One of the best ways to improve the way I write and think about writing is to try and get into the head of another poet. I think the biggest disservice done to students in poetry is that they are shown different styles (haiku, limerick, sonnet etc) but don't get to spend a lot of time really getting to know a single poet, someone they can learn from and appreciate and understand.
One of my favorite poets is Lord Tennyson. Even though he wrote in the mid-1800's, his lines are filled with imagery that I find inspirational in my own life. Consider the following stanza from his poem "Choric Song"
There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass,
Or night-dews on still waters between walls
Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes;
Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.
In one short stanza there is so much poetic device. I read a lot of Tennyson and it affects how I write and what I like to read. I think it is important to think about finding a poet that you can identify with and use as a sounding board for your own poetry as well as for the world around you. Do you have a poet that you have read deeply? If not, maybe post some ideas of what kind of poetry you like and others will have some ideas for poets you may enjoy.
32 comments:
Well,I don't really read alot of poetry so I don't have a poet that I really enjoy or follow. I really enjoy poems that have a deep meaning to them or a srong theme that I have to figure out, usaully of life and people. Not necessarily about death and darkness but the happy things of life that we should learn from(if you know what I mean). Even though what I am asking for is kind of confusing,does anyone know a poet that writes any poems like that?
the only poet that i really like is robert frost. I like his view on society/people in general. his poems make you open your mind and think about things you wouldnt usually think about. my favorite poem by him is "fire and ice" it talks about poeples views on how the world will end. this shows that he has a different view on society than most people
i don't have a specific poet but i do have a specific poem called absolutes
black on white
crow in snow
hunched
wet lump
on brittle branch
remembering warmth
remembering corn
miserable
as life
is
black on white
this poem may be short but it shows some poetry basics like contrast and symbolism and even some repetition
I also don't have a favorite poet because i don't really read poetry that often. But, when i read poems i really look for a meaning that i can relate to or have strong feelings about. I don't like poems that are confusing and are boring. I like poems that are different. What i mean exactly is that either that poet has done that event or really explains it well. (if that makes sense i'm not really sure.) Anyways, those poems grab my attention.
I do not have a specific poet that I enjoy but I do like writing poems. I believe it is one form of writing that i actually understand and do good atand i really enjoy it. I am better at writing and working with poems rather than reading and annotating them. I like to put my deep thoughts into them and that is what I find very interesting about them. It is like a journal, writing down your thoughts into a written response.
I don't really read poetry so I don't have a favorite poet. Like Mariana and Kathleen, I also look for poetry with a deep meaning. Sometimes the meanings are hard to find but thats whats fun about them. Although I don't really read it, I love writing poems. I know this is creepy but when I write poems they are not happy, they are usually about death.
Like marianna, i dont really have a favorite poet because i dont read it alot but i really like edgar allan poe. He writes a lot of symbolic poems and sometimes they are ssort of creepy poems and i find those really interesting
I'm floatin' in the same boat as Meg, Ali, and Claire. I don't read alot of poetry... just some here and there. However, I found this website that has the Top 50 poems. I'm not sure if it has any good ones. Here it is: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/top_poems.html
I also like a poem called Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe. It's sappy, got to admit, but it is good.
For me, poetry as a whole is unbelievably frustrating. Most of the time when I try to read a poem, I don't understand it, and when I try to write poetry, I either stare at my blank sheet of paper or write two lines of the worst poetry ever imagined and then crumple it up and throw it out when I realize how bad it is. I don't exactly have I favorite poet, but if I did, it would be Emily Dickinson because everything she writes is so horribly depressing it makes me feel better about myself.
There are not many poets that. I follow but I can tell you about a type of poetry I look for. When I am reading poetry, I try to find poems protaining to nature. The way I see it, poems about nature are full of incredible imagery, as shown in this poem by Li Po:
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other-
Only the mountain and I.
As you can see, when talking about actual images, you can create incredible pictures in peoples minds.
I am not sure i am familiar with all of the poetry that is published and all of the poets that im sure have great poems. Some people like when poems describe things they can relate to in their life, but to me i look for the opposite. I like poetry i have to read into and make my own story behind. I like when i can pretend i wrote it and have an imaginary life for a minute, even if its full of tragedy.
I agree with most people who blogged. I'm not much of a poetry reader. Some poets i like are Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost though. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem called "A Dream Within A Dream". I used it for my poetry report because i really liked the idea with dreams in poetry. It makes me think of that "getting away" feeling. Another reason I like his poetry is because it makes me think of my poem "Away". My poem is about anyone be able to escape to any place that THEY like. I have not read a lot of Robert Frost but i have heard some. I dont remeber what but i remeber liking them. Ha =)
In my time I have read a lot of poetry. Honestly though, I haven't looked at the authors as much as the poems. One poet whose work I really do enjoy whenevr I find it is Emily Dickinson. Her poetry is deep, often dark, and always thematic in my opinion. Most of the topics she chooses are centered around death and such, but her writing style is different. It changes from poem to poem, but her writing voice is still distinct each time. I recommend her to everyone and I highly suggest that you should focus on HOW she writes rather than WHAT she writes to use as an example. Any style can be used on any topic.
Like most people hear I don't have a favorite poet. I like poetry that gives me a different perspective on something. When I read poetry that associates something with a good or bad thing and it makes sense It really gets me thinking. I never really read poetry though unless I hear its funny in some way.
i have only read poetry when forced to in school so i know very few poets. I like writing poetry but i prefer to read books more than poems, books tell a story poems are just to short for my liking, maybe that will change but i doubt it
I have not read very many poems but I like the ones with clever humor in it. To explain I like ones were it will tell a short story then it will have a clever ending that shows the humor in the story. Thats just the poems that i enjoy reading
my favorite Author is Shel Silverstein, i love her poem "where the sidewalk ends"... i like the kinda writing she does, but i also really like sad, depressing and something that pulls an you heart strings, because i like poety is meaningfull and has a meaning, unlike poems that talk about the weather, or a light topic, i think everything written, should be something worth reading, and i think good deep poems, are worth reading, i usually dont read poetry, but when i do read it i do enjoy it.
I dont read alot of poetry outside of school so i dont have a specific poet that i really like. I enjoy thematic poems that aren't just literal. Like Annie said, a poem isn't really worth reading if it doesn't have a moral or some type of meaning behind it because its not going to affect you in any way.
Annie, I don't mean to be rude or obnoxious, but Shel Silverstein and a "he" not a "she".
It seems that not many students read poetry for enjoyment. I will confess that in 8th grade you would more than likely find me reading a comic, a sci-fi story etc so I am certainly not judging the lack of poetry knowledge here. That being said, the internet is a lovely thing in that it has given you access to the poetry of the classics, the modern movements, spoken word etc. I think it would be admirable to see some students independently find some poets that they enjoy and read and think about 1 poem a day....maybe write a short reaction or a quick comment about it on the blog.
Mr. H, you just summed up my feelings of poetry. As a side note, I, like Ian find that out of the poetry that I read, Robert Frost poetry is my favorite to read. I like the way that he speaks about life and people in general. We share certain points of view.
I love the poem The Eagle by Lord Tennyson because of the strong image created:
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
The diction si just so powerful and outspoken, I just love it!
To be honest i dont have a favorite poet. I enjoy Robert Frost, but he is not my favorite. I love poems which are filled with dramatic imagery. I also like a poem that makes me think, if it doesnt have a message, theres no point in falling in love with it.
i dont have a favorite poet because i never read it. but i like the types of poems that rhyme. so whoever does that i think i would like them as long as it isnt too deep.
After picking up a different poetry book in class today, one that was not by Robert Frost, i decided that he can't really be my favorite poet anymore. All of the poetry that he writes is rather hard to understand and most of it has some really deep meaning, but it takes a very long time to find this really deep meaning.
I like poe. I think it is interesting in the way his horror poems get in you head. The telltale heart is a poe by him that I have heard great things about so you should probobly try it out. Mr. G made us read poe last year so thats how I know him
My favorite poet is Sylvia Plath. Although she is one of the only poets whose works I have read, I think she is amazing. Her style is a little darker, not all rainbows and sunshine. For example, in one of her poems, "Poppies in October" she compares the red of the poppies to the woman in the ambulance, whose heart is bleeding red all over her shirt. In "Poppies in July" they are fire that doesn't burn her or extinguish. While she lacks a positive spin to everything, she has plenty of words (connotation)that give off the feeling of that darker mood.
my favorite poet (and the only poet that i voluntarily read) is robert frost. his poems have amazing imagery and are ussually about nature in the northeast. his poems put pictures in your head by using just a few choice words. my favorite poem by him is "fire and ice" this poem discusses the different ways that the world could end. i think that that poem shows the kind of person that he is.
I like the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He live/d in San Fransisco and my mom went there and went to the book store that he was some how connected to. She bought me a book of his poems and they're very real and entertaining.
I like this one.
See
it was like this when
we waltz into this place.
A couple of papish cats
is doing an Aztec two-step
And I says
Dad let's cut
but then this dame
comes up behind me see
and says
you and me could really exist
Wow I says
Only the next day
she has bad teeth
and really hates
poetry.
Mariana, I agree. I like poems that have a deep meaning while stil being happy. I think that it's easier to write a sad poem or a dark poem rather than writing a happy, joyful poem. I also think that they are more enjoyable to read. Does anybody know any poets that write with metaphor and meaning while still being happy and up-beat? (or any specific great poems?)
I mostly enjoy poems that used strong imagery so I can get a feeling of what the poet is trying to express. I liked the poem for the essay "There Is another Sky" by Emily Dickinson. It used strong imagery in the last few lines like "unfaded flowers" and "humming bee". It gave me a good idea of what her "garden" is like.
I agree with Bowen, the more imagery in a poem, the longer it can hold my attention. Something else that draws me to a poem is good, internal rhyme. It just adds a flow to the poem that I like.
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