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WHERE IS MY NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY

2018-06-05 · letter vlog · John · 3:22 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Comedy & performance

John hunts for his third-edition Norton Anthology of Poetry, borrowed from his friend Chip in 11th grade and eventually stolen, laments that he can never find the book he needs, recommends two books along the way, finds it at his office and reads Wallace Stevens's 'The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm'.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John can't find his (or Chip's) third-edition Norton Anthology of Poetry

  • ★★★ John can't find his Norton Anthology of Poetry, more precisely his friend Chip's copy, which he borrowed in 11th grade and eventually stole. — 00:00:01
  • ★★ John calls the third edition a deeply flawed book: published 35 years ago, it contains almost no poems from the last 40 years; but it is his, or at least Chip's. (playful) — 00:00:16

00:00:28 — The book he needs is never findable; the books he can always find; where it isn't

  • ★★ One of the central facts of John's life: however often he reorganizes his home library, he can never find the book he desperately needs at that moment. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ He can always find the New York Public Library's guide to organizing a home library except when reorganizing, and his ninth-grade 100 Poems by E.E. Cummings except in March when he wants the 'perhaps hand' spring poem. (playful) — 00:00:38
  • ★ Right now John has no trouble finding Everything You Need to Know About the Goth Scene, or copies of the Swedish edition of Turtles All the Way Down with its amazing cover. (playful) — 00:00:54 · Turtles All the Way Down

00:01:14 — Two recommendations: a Joseph Conrad biography and Dactyl Hill Squad

  • ★★ John has really enjoyed an extraordinarily engrossing biography of Joseph Conrad, words he never thought he would say. — 00:01:14
  • ★★ John recommends Dactyl Hill Squad, out in September, which he has been reading in an advance copy with Henry: it is about orphans in the Civil War who ride dinosaurs, and it is amazing. — 00:01:19 · Henry Green

00:01:29 — A day of searching instead of a script; the drive to the office; found

  • ★★ John has looked for the book for an entire day and couldn't write a Vlogbrothers script, so the search became the topic of the video. — 00:01:32 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ John says the anthology is a 3.2-pound book, not something one would take on vacation and leave there. (playful) — 00:01:44
  • ★★ John knows he could just Google the poem, but he doesn't want to: he wants to read it in his Norton Anthology of Poetry. — 00:01:50 · Google
  • ★★★ Wondering if it is at the office, John drives there and finds the anthology. — 00:02:04

00:02:24 — John reads 'The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm'; sign-off

  • ★★ John reads aloud 'The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm' from the anthology. — 00:02:24
  • ★★ John says the poem is every bit as good as he remembers and just what he needed today. — 00:03:15

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description identifies the poem as Wallace Stevens's 'The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm', readable online but also in the third edition of the Norton, which some would argue is Chip's. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • The 35-year-old anthology lacks poems from the last 40 years. — 00:00:19

    “on account of having been published 35 years ago”

  • John lists the places the anthology is not. — 00:01:05

    “It's not with the Hot Wheels Ultimate track”

  • John insists the heavy book can't have been left anywhere. — 00:01:44

    “Nobody like takes a 3.2 pound book on vacation and leaves it there.”

  • John vows to let the book go if it isn't at the office. — 00:02:05

    “I am going to let it go. Maybe.”

Mentioned

Central: The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm · The Norton Anthology of Poetry

Also: People: Chip (friend, mentioned from 2018) · E. E. Cummings · Henry Green · Joseph Conrad

Works: 100 Selected Poems · Dactyl Hill Squad · Everything You Need to Know About the Goth Scene · New York Public Library's Guide to Organizing a Home Library · Press Your Luck · Spring is like a perhaps hand · Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Google

Events: American Civil War

Only in the description or credits: Wallace Stevens

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