Poetry

Currently am on a bit of a Bukowski withdrawal.

I left Come On In with my parents by mistake, I loaned Last Night Of The Earth Poems and Love Is A Dog From Hell to a friend, and now all I have left is Play The Piano, Drunk, Like A Percussion Instrument, Until Your Fingers Begin To Bleed.

I have a nagging feeling I've mislaid one of his books as well. :/

Makes me feel sad.

There's that effect when you get a song stuck in your head but only know half the words...

I've had e e cummings' Anyone lived in a pretty how town stuck in my head, but only bit by bit. "With up so floating many bells down. Children guessed, but only a few, and down they forgot as up they grew."

One of the few books I brought with me was "A Book of Luminous Things," an international anthology of poetry across all ages. It's beautiful and a treasure.

I've never been afraid of poetry. I attribute this to long hours spent sitting with my parents' book of the 500 Most Famous Poems in the English Language (a massive tome) open on my lap. The Shepherd/Nymph dialogue  ^*

So, I just started gettin into poetry. I bought T.S Eliot's The Wasteland and would like some recommendations from you guys. I'd also like to learn how to write the stuff.

I love Jorge Luis Borges poems

Well obviously The CAnterbury Tales and William Shakespeare pretty much comprise the best English-language poetry ever so they're both rather good starting points.

One criminally under-rated poet is Alexander Pope. He's absurdly witty and is basically right about everything. I recommend either his Essay on Criticism or Rape of the Lock - especially the former if you want tips on how to both write and criticise tastefully.

edited 1st Jan '12 4:47:57 AM by Bajazeth

I freaking love poetry, I write it from time to time (mostly about Death Note, but there's some non-universe-based stuff as well), and it's a crying shame you can't quote poetry in public, let alone your own, without looking like the most pretentious twit since Harold Pinter.

Anyway, I like the sort of poems that have, at minimum, good grammar, more clear images than there are swear words, and reasons to put the line breaks in particular places. (So, not exactly a big fan of Ginsberg.) My favorites are The Bells, The Last Ship, The Harp that Once on Tara's Halls, In Flanders Fields and My Last Duchess.

edited 1st Jan '12 8:36:21 AM by DomaDoma

I rarely read poetry, but there are some poets that I consider very good. I like Edgar Allan Poe a lot, even though I'm not very fond of romantic poetry. But my favorite has to be Nikola Vaptsarov. He's managed to publish only one book before his execution - ''Motoring Verses'', but some of those are my favorite poems of all time. Like Faith, A Song of Man, A Dream and Cinema.

edited 10th Jan '12 11:49:36 AM by whataboutme

I particularly enjoy Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and Taylor Mali.

I was introduced to poetry through Ogden Nash, the best poet because he is the stupidest poet.

On Icebreakers:

Candy is dandy/But liquor is quicker.

I really regret reading This Be The Verse as my introduction to Philip Larkin. It's taken me so long to realise how good he is after that one poem which I disliked intensely.

I'm not really much of a poetry fan myself... but the stuff I do like is usually rather straightforward, biting commentary on Real Life. For example, Bertolt Brecht's libretto for Die Dreigroschenoper. I happened to read the lyrics to Die Moritat von Mackie Messer when I was 14 or 15 or so, and even though I didn't understand much German at the time, I could follow most of it, and was impressed. I also love the lyrics to Das Kanonenlied.

In the same category, there's Siegfried Sassoon's war poems - this one's always been a favorite of mine:

Blighters

The House is crammed: tier beyond tier they grin
And cackle at the show, while prancing ranks
Of harlots shrill the chorus, drunk with din:
'We're sure the Kaiser loves our dear old Tanks!'

I'd like to see a Tank come down the stalls,
Lurching to rag-time tunes, or "Home Sweet Home";
And there'd be no more jokes in music-halls
To mock the riddled corpses round Bapaume.

edited 24th Jan '12 4:55:47 AM by MidnightRambler

I like the Wanderer.

I feel for the poor bastard, I really do.

edited 24th Jan '12 3:15:36 AM by InverurieJones

Lately I've been reading a lot of Christina Rossetti's poetry, which is really excellent.

French poetry Needs More Love. I'm very fond of this gem by Verlaine:

Colloque Sentimental

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux formes ont tout à l'heure passé.

Leurs yeux sont morts et leur lèvres sont molles,
Et l'on entend à peine leurs paroles.

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé.

"Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne?"
"Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu'il m'en souvienne?"

"Ton cœur bât-il toujours à mon seul nom?
Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve?" "Non."

"Ah ! Les beaux jours de bonheur indicible
Où nous joignions nos bouches !" "C'est possible."

"Qu'il était bleu, le ciel, et grand l'espoir !"
"L'espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir."

Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles,
Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles.

Sentimental dialogue

In the old park's desolation and frost
the paths of two ghostly figures have crossed.

Their eyes are dead and their lips slack and gray
and one can scarcely hear the words they say.

In the old park's desolation and frost
two spectres have been evoking the past.

"Do you recall our bliss of that September?"
"Why ever should you wish me to remember?"

"Now when you hear my name does your heart-rate grow?
Do you still see me in your dreams?" "No."

"Ah, the enchantment of loving so dearly,
those kisses that we shared!" "Did we really?"

"Skies were so blue and hopes so high, so proud!"
"Defeated hope has fled in a sombre cloud."

Thus did they walk in the wild grass swaying.
Only the night heard the words they were saying.

edited 20th Jun '12 12:30:27 PM by Fresison

Gerard Manley Hopkins, period. "The Wreck of the Deutschland" is one of the most fantastic, mind-slamming experiences in literature, "Pied Beauty" and "Carrion Comfort" are some of the most beautiful, and "That Nature Is a Heraclitean Fire..." is one of my favorite dark-horse poems.

And I can't fail to mention Pushkin: "Prorok" ("The Prophet") is powerful enough to light a major city.

Is there any chance of us talking of Slam Poetry?

No. No, probably not.

Doesn't count as poetry? It is what it says on the tin.

I don't see why not. I mean, this is the Poetry thread...

I thought maybe someone'd say it doesn't count.

Poetry in English... I've always had trouble with it. Accustomed as I am to romance languages, I find English metrics and rhythms to be... too rough? They work great in song though...

Ted Hughes rocks. As much as any poet does, and I must express a disinterest in the form of poetry in general.

I love this one of his most.

http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/ted-hughes/hawk-roosting/

"For the one path of my flight is direct

Through the bones of the living."

Brr.

edited 30th Jun '12 6:36:07 AM by TamH70

Oh, I've found a French Slam Poet who wrote a nice piece in English (he has a noticeable accent, but the writing is sound). He's a big fan of Deleuze, De Bree and Derrida (he's a Humanities major), and of Jay-Z, Kanye West, U2, Kenna, Radiohead (in West Paris projects he was born and raised, in the playground he spent most of his days...).

The English is kind of crappy...

edited 10th Jul '12 9:58:03 AM by TheHandle

Has anyone here read any poems by Petrarch, original language or translated? How are they?

Xenophobic and bigoted.

Frightening.

They're beautiful, of course. The imagery, the ideas, the style, the heartfelt emotion. Just don't read too many of them at once. [1]