EPTAlso, I like George Herbert because he was so gifted that he could write bad poetry.
Poems - Page 2
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AiurZ
United States429 Posts
Also, I like George Herbert because he was so gifted that he could write bad poetry. | ||
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zOula...
United States898 Posts
we had goldfish and they circled around and around in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes covering the picture window and my mother, always smiling, wanting us all to be happy, told me, 'be happy Henry!' and she was right: it's better to be happy if you can but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't understand what was attacking him from within. my mother, poor fish, wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a week, telling me to be happy: 'Henry, smile! why don't you ever smile?' and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the saddest smile I ever saw one day the goldfish died, all five of them, they floated on the water, on their sides, their eyes still open, and when my father got home he threw them to the cat there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother smiled | ||
SirJolt
the Dagon Knight4016 Posts
William Carlos Williams - This is just to say Both are wonderful heartgrabbers | ||
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bellhop
United States165 Posts
On May 28 2011 13:37 tnkted wrote: Yeah this is a common problem. I think its because they teach the most boring poems in school; there are way more exciting poems that you could spend your time reading than the ones they give you in school. I mean Liz Browning is great but she has way better poems then "let me count the ways I love thee." And don't even get me started on the merits of presenting Plath to a bunch of middle schoolers. You just have to find the right poet! Modern readers will find the most complexity and surprise in poems that are more contemporary because older poems feel dated. I posted two big (relatively) contemporary hits above, but there are a ton of really really good poets that are still living and writing today who write stuff that is much more exciting to me than things written by dead people. Robert Hass is an example. Also Billy Collins (although I think he died recently) and that Gluck woman, whatshername... I think its Lucille Gluck although I could be mistaken. Billy Collins is still alive and well. Also, I agree that Louise Gluck is pretty good, we read her work recently in a workshop class. "Here, Bullet", by Brian Turner is a great collection of poetry about the Iraq War, and is definitely worth reading. And, to the person posting the Bukowski poem, I have read a lot of Bukowski but hadn't read that one before. Great poem! | ||
Carnivorous Sheep
Baa?21248 Posts
A blanket statement that "dated" poems are boring while contemporary poetry is better is quite silly ;o | ||
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jon arbuckle
Canada443 Posts
On May 28 2011 12:38 Oreo7 wrote: Recently I really like Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" Wordsworth's "Daffodils" and Shelleys "Ozymandias". I really like Romanticism, although I don't necessarily agree with the philosophy, I feel it does provide a generally happy world view which is hard to find in literature. Got any recommendations? Major turn offs for me are heavy god themes (I have trouble reading most Milton because of this), and bad love poetry. If what draws you to romanticism is its stock in human emotion and lack of cynicism and despair (as opposed to its formality), I'd recommend Frank O'Hara. His mechanics are looser (more Whitman/Ginsberg), but his enthusiasm, spontaneity, and emotion is contagious. Urban (e.g. Love Poems), not bound to tried descriptions of forest scenery, sort of sprints out with feeling for his subjects, making his poetry immensely readable, touching, and pertinent. His "Having a coke with you" is one of my favourite love poems (or poems period) because it communicates without cheese or cliche something mundane, makes it huge, which is all you can ask for from a poem, really. From the sound of it you'd also like William Carlos Williams. I haven't read Hart Crane yet, but supposedly his The Bridge attempts to apply the The Wasteland to something optimistic, positive, and sincere. Try that too. edit: Also, for reserved (i.e. less scattershot than O'Hara, less spare than WCW), more explicitly abstract and philosophical poetry, check out Wallace Stevens. | ||
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Kamille
Monaco1035 Posts
For Romanticism, I'd just suggest John Keats' Bright Star or Lord Byron's She walks in beauty. | ||
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