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Who is your favorite poet(s) and why?
- Thread starter Mycanid
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Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
I like poems that explore the contradiction of human importance and insignificance, which I think is one of the most difficult things to deal with. Plus, I like spooky. The Hollow Man still gives me shivers, as does Ozymandias or Annabel Lee.
reanjr
First Post
Whoever wrote Beowulf is awesome.
Poe
Milton
Alighieri
Update:
Beowulf is just a great read. It flows like a real story and keeps your interest in the goings-on of the tale.
Edgar Allen Poe's rhythm, alliteration... everything is absolutely magical. Hearing a Poe poem spoken aloud is like listening to music. The Raven, Annabel Lee, etc. are fantastic.
John Milton is the most quotable English poet I know of. And probably one of the most quoted (even though his quotes have come into common usage and few realize they're his).
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is an hilarious read alongside biographies of his life. His ability to basically write a rant about all the people in the world he found distasteful, a rave about about all those he loved and respected, and maintain lasting appeal after almost 700 years is amazing. He somehow took a 13-year-old's blog and turned it into a religious masterpiece.
Poe
Milton
Alighieri
Update:
Beowulf is just a great read. It flows like a real story and keeps your interest in the goings-on of the tale.
Edgar Allen Poe's rhythm, alliteration... everything is absolutely magical. Hearing a Poe poem spoken aloud is like listening to music. The Raven, Annabel Lee, etc. are fantastic.
John Milton is the most quotable English poet I know of. And probably one of the most quoted (even though his quotes have come into common usage and few realize they're his).
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is an hilarious read alongside biographies of his life. His ability to basically write a rant about all the people in the world he found distasteful, a rave about about all those he loved and respected, and maintain lasting appeal after almost 700 years is amazing. He somehow took a 13-year-old's blog and turned it into a religious masterpiece.
Last edited:
Mycanid
First Post
Hey there reanjr -
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
Beowulf IS a great work. (You must have read Tolkien's seminal article on this poem "The Monster and the Critics, I hope?!?) Have you read several different versions? If so I was wondering what you think of a recent version done by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney? I really like Heaney sometimes and really dislike him other times - in all the stuff he does, not just the translation of Beowulf.
Milton is also incredible. Second only to Shakespeare talent wise (as far as the English language goes, I suppose), but on a level of personal enjoyment I just like the others I've mentioned earlier more I guess.
Poe IS a amazing word-singer indeed. I don't know though ... somehow his stuff never really "grabbed" me as much as it has others (and here I mean content wise).
I have tried to read Dante before and just find him a difficult read. Dunno....
Anyway, thanks for posting. Bring it on guys (and girls - amazing that the ladies haven't stuck in their two cents in here) ....
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
Beowulf IS a great work. (You must have read Tolkien's seminal article on this poem "The Monster and the Critics, I hope?!?) Have you read several different versions? If so I was wondering what you think of a recent version done by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney? I really like Heaney sometimes and really dislike him other times - in all the stuff he does, not just the translation of Beowulf.
Milton is also incredible. Second only to Shakespeare talent wise (as far as the English language goes, I suppose), but on a level of personal enjoyment I just like the others I've mentioned earlier more I guess.
Poe IS a amazing word-singer indeed. I don't know though ... somehow his stuff never really "grabbed" me as much as it has others (and here I mean content wise).
I have tried to read Dante before and just find him a difficult read. Dunno....
Anyway, thanks for posting. Bring it on guys (and girls - amazing that the ladies haven't stuck in their two cents in here) ....
MavrickWeirdo
First Post
My Brother, Brian Ellis
he is a member of the Cambridge, Cantab Lounge, 2006 Poetry Slam Team
He is headed to Austin to compete in the nationals next month.
he is a member of the Cambridge, Cantab Lounge, 2006 Poetry Slam Team
He is headed to Austin to compete in the nationals next month.
My favourites, besides A.A. Milne (because no one could ever beat a poem that starts, "King John was not a good man, he had his little ways" and because "Us Two" is the best feel-good poem ever"), are Robert Browning (his dramatic monologues really make characters come alive, and he'll have you shivering right from the opening lines of "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came": "My first thought was, he lied in every word, that hoary cripple with malicious eye ..."), Keats (probably because when I first read his poetry I was in a dark and gloomy phase myself, but his use of language and imagery is beautiful) and Tony Harrison (because a lot of his subject matter is really recognisable for me).
Wombat
First Post
I love a lot of poetry -- I used to think that I didn't like it, but then a fantastic professor turned me around, not in my tastes, but my perceptions. Thanks, Don Sheehan!
Who do I like? Well, Poe is great (The Bells, Annabel Lee, The Raven), as is Shakespeare (I particularly love Sonnet #130), Baudelaire (The Remorse of the Dead comes to mind), Rev. C.L. Dodgson/Lewis Carroll (ah, for The Walrus & The Carpenter and Jabberwock), Ruyard Kipling (The Road to Mandalay was a favourite of my grandfather's), and many, many others.
Langston Hughes is another great poet as well, and not mentioned up to this point. Let me offer up one fun poem of his on an odd topic:
As Befits a Man
I don't mind dying--
But I'd hate to die all alone!
I want a dozen pretty women
To holler, cry, and moan.
I don't mind dying
But I want my funeral to be fine:
A row of long tall mamas
Fainting, fanning, and crying.
I want a fish-tail hearse
And sixteen fish-tail cars,
A big brass band
And a whole truck load of flowers.
When they let me down,
Down into the clay,
I want the women to holler:
Please don't take him away!
Ow-ooo-oo-o!
Don't take daddy away!
Who do I like? Well, Poe is great (The Bells, Annabel Lee, The Raven), as is Shakespeare (I particularly love Sonnet #130), Baudelaire (The Remorse of the Dead comes to mind), Rev. C.L. Dodgson/Lewis Carroll (ah, for The Walrus & The Carpenter and Jabberwock), Ruyard Kipling (The Road to Mandalay was a favourite of my grandfather's), and many, many others.
Langston Hughes is another great poet as well, and not mentioned up to this point. Let me offer up one fun poem of his on an odd topic:
As Befits a Man
I don't mind dying--
But I'd hate to die all alone!
I want a dozen pretty women
To holler, cry, and moan.
I don't mind dying
But I want my funeral to be fine:
A row of long tall mamas
Fainting, fanning, and crying.
I want a fish-tail hearse
And sixteen fish-tail cars,
A big brass band
And a whole truck load of flowers.
When they let me down,
Down into the clay,
I want the women to holler:
Please don't take him away!
Ow-ooo-oo-o!
Don't take daddy away!
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