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American Poets Project Books in Order
Below you'll find the complete list of American Poets Project books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: March 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the American Poets Project series? Start with "Walt Whitman (By: Walt Whitman)" (1892) and follow publication order through all 29 books.
The complete American Poets Project reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order

Walt Whitman (By: Walt Whitman)
1892

Edgar Allan Poe (By: Richard Wilbur)
1909

Theodore Roethke (By: )
1969

A. R. Ammons (By: David Lehman,A.R. Ammons)
1977

William Carlos Williams (By: William Carlos Williams)
1984

Edna St. Vincent Millay (By: Edna St. Vincent Millay)
1991

Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems
1996

Yvor Winters (By: Thom Gunn,Yvor Winters)
1999

Karl Shapiro (By: John Updike,Karl Shapiro)
2003

Poets of World War II (By: Various,Harvey Shapiro)
2003

American Wits (By: John Hollander)
2003

John Greenleaf Whittier (By: John Greenleaf Whittier)
2004

Kenneth Fearing (By: Robert Polito,Kenneth Fearing)
2004

Muriel Rukeyser (By: Muriel Rukeyser)
2004

John Berryman (By: Kevin Young,John Berryman)
2004

Poets of the Civil War (By: )
2005

Emma Lazarus (By: Emma Lazarus)
2005

Edith Wharton (By: Edith Wharton)
2005

The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (By: Gwendolyn Brooks,Elizabeth Alexander)
2005

Cole Porter (By: Robert Kimball,Cole Porter)
2006

Louis Zukofsky (By: Louis Zukofsky,Charles Bernstein)
2006

Kenneth Koch (By: Ron Padgett,Kenneth Koch)
2007

American Sonnets (By: David Bromwich)
2007

James Agee (By: James Agee,Andrew Hudgins)
2008

Poems from the Women's Movement (By: Honor Moore)
2009

Ira Gershwin (By: Robert Kimball,Ira Gershwin)
2009

Lyrics of the First Great Popular Songs (By: Stephen Collins Foster,Ken Emerson)
2010

Countee Cullen (By: Major Jackson,Countee Cullen)
2010

Amy Lowell (By: Honor Moore)
2012
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