Poetry, anyone?

[GrungeHamster389]

I was never a big fan of poetry--actually, I pretty much hated it--until last year, when I was forced to study it. Personally I prefer epic, lengthy stuff, but I've also read some shorter poems by Robert Frost and Anne Sexton that I've enjoyed. But my two favorite poems, by far, would have to be "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," by Walt Whitman (who was not, as it turns out, an awful child molester who was born in ancient Hong Kong) and The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.

What kind of poetry do you guys like?

[Anethon]

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
Yes!


I typically like stuff by Poe, as well as some of Emily Dickinson's poetry, and I remember liking Sappho, although it's been a while since I read her works. I like the quirky, bizarre prose poetry of Russel Edson (electric monkeys? What the hell?), and I liked the book Woven Stone by Simon Ortiz, but I haven't read much else by him. Another book I liked was Jane: A Murder by Maggie Nelson, although that's not entirely poetry. Actually, I'm not exactly sure what that book is, but it does contain a good amount of poetry within it. Oh, and I thought Lucretius' text, On the Nature of the Universe, was pretty interesting as well.

Also, while I'm not exactly sure of its standing in the world of poetry, the Tao Te Ching is easily my favorite piece of poetic literature.

[dordreff]

The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Tailor Coleridge.
That's about it. And if anyone even thinks about mentioning the Odyssey I will fucking cut you DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER BAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW

[Sanjiyan]

I loved The Waste Land and it was more or less the first poem I really liked, possibly because of my having an EXCELLENT tutor while we were learning about it. Also The Raven is one of my favourites.. but I really dislike most 'modern' poetry. Wow, a poem about you having a carving knife. Well.. Thats just super. Thanks for trying.

[Benjurafu]

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.


`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.my favorite poem. :D

[Leadfeather]

The Waste Land, no. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, yes. <3

Also, assorted contemporary nonsense, and Shel Silverstein.

[King]

Hollow Men was the only poem that really impact me, I think I take things at face value too often to really get into poetry.

[Androc]

Pretty much anything by Robert Frost or Edgar Allen Poe, especially Fire and Ice, The Raven and Eldorado. I have an irrational dislike of freeverse, though.

Something kind of interesting about Eldorado, though. First, here's the text:

GAILY bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old —
This knight so bold —
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow —
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be —
This land of Eldorado ?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied, —
"If you seek for Eldorado !"

Now, Eldorado, the city of gold, can be taken to represent material wealth. But it can only be found 'through the valley of the shadow', a biblical reference to the valley of the shadow of death. So you can only find success once you're dead. As you probably know, Poe died friendless, penniless, and alone. And now he's considered one of the greatest poets that ever lived.

[Leadfeather]

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied, —
"If you seek for Eldorado !"I sang an arrangement of that at regionals last year. It was so trippy.

Out of curiosity, do you find that coincidence eerie, or simply a self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe he committed suicide in order to achieve success, because he knew he wouldn't do so whilst alive.

[Androc]

I wouldn't call it a self-fulfilling prophecy, his works simply weren't noticed until afterwards. It's just kind of an interesting coincidence.

By the way, it wasn't definitively proved how he died. Murder, disease, and alcoholism were also suspected.

[Micolithe]

My poem motto is, if it's not by bukowski, I probably don't give a fuck about it.

I mean, seriously, how can you not love a poem like this?

8 Count

from my bed
I watch
3 birds
on a telephone
wire.
one flies
off.
then
another.
one is left,
then
it too
is gone.
my typewriter is
tombstone
still.
and I am
reduced to bird
watching.
just thought I'd
let you
know,
fucker.

[Androc]

That... is genius.

[AAsama]

That was, in lack of a better word, epic.

This is the kind of poems i love, the ones where you have no idea what the message is until the end but even then you get surprised. Like a long poem by Mr.Iforgethisface that describes expectations building up slowly and then beeing completely changed in the last few words.