"A generous, heartfelt gift." - Kirkus (STARRED review)
The legendary Academy Award–winning actress reflects on her love affair with poetry and makes us all believers.
We all want inspiration. We want to feel connected to something universal. And we want to be able to share that wonder with friends and loved ones.
In this beautiful volume, Ellen Burstyn celebrates poetic magic and shares her favorite works. Now into her nineties, Ellen reveals she had an evangelical response to learning poetry even as a child and would memorize and recite the works of Edna St Vincent Millay to envelope herself in the poet's deeper emotional landscape.
As Burstyn continued her epic rise through film and theater-eventually winning an Oscar, a Tony, a BAFTA, and an Emmy-poetry gave voice to her experience as no other literary art form could. She never went anywhere without her curated “poetry pack.” While waiting on set, in rehearsal, on a train, or just relaxing, she found comfort in verse.
For nearly nine decades, poetry has led Ellen on a life of adventure, from a pilgrimage to Rumi's birthplace to a friendship with Maya Angelou, during which the poet read her work in Ellen's movie trailer, to selecting the poems to join her in love, in motherhood and in grief. Poetry Says It Better takes us on our own adventure, featuring work by:
| ISBN: | 9780063387683 |
| Publication date: | 18th June 2026 |
| Author: | Ellen Burstyn |
| Publisher: | HarperOne an imprint of HarperCollins |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Genres: |
Biography: arts and entertainment Coping with / advice about death and bereavement Relationships: friends / peer groups Classic and pre-20th century poetry Poetry anthologies (various poets) Memoirs Literary studies: poetry and poets Narrative theme: Love and relationships Theatre studies Creative writing and creative writing guides Ancient, classical and medieval texts Poetry |
"A generous, heartfelt gift." - Kirkus (STARRED review)
The legendary Academy Award–winning actress reflects on her love affair with poetry and makes us all believers.
We all want inspiration. We want to feel connected to something universal. And we want to be able to share that wonder with friends and loved ones.
In this beautiful volume, Ellen Burstyn celebrates poetic magic and shares her favorite works. Now into her nineties, Ellen reveals she had an evangelical response to learning poetry even as a child and would memorize and recite the works of Edna St Vincent Millay to envelope herself in the poet's deeper emotional landscape.
As Burstyn continued her epic rise through film and theater-eventually winning an Oscar, a Tony, a BAFTA, and an Emmy-poetry gave voice to her experience as no other literary art form could. She never went anywhere without her curated “poetry pack.” While waiting on set, in rehearsal, on a train, or just relaxing, she found comfort in verse.
For nearly nine decades, poetry has led Ellen on a life of adventure, from a pilgrimage to Rumi's birthplace to a friendship with Maya Angelou, during which the poet read her work in Ellen's movie trailer, to selecting the poems to join her in love, in motherhood and in grief. Poetry Says It Better takes us on our own adventure, featuring work by:
Poetry Says It Better features in the following genres: Biography: arts and entertainment, Coping with / advice about death and bereavement, Relationships: friends / peer groups, Classic and pre-20th century poetry, Poetry anthologies (various poets), Memoirs, Literary studies: poetry and poets, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Theatre studies, Creative writing and creative writing guides, Ancient, classical and medieval texts, Poetry
Poetry Says It Better is available in Hardback
Poetry Says It Better was written by Ellen Burstyn and published by HarperOne an imprint of HarperCollins
Poetry Says It Better has 272 pages
£19.80