Two poets delivered readings saturated with the words of Illinois poets Thursday night at the Tarble Arts Center.

Gerald Murray and Kevin Stein read selections from their recently published poetry collection, “Illinois Voices: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry.”

Murray and Stein were asked by the University of Illinois Press to take on the project of gathering works by poets throughout the centuries, but they said they believed twentieth-century poets, particularly those from Illinois, deserved to be the focus of the anthology.

“There’s a lot of seminal poetry that only comes from Illinois,” Murray said. “In Illinois, one can find an entire range of everything that’s happening in all of American poetry,” he said.

Murray and Stein said the Chicago Renaissance, the publication of Poetry Magazine and the emergence of poet Gwendolyn Brooks have all contributed to the significance of Illinois poetry.

The founder of Poetry Magazine, Harriet Monroe, was a poet herself. Her work improved greatly after the magazine’s publication because the influence of all the poetry she read for the magazine, Murray said.

Monroe’s poem “The Meeting,” about Illinois industrialization, was read from the anthology, among others such as “Halsted Streetcar” by Carl Sandburg, “Ars Poetica” by Archibald Mac Leish, and “Triage” by Lisel Mueller.

Poems by Vachel Lindsay, Ernest Hemingway, John Frederick Nims, and Gwendolyn Brooks also were read.

Murray and Stein said they chose their poets based on two criteria: If the poets were born here and wrote a lot of their poetry in Illinois, they were eligible for inclusion in the anthology.

However, many big poets declined inclusion because they personally did not see themselves as Illinois poets. Others wanted a lot of money, and publication rights for some poets could not be found, said Murray and Stein.

“The better the poet, the easier they were with their conditions,” said Murray.

Stein has published three of his own collections of poetry, called “Chance Ransom,” “Bruised Paradise,” and “A Circus of Want.”

Murray is the author of five poetry collections, including “Walking the Dog” and “Repairs,” which won the Devins Award for Poetry.

Stein’s advice to future poets is to “read, read, read. Then copy, inhabit the work, and do even better.”