, the poems are adept at juxtaposing incongruous emotions: the tragic and the comic, the cruel and the mundane unselfconsciously bump up against each other in these poems, releasing a marvelous energy in their broken phrasing and shimmeringly sculpted lines. Clearly, Young has read his Langston Hughes, Robert Creeley, Amiri Baraka and Denise Levertov, for his poems <I>move</I>. They glide and grind, stop and start, are slow and fast, loud and soft. An amazing repertoire of musical and aural effects is unleashed in what is one of the most purely enjoyable books of poetry I have read in years.

If it’s the blues, there must be a woman at the center of it. And so there is. First, love is good: "To watch you walk/cross the room in your black/corduroys is to see/civilization start." Then it’s not: "It finally forms the stank/of days without you . . . " By the end of the book, the poet’s personal grief has broadened into a larger apprehension of the place of suffering in our human experience: "I have folded instead/my sorrows like a winter/garment . . . I will/no more wear . . . " <I>Kate Daniels’ most recent book of poetry is</I> Four Testimonies <I>(LSU Press)</I>.

What is love? We look for it, long for it, lose it and anxiously chase after it again. We ought to know its definition, but just when we think we’ve pinned it down, it changes.

I read my “artistic” definition of love to my straightforward friend Elaine: “Being in love is like being in a hot tub out in the snow. While you’re in it, the world is wonderful it’s magic! But outside of it, the world is cold and cruel, and all you can think of is how to get back into that warmth and wonder.” “That’s nice,” Elaine said. (Meaning “nonsense.”) “But I’d say, ÔLove is like the flu: It strikes suddenly, knocks you off your feet, and before you know it lands you in bed.'” Same difference.

Whether or not February 14th finds you basking in love’s warmth or out in the cold, we’ve found a collection of new books sure to sweeten your romantic outlook. A good place to start is with something familiar. Truly Mars &and Venus: The Illustrated Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, by John Gray, Ph.

D., (HarperCollins, $19.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0060085657) celebrates the 10th anniversary of the best-selling book that coined a concept which is now part of our collective mindset that men and women are so different it’s as if they originated from different planets. One difference, for example, is the way they handle stress. Martians (men) deal with it by going alone into their “caves” to sort things out, whereas Venusians (women) de-stress by openly talking about their problems. Unless you’re from another solar system, the gentle humor and pointed truths in this illustrated gift book are sure to lead toward better communication and more fun on Valentine’s Day.

Of course, to understand members of the opposite sex you need to have one around. If you’re caught in the revolving door of half-baked romances and long to find a solid, loving relationship, Ronda Britten’s Fearless Loving: 8 Simple Truths That Will Change the Way You Date, Mate, and Relate (Dutton, $23.95, ISBN 0525947078) is a must-have resource. The author of Fearless Living and the founder of the Fearless Living Institute, Britten says that to conquer fear, you must be willing to make changes in yourself. “The pain you suffer in relationships is a direct result of staying faithful to your fears and to a past that no longer serves you . . . you must be willing to see things differently and make new choices and take new actions.” Along with her simple truths, (among them: “Love is up to you” and “Chemistry is between your ears”) Britten offers plenty of fear-busting exercises to move you forward on the path toward a more loving and loveable you.

Nothing says “love” (“aside from diamonds,” Elaine says) better than poetry, and two charming new volumes would make great gifts: The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time, edited by Leslie Pockell, (Warner, $11.95, ISBN 0446690228) and Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free, edited by Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Velez. The 100 Best Love Poems features everything from timeless classics like Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” to modern pieces like Donald Hall’s zany “Valentine.” If you or someone you know is recovering from love gone wrong, Kiss Off might be a more appropriate choice. Designed to help the wounded move beyond heartbreak and regain strength and confidence, the poems are divided into sections such as Hurting: When Things Fall Apart, Hiding: When You Shut Down, and Believing: When You Stay Strong.

Then again, maybe your love life just needs a little TLC. If you’re hoping to catch the “love bug,” Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul: Inspirational Stories about Love and Romance (HCI Books, $12.95, ISBN 0757300421) could be just the comfort food you and your Valentine need. This collection of heart-warming real-life stories reminds us that love, in all its many forms and by any other name, is part of all our stories, from the time we are young until “death do us part.” Whether written by celebrities, professional humorists, or Chicken Soup readers, this compilation creates an uplifting and inspiring collage, sure to evoke some tears along with the smiles. There is enough romantic wit and wisdom tucked inside these books to impassion the dullest Romeo or warm up the coolest Juliet. Make up your own definition of love, and inscribe it, lovingly, in the dust jacket of your personalized Valentine gift!

What is love? We look for it, long for it, lose it and anxiously chase after it again. We ought to know its definition, but just when we think we’ve pinned it down, it changes.

I read my “artistic” definition of love to my straightforward friend Elaine: “Being in love is like being in a hot tub out in the snow. While you’re in it, the world is wonderful it’s magic! But outside of it, the world is cold and cruel, and all you can think of is how to get back into that warmth and wonder.” “That’s nice,” Elaine said. (Meaning “nonsense.”) “But I’d say, ÔLove is like the flu: It strikes suddenly, knocks you off your feet, and before you know it lands you in bed.'” Same difference.

Whether or not February 14th finds you basking in love’s warmth or out in the cold, we’ve found a collection of new books sure to sweeten your romantic outlook. A good place to start is with something familiar. Truly Mars &and Venus: The Illustrated Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, by John Gray, Ph.

D., (HarperCollins, $19.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0060085657) celebrates the 10th anniversary of the best-selling book that coined a concept which is now part of our collective mindset that men and women are so different it’s as if they originated from different planets. One difference, for example, is the way they handle stress. Martians (men) deal with it by going alone into their “caves” to sort things out, whereas Venusians (women) de-stress by openly talking about their problems. Unless you’re from another solar system, the gentle humor and pointed truths in this illustrated gift book are sure to lead toward better communication and more fun on Valentine’s Day.

Of course, to understand members of the opposite sex you need to have one around. If you’re caught in the revolving door of half-baked romances and long to find a solid, loving relationship, Ronda Britten’s Fearless Loving: 8 Simple Truths That Will Change the Way You Date, Mate, and Relate (Dutton, $23.95, ISBN 0525947078) is a must-have resource. The author of Fearless Living and the founder of the Fearless Living Institute, Britten says that to conquer fear, you must be willing to make changes in yourself. “The pain you suffer in relationships is a direct result of staying faithful to your fears and to a past that no longer serves you . . . you must be willing to see things differently and make new choices and take new actions.” Along with her simple truths, (among them: “Love is up to you” and “Chemistry is between your ears”) Britten offers plenty of fear-busting exercises to move you forward on the path toward a more loving and loveable you.

Nothing says “love” (“aside from diamonds,” Elaine says) better than poetry, and two charming new volumes would make great gifts: The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time, edited by Leslie Pockell, and Kiss Off: Poems to Set You Free, edited by Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Velez (Warner, $14.95, ISBN 0446690287). The 100 Best Love Poems features everything from timeless classics like Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” to modern pieces like Donald Hall’s zany “Valentine.” If you or someone you know is recovering from love gone wrong, Kiss Off might be a more appropriate choice. Designed to help the wounded move beyond heartbreak and regain strength and confidence, the poems are divided into sections such as Hurting: When Things Fall Apart, Hiding: When You Shut Down, and Believing: When You Stay Strong.

Then again, maybe your love life just needs a little TLC. If you’re hoping to catch the “love bug,” Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul: Inspirational Stories about Love and Romance (HCI Books, $12.95, ISBN 0757300421) could be just the comfort food you and your Valentine need. This collection of heart-warming real-life stories reminds us that love, in all its many forms and by any other name, is part of all our stories, from the time we are young until “death do us part.” Whether written by celebrities, professional humorists, or Chicken Soup readers, this compilation creates an uplifting and inspiring collage, sure to evoke some tears along with the smiles. There is enough romantic wit and wisdom tucked inside these books to impassion the dullest Romeo or warm up the coolest Juliet. Make up your own definition of love, and inscribe it, lovingly, in the dust jacket of your personalized Valentine gift!

Are you struggling to summon gift ideas for the intellectual in your life? If so, you can un-furrow your brow starting now. This holiday season, let BookPage help you shop for the studious and the scholarly those lovers of learning who emerge from their erudite pursuits hunch-backed and bleary-eyed but triumphant.

In anticipation of your Christmas quandary, our industrious editors closeted themselves with publishers’ catalogues and unearthed the following quartet of titles, each of which should be pleasing to the academician on your list.

Show what you know A word of wisdom to the aspiring litterateur: Never enter into a conversation unarmed. Your best defense is Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Little, Brown, $50, 1,472 pages, ISBN 0316084603) a veritable arsenal of razor-sharp repartees and potent turns of phrase. Now in its 17th edition, the newly revised anthology of famous prose and verse quotes, edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Justin Kaplan, has become one of the world’s most treasured references.

The origins of this indispensable volume date back to 1855, when Cambridge, Massachusetts, bookseller John Bartlett released A Collection of Familiar Quotations a compilation of smart sayings and their sources. That humble compendium has since evolved into a comprehensive source of outrageous remarks, classic literary passages and unforgettable pronouncements. International in scope, the new edition includes material from more than 25,000 notables (Princess Di, Bob Dylan and MLK, to name a few) and offers quotes from contemporary cultural arenas such as music, television and movies. The volume is revised every 10 years, so now’s the time to untie your tongue. Let Bartlett’s help you show what you know.

The beloved Bloom is back With his Falstaffian girth and formidable reputation as a cultural critic, Harold Bloom is a scholar who does nothing on a small scale. His new book, Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (Warner, $35.95, 832 pages, ISBN 0446527173) is a milestone of research and inquiry, a broad-minded examination of the nature of genius and how (and in whom) it has manifested itself during the centuries.

Through evaluations of classic literary works the poetry of Shelley, the drama of Ibsen, the fiction of Tolstoy Bloom examines the forces that have shaped the great writers of every era, as well as the qualities shared by each author. “The study of mediocrity, whatever its origins, breeds mediocrity,” he writes. Thus, this collection a kaleidoscopic look at a group of superior individuals that blends biography with literary criticism. Author of The Western Canon and How to Read and Why, the best-selling Bloom has assembled a fascinating exhibit of remarkable intellects. Genius is inspiring, accessible and provocative a generous survey that will enlarge the reader’s comprehension of art, as well as his understanding of the role of the creative mind throughout history.

Keillor plugs poetry One of America’s most esteemed humorists and radio personages has put together a treasury of verse that’s sure to delight any lover of words. Garrison Keillor, the man behind the popular NPR spot The Writer’s Almanac, has compiled Good Poems, a collection that’s broad in scope and full of the unforgettable imagery and skilled craftsmanship that make a poem, as the title puts it, good.

Divided into categories like Music, Lovers, Failure, and Sons and Daughters, the volume offers a poem for every occasion. A who’s who of literary lights, the index lists works by top-notch contemporary authors like Galway Kinnell, Billy Collins and Sharon Olds, as well as venerable favorites such as Emily Dickinson, W.H. Auden and William Butler Yeats. “To be interrupted mid-stampede by a beautiful thing is a blessing indeed,” Keillor writes of the force of poetry. The genre may be overlooked and underrated, but there’s no denying its power. Poets, it can be argued, are prophets, and Keillor’s collection reflects their ability to bolster our spirits and lighten our hearts.

The best in books for little readers A terrific gift for those interested in raising little readers, The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators (Houghton Mifflin, $28, 542 pages, ISBN 061819083X) is the literary equivalent of a Leonard Maltin movie guide comprehensive, easy to use and instructive. Compiled by Anita Silvey, former editor in chief of Horn Book Magazine, who has written and published children’s literature for three decades, this practical volume, also available in paperback, is packed with info on all the best authors, illustrators and titles.

With more than 475 listings, The Essential Guide covers the top books of the past century and includes profiles of beloved writers, from Lemony Snicket to Margaret Wise Brown. Silvey also provides a basic reading list, contributes thoughtful and perceptive essays on genres such as science fiction, young adult novels and Holocaust literature, and examines timely themes like multiculturalism. Entries titled “Voices of the Creators,” written by Lane Smith, Gary Soto, Virginia Hamilton and others, offer insights into the artistic process. An invaluable aid in selecting the best books for youngsters, The Essential Guide is a must for parents who hope to instill a love of literature in their kids.