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Poems That Make Grown Men Cry

100 Men on the Words That Move Them

About The Book

‘The best leave you with a renewed sense of how extraordinary it is that poetry can, over the course of one sentence, flood your circuit board with loss, or anger, or love’ Independent

From J.J. Abrams to John le Carré, Salman Rushdie to Jonathan Franzen, Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, Ian McEwan to Stephen Fry, Stanley Tucci to Colin Firth, and Seamus Heaney to Christopher Hitchins, 100 men confess to being moved to tears by poems that haunt them.

This remarkable collection of poems, from the sixteenth century to the present day, delivers private insight into the souls of men whose writing, acting and thinking are admired around the world.

About The Authors

Photo Credit:

Anthony Holden is an award-winning journalist who has published more than thirty books, including He Played For His Wife…And Other Stories and biographies of Laurence Olivier, Tchaikovsky, and Shakespeare. He has published translations of opera, ancient Greek plays, and poetry. He was director of European Film and Television at Exclusive Media, where he helped relaunch Britain’s most famous film production label, Hammer. Anthony Holden lives in London.

Andrew Crowley

Ben Holden is a writer and film producer. He lives in London and studied English at Merton College, Oxford. With his father Anthony, Ben edited the bestselling Poems That Make Grown Men Cry and Poems That Make Grown Women Cry.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (April 10, 2014)
  • Length: 336 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781471134913

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Raves and Reviews

'Everyone who reads this collection will be roused: disturbed by the pain, exalted in the zest for joy given by poets'

– Observer

'An anthology of some of the most emotive lines in literature chosen by 100 famous and admired men'

– Vanessa Thorpe, Observer

'Occasionally baffling but mostly illuminating . . . As with all the best anthologies, there is a compelling mixture of the well-known and the obscure'

– Event Magazine, The Mail on Sunday

'[An] eclectic collection of moving poems, chosen by a selection of well-known men . . . Organised chronologically, the poems in this book are preceded by a short explanatory note by the men who selected them. These pieces are probably the most interesting aspect of the book and give what would have been, without a doubt, an interesting poetry anthology anyway, far more substance and credibility . . . This is an interesting book, a perfect gift'

– The Literary Shed

'That's the great thing about a good anthology of poems: you are reminded of old friends and introduced to new ones . . . This is a welcome addition to my shelves and I'll look forward to Poems That Make Woman Cry. I hope they ask me to be in it'

– Sunday Telegraph

'It really is a fascinating anthology. Finding out what makes particular men emotional is intriguing'

– Brian Lynch, Irish Independent

'This book explores the often neglected subject of male emotion through timeless poetry'

– Joy of Text, Living North Magazine

'Pure genius . . . what I love most is the proud grasp of emotion as mature and manly'

– Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

'Pure genius . . . what I love most is the proud grasp of emotion as mature and manly'

– Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

'A wonderfully powerful and moving experience'

– Jade Craddock, New Books, July '14

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