sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Mar 8, 2013 15:31:38 GMT -5
Do you have a favourite poem? Do you have a favourite poet? Why is it/they your favourite?
As you can probably guess from my avatar I really like Lewis Carroll's work so my favourite poem is 'Jaberwocky' because of the nonsense language it uses. I like the fact it challenges what we regard as meaningful/meaningless language/communication
As for my favourite poet I like the work of Thomas Hardy. His poetry often gets overlooked in favour of his novels but he apparently considered himself more of a poet than a novelist. I like his work because he writes of the nature imagery he uses to explore various themes.
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Rhi
Cat People
every story tells a picture, don't it
Posts: 68 
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Post by Rhi on Mar 8, 2013 18:06:04 GMT -5
My favourite poem...probably Billy Collins' 'Litany'. Snarky and sweet at once.
I'd say Seamus Heaney is one of my favourites overall, and I was privileged to be able to see him read once! Margaret Atwood's poems are also very good, and I've read loads of other individual poems that I've loved but can't recall authors.
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Mar 8, 2013 18:53:57 GMT -5
I'd say Seamus Heaney is one of my favourites overall, and I was privileged to be able to see him read once!. I've read some of Seamus Heaney's poetry before, I studied him as part of GCSE english. I particullary like 'Storm on the Island'. That must have been such a wonderful expereince to see him read! |
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Post by lucy on Mar 9, 2013 4:17:27 GMT -5
i really like Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, e.e. cummings. Federico García Lorca is wonderful, too!
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Post by Beth on Mar 9, 2013 9:01:07 GMT -5
I don't think I could pin it down to just one! I love poetry. I used to write a lot of it, when I was reading more of it, and I do miss it (academic stuff is taking up all my creativity at the moment). I've never read any of Thomas Hardy's poetry. Which ones would you rec? I just read Billy Collins' 'Litany' Rhi - loved it! Thanks for the rec  What's your favourite Ginsberg Lucy? I really got into the Beat poets when I was at uni and I'm a big Ginsberg fan (I really want to see the film that's coming out with Dan Radcliffe playing Ginsberg). I'm a big fan of Thom Gunn and Walt Whitman too (seriously, I love The Dead Poet's Society in large part because of the Whitman references!). Heh, I guess that covers some of my favourite poets. I have many more though! I adore RS Thomas and Patrick Jones. They're both Welsh poets, and quite different in their styles and (superficially) their subject matter, but I find there are definite comparisons between the two (I actually wrote an A-Level essay comparing them as Welsh writers). A couple of my favourite RS Thomas poems are A Welsh Testament and Welsh Landscape. Some of Patrick Jones' work can be found here, though my favourites from The Guerilla Tapestry aren't among them. |
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Mar 9, 2013 14:16:16 GMT -5
I've never read any of Thomas Hardy's poetry. Which ones would you rec? 'The Convergence of the Twain' is a good Hardy poem, at least in my opinion, it's about the sinking of the Titanic and explores the relationship between nature and culture and criticizes human's arrogance for believing they could tame nature 'The Haunter' explores the relationship with his dead wife. Thomas Hardy and Emma Hardy had quite a difficult marriage and it was only after she died that he realized how much he loved her. After her death he wrote so many poems exploring his relationship with her. 'The Darkling Thrush' is one of Hardy's better known poems. It is set at the turn of the century and is a reflection on that. It is fairly pessimistic but there is potential optimism in it depending on how you understand the thrush. Some really great poem recommendation here so far. I'm hoping to read all of them when I get some time. They've been added to my ever growing 'to-read' list! |
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Rhi
Cat People
every story tells a picture, don't it
Posts: 68
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Post by Rhi on Mar 9, 2013 17:59:58 GMT -5
It was great, Sophie! I wish I could see him again. I really love his translation of Beowulf as well.
Beth, I read some Welsh poets when I did Celtic Civ at Glasgow Uni, but can't recall if RS Thomas was one of them. A Welsh Testament is stunning.
I'm also a huge Whitman fan, I can't believe I didn't remember to say as much.
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Post by thewordiebirdie on Mar 10, 2013 5:24:55 GMT -5
I could never choose just one, that would be like trying to choose a favourite song...
I keep a notebook full of quotes and extracts and poems, mainly to leave a trace of what I have read and liked - sometimes we read these little sentences, fall in love with them, and then they just get closed back up inside the book and absorbed into the shelf with all the other beautifully crafted sentences, and we forget which ones we really liked or where they are.
Here are a few from there:
Love in the Asylum - Dylan Thomas
Maiden Name - Peter Larkin
Beautiful Cosmos - Ivor Cutler
The Windhover - Gerard Manly Hopkins
You - Dennis Driscoll
Open and Closed Space - Thomas Transtromer
'The earth is an old canvas painted over many times...' - Daniel Johnston
'One must learn to have patience with everything unsolved in one's heart and try to love the questions themselves' - Rainer M. Rilke
There's loads of Whitman, Ginsberg, Tom Waits lyrics, Spike Milligan, Stephen Wright jokes (which are perfect and gorgeous, and I managed to sneak this one into a Post-Structuralism essay: 'I dropped spot remover on my dog, and now he's gone...), and extracts from textbooks, manifestos, Bruno Schulz' stories. If you've never read any Schulz, please do, he was a Surrealist and had an amazing way with imagery. I might even type an extract up later this afternoon to share with you, it's just gorgeous stuff.
These two poems I have loved for a very long time: the second one was written by my Pa, and it used to be on the bottom of the receipts at the coffeeshop I used to run. I think I have a handwritten copy in my bag still, thinking about it. The first one really quickly sums up everything I want to study, and got sneaked into my Inception essay which I was quite pleased to get away with:
Dreams are cages
within which we observe
the cages without
- William Wantling
The Hostess
Come in
she said
sit down
and be
easy, take
the world
from your
shoulders, put
it down
by the
bed with
the other
planets people
have left
- Mart Ward
Thanks for starting this thread Sophie, it's nice to share stuff like this.
Beth, can we have some of your poems? Or shall we start a new thread for everyone to share things they have written?
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Post by Beth on Mar 10, 2013 9:14:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the rec Sophie, I'll have a read.
What other Welsh poets/poems did you study Rhi?
I love Dylan Thomas too Riv. For my 30th birthday last year my dad took me on the Dylan Thomas birthday walk in Laugharne. It was one of the most thoughtful presents I've had.
I keep a book of quotes too! It's upstairs in the study and has loads of bits and pieces of poems, essays, songs and books in there. I also really like those two poems you posted, The Hostess especially.
I'll dig out some of my poems and post them but I'd love a thread where we can share things that we've written.
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Rhi
Cat People
every story tells a picture, don't it
Posts: 68
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Post by Rhi on Mar 10, 2013 16:56:12 GMT -5
Sophie, just read The Haunter--I'd only read Tess, when it came to Hardy, so that poem was fantastic.
Riv, that poem's also fantastic, so evocative. I envy people who can do that.
Beth--it was eight years ago now (time passing so much oh my god) so names haven't stuck with me as well as I'd wished, though I do recall reading several pieces by Bobi Jones. I know we read a lot of modern Welsh language poets in translation; we were quite focused on nationalist poetry and the reclamation of writing in Welsh.
On a slight tangent, I read The Mabinogion ages back, then again in original Welsh for a class I took as an undergraduate in Medieval Welsh translation.
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Post by thewordiebirdie on Mar 13, 2013 5:17:24 GMT -5
Eden (extract)
Now,
at the marketplace
we sell many things, including
love
and
courage
but these you must bring with you
and pay for as you leave
- William Wantling
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Mar 13, 2013 16:00:09 GMT -5
^ That's lovely and very thought provoking. What does anyone here think about haikus? (i.e the 3 line/17 syllable poem) A very famous one is by Matsuo Basho (the translation varies): 'The old pond-
A frog jump in,
Sound of water' I always find it so amazing how the writers of these haikus can convey so much in so few words. It really makes me think about the ways and the quantity in which we use our language to communicate. |
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Post by Beth on Mar 14, 2013 12:54:02 GMT -5
Thanks Rhi! I'll check Bobi Jones out. If any of the other names come back to you let me know - I want to read more Welsh work. I love The Mabinogion! How cool that you read it in the original Welsh too  Sophie, I love haikus. I really like short writing, so in fandom I write a lot of drabbles and outside of fandom I write a lot of flash fiction. I love trying to work out how to say certain things in specific constraints. I used to write a lot of haikus (especially when I was doing my undergrad degree). I actually went and looked at my writing folder while typing this and the bulk of the poetry I was writing was between about 2000 and 2006. Such a long time ago! And a lot of it is ridiculously emo (I was clearly a trendsetter...). |
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Post by thewordiebirdie on Mar 19, 2013 8:17:48 GMT -5
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andie
Cat People
Posts: 13
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Post by andie on Mar 24, 2013 15:27:16 GMT -5
Hello all,
I don't know much about poetry, but I know what I like (as they say). I went through a phase of writing poetry because I desperately wanted to write something creative while I was doing my MA, but I just didn't have the time for prose.
I tend to go for poetry that hits my emotions, so usually poetry about war or death, or dark or wry humour. I have a few books where I've marked some that stood out to me. *heads off to the poetry section*. Here we go:
Roger McGough - 'Let me die a youngman's death'
[...]
Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides
[...]
E.A. Mackintosh - 'Recruiting'
[...]Take your risk of life and death
Underneath the open sky
Live clean or go out quick -
Lads, your're wanted. Come and die.[...]
Lady Mary Chudleigh - 'To the Ladies'
[...]Value yourselves, and men despise:
You must be proud, if you'll be wise[...]
'Scars Upon My Heart' is a great collection of women's poetry from the First World War, selected by Catherine Reilly
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