100 Poems to Break Your Heart is a poignant collection of poetry that captures the raw and powerful emotions that come with heartbreak. The book is a compilation of 100 poems that span across the nineteenth century to the present day. With each poem, poet and advocate Edward Hirsch delves deep into the context and references, to help readers fully experience the range of emotions within these poems.

The poems in this book are a testament to the idea that we are enriched by heartbreaks, by the recognition and understanding of suffering. The poets in this book are people who are determined to leave a trace in words, to transform oceanic depths of feeling into art that speaks to others. They capture the essence of human emotions, and their words are a soothing balm to anyone trying to process grief, loneliness, or fear.

For those who are looking for an escape from their emotions, this book is a guide in trying times. It is a reminder that we are not alone in our struggles, and that there is beauty in the pain and suffering that we experience. Overall, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart is a must-read for anyone who appreciates the power of poetry and the human experience.

These poems do indeed break your heart. A great book to savor slowly. I love how he breaks down each poem so that the reader can fully appreciate every line

This did, indeed, make me sad. I recommend reading when you are already sad or in the mood to be sad, not just trying to get through your bookshelf. LOL, oops. It's more serious than you might expect from the cover.

Some of these poems really spoke to me and others didn't, which is poetry! I liked the compilation but took less away from it than I had hoped.

This was not what I expected at all. It was actually better.

I was expecting a collection of great poetry, and I got that but also much more. Hirsch essentially becomes your English teacher, providing a breakdown and historical context for the poems that truly aided in my understanding of them. It allowed the poem to fully break my heart.

I can see how this literary/academic review of the poems may not be for everyone but if you enjoy the little details of word choices and implications, or perhaps if you are a poet yourself, this is for you.

I do not usually read poetry (at least older poetry) because I feel I often lack the context within which the pieces were made, but this book bridges that gap.

Every poem had so much meaning and gives meaning to what the poem is about. Some poems make you sit for awhile and contemplate on how the poem has touched your soul.

This was a much lengthier collection of previously published poetry with accompanied analysis than I had been anticipating. It’s more of a book you should read slowly and take the time to think about. I wasn’t in the right mindset for this at the time of reading but hope others will get more enjoyment out of it!

I loved this book so much that I stopped reading the arc and bought a physical copy so I could take notes and highlight all I wanted.

I loved the analysis of each poem and the preamble to give you this historical context. Overall a wonderful collection of diverse poems that I know will keep me coming back time and time again.

DNF at 10% so I don’t have a review on Goodreads, I’m sorry! I misunderstood what this book was based on the description, and it was too dense for me to read at the moment.

I love a good deep dive into poetry, and the explanations and analysis were amazing. I’ll be picking this up as soon as I have the time.

A very large collection of interesting poems, 4 stars~

This is a MASSIVE collection of poems. With each poem in the collection, the author also provides some background and insight into its meaning and significance which was helpful. Although many of these poems can be quite emotional, I really like the idea of having a hard copy of this as a coffee table book for deep conversation starters. It would be a great addition to a poetry collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for providing a digital ARC for review!

This book is full of 100 heartbreaking poems accompanied by analysis to give any everyday reader a solid background on the poem. This adds a new level of understanding and can intensify the emotions felt by just reading the poem. Hirsch uses clear language that shows his respect and intensity for the human experience.

Overall I enjoyed this. The poems seem thoughtfully chosen and a nice mix of time periods and style. I liked the style of poem and analysis pairing. I do wish that the analyses had been a little more interpretive and empathetic. I found them very fact-heavy and focused on the historical context, which is helpful, but I would’ve liked a little more color and interpretation, if that makes sense.

You know from the title that this is going to be an emotional read but nothing prepared me for this. Heart wrenching and poignant. I connected so deeply to this. Everyone should read this once in their life.

I liked this a lot more than I honestly thought I would. It’s quite dense, but to the benefit of understanding. The author gives you the poems, a background to the poets life and what events likely inspired the poems as well as a deep analysis to the contents of each poem. You can tell through the writing that this author is passionate about the topic which makes it a lot easier to read through.

If you are interested in taking a class on poetry but in a book format, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart might be just what you’re looking for. I didn’t realize what this collection would be and so it was more dense than I was looking for and ended up deciding to DNF. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

It did not meet my expectations, I thought this was 100 poems written by the author not an interpretation of him of the poetry he chose. I do not have the urge to continue reading, it is like my textbook in highschool.

I was hoping and expecting this to be a collection of poems/poetry but was rather surprised about the format of this book. I unfortunately lost interest when I realized how much more complex it was. This just wasn’t something I was looking for.

This was not really what I was expecting, even having had read the blurb. I was anticipating a collection of poems around grief and heartache, presented together and allowed to shine on their own.

What it is instead, is poems that you are told how to feel about. Some of the poems are not shown in their full form and the editor/author’s opinion on it is what is showcased. I found myself quickly becoming tired of the format and looked up several of the poems on my own just so I could experience them in a truer format without Mr. Hirsch’s pretentiousness following me around glaring at me for being a mere simpleton.

The collection was originally released in 2021, and I don’t know much about why it is being re-released again this month but I don’t think it will make a splash unfortunately.

The quality of the poems is not what I dislike, the poems themselves were picked out well enough and many really are heartbreaking. The commentary is what did it in, and while this collection may be for many people- it was certainly not for me.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Ecco for an advanced copy of this book on poetry and commentary on sadness, emptiness and words that both reflect this, and lift us out.

Poetry is something that I get a surprising amount out questions about working in bookstores. Besides the summer reading lists books or the newest best sellers from Youtube stars, I am asked alot to recommend poems for people going through difficult times. Customers seem to want poems to help them with the emotions they are feeling, but really don't know what they want, or even what to look for. Some are dealing with loss, some feel lost, and some have lost that loving feeling, to paraphrase a song. Poems though are very personal. What speaks to me, another might think of as corny, or immature, or anything but consoling or equal to what they are feeling. We all universally have the same feelings, but how we express, share and deal with our emotions are universally different. Edward Hirsch, poet, commentator and editor of 100 Poems To Break Your Heart, understands this. In this collection Hirsch offers a variety of poems stretching across the years dealing with love, loss, light and looking forward, breaking the heart to make it mend.

The introduction to the book shares thoughts on the power of words to makes us both feel, and feel better. Poems might break barriers in our mind, letting in thoughts we don't want, but from them, we learn more about ourselves and our resilience. The poems range for the end of the nineteenth century, to a few years ago. The usual players are here, William Wordsworth, Keats, Primo Levi. Some of the newer poets include Carolyn Creedon, Lucia Perillo, and Afaa Michael Weaver. The theme is breaking one's heart, but the subject matter covers quite a few different ideas. Death of course is a major subject. The death of love, and relationships not quite dying, not quite living, is another subject that has quite a bit written about. Some are just misery, be it about the human existence or the sadness that is just the world. Some really don't hold up, but that is common in all collections, as in nothing can be 100% for anyone, especially in the arts. Again what I find comforting, others might find cold and or uninteresting.

Each poems is it' own chapter with the poem broken down to explain what might be missed by a casual reader, and why the poem delivers what it does. There is some biographical looks at the poet's life, the work's reception, other comments about it, and what Hirsch thinks. I liked this a lot as always wonder if I am missing something in a poem, and might help me to explain to customers why this book might be just what they are looking for. The commentary does make the book bigger than people might like, and there could be some people who just want sad poems, skip the education, but I really enjoyed the work that Hirsch did here.

Not a collection for everyone, but one that I think many will enjoy. It is not only useful and educational, it really does feature a lot of information on reading and understand poetry. People read poems like this to find the strength to go on. This collection does a wonderful job of enforcing that idea.

What a collection for the lovers of the bittersweet, those unafraid of melancholy, those new to poetry and those familiar with it. Hirsch's 100 Poems to Break Your Heart is more than selected by its poet author. Each carefully selected piece is accompanied by Hirsch's curation of history and technique, allowing for the ways in which an author's lived experience lives on the page to be more fully experienced by both expert and introductory readers. I am particularly impressed at the scope of this collection, for it encompasses lived experiences across time periods, country borders, style margins, and all kinds of lived experiences to be both inclusive and expansive. I found myself moved especially by poets I bashfully admit I had not yet had the chance to read. This collection is full of the human experience in a way that does not shy away from the complexities of human emotions and their expressions, and we are all the better for it. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for this read and Hirsch for the exposure to the words that will stay with me.