[pattricia]

I cant for the life of me like poetry.I cant see the point of it.I didnt like it at school,I dont like reading it,and I dont like writing it.Been watching some t.v.programmes on John Betjamin,but I dont like his poetry either.Cant see what the fuss is about,even though he was The Poet Lauriet.The only poet that touches me slightly is Wordsworth.I think the modern songwriters are more poetical,than poets.Irving Berlin,Rodgers & Hammerstein ,Sammy Cann,The Beatles, Elton John.Even Barrie Manilow can write poetical lyrics,quote: Music was my first love,and it will be my last
Music of the future, Music of the past.

Now that I understand.

[Bikertec]

But thats Poetry as well isn't it.

[Halibut]

Originally Posted by pattricia

I cant for the life of me like poetry.I cant see the point of it.I didnt like it at school,I dont like reading it,and I dont like writing it.Been watching some t.v.programmes on John Betjamin,but I dont like his poetry either.Cant see what the fuss is about,even though he was The Poet Lauriet.The only poet that touches me slightly is Wordsworth.I think the modern songwriters are more poetical,than poets.Irving Berlin,Rodgers & Hammerstein ,Sammy Cann,The Beatles, Elton John.Even Barrie Manilow can write poetical lyrics,quote: Music was my first love,and it will be my last
Music of the future, Music of the past.

Now that I understand.

You just haven't found the poetry that works for you yet pattricia. Don't give up, there's some outstandingly beautiful stuff out there.

[JoeP]

I like some poetry, but I know what you mean. Some of it I just don't 'get'.

Some I do like :

WB Yeats - "The Second Coming", "An Irish Airman foresees his death"
John Masefield - "Sea Fever"
Thomas Hardy - "Drummer Hodge", "The Man he Killed", "Beeny Cliff"
Dylan Thomas "Do not go quiet in to the night"
Henry reed - "The naming of parts"
Christina Rosetti -"Remember"
Rupert Brooke - "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester"

Ok...I probably like poetry more than I think.

[Halibut]

Joe, I love 'An Irish airman foresees his death' and also Reed's 'Naming of parts'. Top stuff.
Do you know any Carol-Ann Duffy? She writes exquisitely about human emotion and sexuality.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Halibut

Joe, I love 'An Irish airman foresees his death' and also Reed's 'Naming of parts'. Top stuff.
Do you know any Carol-Ann Duffy? She writes exquisitely about human emotion and sexuality.

I've heard the name but not read any of her stuff.

I came across 'An Irish airman...' after I first read 'The Second Coming' and grabbed a book of Yeats. I seem to remember it was used in the film 'Memphis Belle' as well. A great poem.

[pattricia]

Originally Posted by Halibut

Joe, I love 'An Irish airman foresees his death' and also Reed's 'Naming of parts'. Top stuff.
Do you know any Carol-Ann Duffy? She writes exquisitely about human emotion and sexuality.

Well I will try & find books on these poets in the library,and see if I can see what you & Joe mean.

[Gypsy Hack]

Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot, E.A Poe, John Cooper Clarke...

I'm not a massive fan of poetry, but there is some great stuff out there.

[JoeP]

Pattricia :

http://www.web-books.com/classics/po...eats/Irish.htm

http://www.solearabiantree.net/namin...ngofparts.html

[pattricia]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Pattricia :

http://www.web-books.com/classics/po...eats/Irish.htm

http://www.solearabiantree.net/namin...ngofparts.html

Thanks Joe, never thought about The Web.

[pattricia]

Originally Posted by Bikertec

But thats Poetry as well isn't it.

Yes, but poetry in motion.Big difference to me when its combined with music.

[stackmonkey]

lots of regular poetry has its own rhythm and motion, depending on its style, the writer and the reader.
The main difference to me when they're written down is that 'regular' poetry won't have the repeated lines and words that are commonplace in song lyrics, or any 'chorus'.

if you were reading something i'd written, but could only do so by 'attaching it' to a particular tune, I wouldn't have a problem with it if it meant you could enjoy what I'd written.
Come to that, small amounts of my meagre writing have been effectively re-written lyrics to existing songs and tunes

[KJ_VENOM]

John Cooper Clark and Micheal Rosen were the first couple of poets that i enjoyed but when Edgar allen Poe writes in verse his writings are among the best ever

[Jabberwocky]

Ive tried hard over the years to read and appreciate poetry and ive decided that you need a very special sort of soul to understand it.

The closest I can get to this is with stuff that usually starts off with "There was a young fellow from..."

Id like to be able to appreciate poetry but Im too much of a pleb.

[marc1990]

a teatcher once told me people who dont like poetry often havent been taught it properly, havisham carol ann duffy for example is excellent

[pattricia]

Originally Posted by marc1990

a teatcher once told me people who dont like poetry often havent been taught it properly, havisham carol ann duffy for example is excellent

Well, I started the thread, and I still do NOT like poetry. I was taught it properly, as I went to a private school, where we had poetry thrust at us, even if we didnt like it.

[marc1990]

myybe you dont like it because you dont want to like it (no need to get stropey)

[TheRedWizard]

Originally Posted by pattricia

Well, I started the thread, and I still do NOT like poetry. I was taught it properly, as I went to a private school, where we had poetry thrust at us, even if we didnt like it.

Perhaps that's the problem - is having it thrust at you being taught it 'properly'? It's certainly not how I was taught it (properly and at a state school), by passionate and inspirational teachers but who let us find our own way.

I find it difficult to accept your statement that you don't like poetry across the board, simply because poetry is so varied, and a great deal is little different to prose set out in a particular format, it certainly has the same qualities, and you clearly enjoy good prose. What do you like about prose that you don't find in poetry?

My own favourites, that I could (and have) read for hours and hours, and now enjoy reading to my son at bedtime, include:

Simon Armitage (All Points North is a particular favourite, disturbing number of parallels with my own life). Very real, observational, down to earth, northern, etc.

Seamus Heaney (partly, but far from only, because of the social/political context to much of his work). His work is so fluent it's as if he's just reeled it of, but you can see how painstakingly it has been constructed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgS5XyNuhKM

Dylan Thomas, I've got a anthology beside me which includes about fifteen 'favourites'! Can't really explain why, and hate some of his work, but the rest just leaves me astounded each time I read it. Of course, you've got to read it out loud, and slowly, which can make you look like a bit of a pillock on the number 52! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIoXV-HXobo

[coyleys]

Originally Posted by TheRedWizard

Dylan Thomas, I've got a anthology beside me which includes about fifteen 'favourites'! Can't really explain why, and hate some of his work, but the rest just leaves me astounded each time I read it. Of course, you've got to read it out loud, and slowly, which can make you look like a bit of a pillock on the number 52!

Fair comment RedWizard

[King Concord]

try some haiku - not formularised 575 but real haiku - or haibun - they are so unpoetic in terms of western style - with objects plants animals becomimg the poetry - that they open up new ways of thinking - this said - i love wordsworth!

KC