The Children's Classic Poetry Collection

the poetry shelf Two new poetry anthologies present poetry as a key to unlocking the imagination. Charles Sullivan collects over 80 poems for Imaginary Animals: Poetry and Art for Young People. A companion to Imaginary Architecture, the entertaining volume encompasses poems on such subjects as the Loch Ness monster and talking to cats; featured poets include William Blake, Galway Kinnell, Sylvia Plath and Ogden Nash. The illustrations are unusually varied, ranging from paintings by Berthe Morisot and Winslow Homer to photographs of a Trojan Horse vase from ancient Greece, Henry Moore's sculpture Sheep Piece, Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone, the gargoyles of Notre Dame and Bigfoot. Half of the 80 illustrations are in color. A more conventional compilation, The Children's Classic Poetry Collection by Nicola Baxter, illus. by Cathie Shuttleworth, puts nursery rhymes side by side with well-known poems by Tennyson and Byron, among others. The selections, divided into such categories as ""Dreams and Wonders"" and ""Bright and Beautiful,"" represent a wide range of reading levels. The 50 color illustrations veer toward the precious; e.g., freckled girls with big bonnets, striped stockings and puffy skirts.