Why can't I like Poetry ?

[St.B 10]

I have to say, when I found out that I had to do poetry for my degree I was a little (no, actually, a lot!) scared and miffed. I mean, I never get it! It's just words! The only poetry I've ever got are humorous poems such as Wendy Cope, and that bit in Four Weddings and a Funeral where John Hannah reads out W. H. Auden's "Stop all the clocks . . ." But really, most of the time I need someone to hold my hand if I'm going to be reading poetry!

 

But, my mum got me Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled, which is fantastic! I've been suggesting it to anyone who'll listen It might be because it's Stephen Fry, and I tend to listen to whatever it is he has to say, but he really just makes you realise what poetry can do, or at least what it does to him. I learnt more from him in the first two chapters then I did throughout my entire GCSE's! It's essentially written for you if you want to write poetry, but don't let that put you off because it also goes into a lot of detail on how to read a poem too.

 

Another good compilation, that's on my reading list too, is Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times, which has a very good introduction and good notes on the poems inside - which range from Wilfred Owen, to Seamus Heaney and many many more. That's good to get a general overview of modern poets, and I'm sure you're bound to find something in there that you like.

 

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do, is also very good and some poets even have recordings of them reading out select poems too!

[coyleys 10]

But, my mum got me Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled, which is fantastic! I've been suggesting it to anyone who'll listen It might be because it's Stephen Fry, and I tend to listen to whatever it is he has to say, but he really just makes you realise what poetry can do, or at least what it does to him. I learnt more from him in the first two chapters then I did throughout my entire GCSE's! It's essentially written for you if you want to write poetry, but don't let that put you off because it also goes into a lot of detail on how to read a poem too.

 

Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled.

That Book is definitely a must read.

[Falls 10]

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.

 

 

Hi,

 

I grew up with most of the poets on this list, plus Wordsworth, Tennyson, Longfellow, etc. I must admit that much of the verse that came later doesn't do an awful lot for me.

 

I think poetic appreciation has a lot to do with how your tasted developed after school. If you continued to ready poetry in your later years, then you probably followed the trends and retained an appreciation.

 

If, on the other hand, you were like me and pitched into a heavy technical environment which left absolutely no time for poetry or distraction reading of any kind, then your brain would probably re-wire itself to cope with your immediate needs only.

 

Then, If you tried to rekindle an interest in poetry in later years, as I did and hadn't kept up with the trends, you are quickly turned off. Its very easy to dismiss poetry written in the last, say, 40 years as lacking (and that's being polite about it).

 

Regards

[fabulous_girl 10]

I am the same, I don't like poetry. It just seems pointless to me, espec modern stuff. I HATED doing wilfred owen at school....the only poem I liked was one by e.e cummins and probably only because it was a bit dirty!

 

I'll keep searching

[pattricia 574]

I am the same, I don't like poetry. It just seems pointless to me, espec modern stuff. I HATED doing wilfred owen at school....the only poem I liked was one by e.e cummins and probably only because it was a bit dirty!

 

I'll keep searching

 

Yes, Im of the same opinion as you, as I was the OP. It does seem pointless, and the only one I have time for is Wordsworth. I would much rather read or sing the lirics of the modern songwriters like Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Irviling Berlin and Sammy Caan.To me words without the music is nothing.

[Falls 10]

Nobody has metioned Limericks. Isn't that poetry as well?

 

My poetic efforts have been reduced to righting in this style. My last effort was inclined to be rude and would probably get me arrested if I ever went back to Iran.

 

Speaking of Limerick's, does any one know the one about the Girl from Devises - "Whose breast were in two different sizes".

 

If you you could remind me of the ending, I would be most grateful.

 

Regards

[G12Ravda 10]

Carol Ann Duffy. I've read "The world's wife" and "The Hat", two of her compilations

and also other stuff that I've come across, since she became Poet Laureate.

She's talented and funny but I don't think all her work can be described as poetry.

It makes me wonder if her diverse background influenced the people who select

Poet Laureates, after all, quite a number of previous one's have had diverse

back-grounds too.

Now that the post is a temporary one, there's a good chance that Benjamin

Zephaniah will be selected next, as he's quite good, topical and ticks a few boxes.

Any views on this opinion?

[SarahD 10]

I know what you mean, I feel the same way. I haven't got the patience to figure out the meanings behind the metaphors. The agony over the placement over a full stop or comma, the implications in carefully placed words yadda yadda. It's all too much work.

 

But occasionally I read it and even if it's just a few lines can see the beauty - like in keats, Yeats or Rimbaud.

 

I think this is an example of the kind of thing I mean:

 

Cloths of Heaven - Yeats

 

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

 

It's so well known it's almost a cliche, but is undeniably beautiful.

[pattricia 574]

I was just going to reply to the OP agreeing with them, when I realised that the OP was me ?

[G12Ravda 10]

Poor, poor Pattricia. John Betjeman would have loved you too, with your private

education and all. (Shades of Miss Joan Hunter Dunne)

In my opinion however, his work was slanted mainly at a male audience.

I find most of Wordsworth to be dull. Comic verse, not nonsense, usually grabs my

attention. Pam Eyres is always worth a listen and often hits the right spot.

Carol Ann duffy? Talented yes, but she's almost as well-known as a Scouse-schooled,

Sapphic Scot as she is as a poet.

I suppose poetry can be likened to classical music, in that most of us know some and

have favourite bits but how many of us could sit through a whole symphony?

Thank you to SarahD. it's years since I read "The cloths of Heaven"

Took me right back, it did.

[G12Ravda 10]

Falls. Are you still there?

About your young girl of Devises,

Whose breasts were of two different sizes.

One was so small,

Almost nothing at all.

The other was big and won prizes.

END

There, was it worth the wait?

G12

[pattricia 574]

Falls. Are you still there?

About your young girl of Devises,

Whose breasts were of two different sizes.

One was so small,

Almost nothing at all.

The other was big and won prizes.

END

There, was it worth the wait?

G12

 

Definitely !!