Anna Adams (1) (1926–2011)

This book is a short anthology of literary excerpts about London. Most of the prose selections are segments of longer works, but many of the poems are individual works. The editor, Anna Adams contributed several poems, and did a nice job of organizing the items she selected. The book contains 13 sections, and each section opens with a couple of lines from William Blake's "Jerusalem" and a drawing/sketch of London. Some of the section titles include: "The Weather in the Streets," "The River Thames," "The Recent Wars," "Churches, Palaces, and Towers," and "London Transport." Adams included a range of authors stretching from the Middle Ages to the modern day. A sampling of authors: Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Chaucer, W. H. Auden, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Johnson, Lord Byron, Jonathan Swift, and Virginia Woolf. A great read for anyone who is familiar with London and wants to get a glimpse of how the great city has been portrayed in literature down through the ages. My only complaint is that I wanted the book to be longer.… (mer)