A Place for Poets discussion
Favorite Poets
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I could really go on forever with this topic because I believe it is essential to know who is moving and inspiring you. These are the writers to whom I am indebted and the conversations that I am drawn to join. Thanks for the topic Krista!
Krista,
I hope you do get the time to write more about Sara Teasdale. It sounds like a fun project. I haven't read all that much in poetry but I do have a few that have influenced my own writing like Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wallace Stevens and Sylvia Plath. My first book of poems (Cracked) is due out the beginning of the year and I am excited I finally got the opportunity to share my work. Thanks for recommending some good poets.
I hope you do get the time to write more about Sara Teasdale. It sounds like a fun project. I haven't read all that much in poetry but I do have a few that have influenced my own writing like Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wallace Stevens and Sylvia Plath. My first book of poems (Cracked) is due out the beginning of the year and I am excited I finally got the opportunity to share my work. Thanks for recommending some good poets.
I think my first poetry that I could truly appreciate was Shel Silverstein. I had 2 or 3 of his books while I was growing up. I first heard of him at "show and tell" in my first grade class, when a girl I had a crush on brought up one of his books and read a couple of poems.My favorite poets are probably Edgar Allan Poe (that dude is deep. I don't care how cliche it is.) and Bukowski. Other than that I'm a fan of singular poems ("If" -- Rudyard Kipling, "Invictus" by William Ernest Hensley).
Hello all ;)I love Arthur Rimbaud, William Blake is very good too and of course Charles Baudelaire.
I'm new to this group, and haven't written poetry since I was a teenager. I suffered from chronic depression back then, and found poetry writing easy. Now that I'm a lot older and the cause of my depression has been lifted, in my present happy state I find I can't write anything but silly rhyming parodies of popular songs. So I now content myself with reading poetry, which I enjoy very much.
Would anyone out there like to talk about their favorite poets? My enjoyment of poetry began with a little book of children's poetry that used to belong to my father called One Hundred Best Poems for Boys and Girls. It dates from 1930 and is illustrated with those wonderful old silhouettes. My favorite poem in the book was Christopher Morley's "Animal Crackers." Reading it I could just taste the cocoa and crackers.
Then for my 18th birthday my mother gave me a little book of poetry called Those Who Love by Sara Teasdale. Her imagistic, emotionally crisp poems struck a sympathetic chord in me. I felt as if she understood my own feelings. When I got to college I wrote my bachelor's degree thesis on her. I've often thought of hauling out that thesis and expanding it into a book, if only I could find the time.
Sara Teasdale is still my number one favorite, but I also love Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Ai, Lizette Woodworth Reese, Ho Xuan Huong, Billy Collins, and Pablo Neruda. I also like books of poetry that tell a story, such as Ted Kooser's The Blizzard Voices and George Keithley's The Donner Party.
What do the rest of you like to read? Who are your favorites?