Poetry

Here is the chance to talk poetry. What could be better?

Name your top poet and/or poem. And say why if you like.

I go for William Blake. A poet in late eighteenth/ early nineteenth century England. His poems were very much about the the society of his day, and he spoke out against war, poverty and suffering. His poems were often heavy with metaphor, and at times seem obscure; he was a genius nonetheless. I nominate his poem 'Auguries of Innocence' as favourite. An immensly powerful poem, almost a protest song of his times. If you work through the wonderfully fantastic metaphors, there is an evocative poem beautiful yet dark.
Here are some ramdom lines (ones I can remeber
)

'A Robin Redbreast in a cage, puts all heaven in a rage'
*****

'The Questioner who sits so sly, will never know how to reply'
*****

'Each outcry of the hunted Hare, a fibre from the Brain does tear'
*****

'The Lamb missused breeds Public Strife, yet forgives the Buthcher's knife' (Vegatarians will know what this means.)
*****

'A Truth that's told in bad intent, beats all the Lies you can invent'
*****

'Every Tear from every Eye, becomes a Babe in eterntiy;
This is caught by Females bright, and returned to it's own delight.'
*****

And perhaps the most beautiful, and thought-provoking:

'We are led to believe a Lie
When we see not through the Eye,
Which was born in a Night, to perish in a Night,
When the Soul slept in Beams of Light.'
*****
Extraordinary, is my opinion. Hope you agree

So I guess I was wrong. No one likes talking about poetry. Maybe I should discuss poetry with myself...
Well, Illuvatar, what other poets do you like?
Well, Illuvater's brain, I'm also a fan of Tennyson, another early 19th century poet. Very pastoral his poems were; sometimes quite medieval though.
Any favourites?
Yes. I very much like 'The Lady of Shallot'. Which is Arthurian. And very beautiful.
Would you like to quote a line?
Why, yes! I would like that very much!

'On either side the river lie
long fields of barely and rye
that cloth the wold and meet the sky,
and through the fields a river runs by
to many a towerd Camelot.'

That is very nice.
Yes, I agree.
Except, I don't understand what the word 'wold' means?
Well, it is an old english word that is used to mean the world that can be seen with the naked eye. What I mean by that is, when you're in the country, all the land you can see to the horizon is called the wold.
Ah, thanks for that.
No problem.

You have caught me off guard, Illuvatar, as I am quite unprepared to discuss poetry at this time, and don't want to appear stupid. I do admire your persistence, though. Stick with it, I'll be back to debate the qualities of Tennyson another day, perhaps. I kinda dig Chaucer, btw...

ps. "Nature is red with tooth and claw"
-------fav. Tennyson quote

You may find the poets hanging out in the poetry and lyric forum.

There's a poetry and lyric forum? I didn't know that. But I didn't look so that would be why.
I look forward to it Brick Lowrider (cool name).

Well, I've been to the poems and lyrics page, and I now know this thred should have been stuck there for poetry fans to see. Having said that, I'd have thought a thred title like POETRY would have been a clue as to the subject. Maybe there really are few people who like poetry.

If only there were a search feature.

I could be wrong (won't be the first time) but I thought that the poetry forum was for poetry/lyrics that you had personally written, possibly inspired by Pink Floyd's music. Seems to me that 'just babbling' should suit a discussion on other people's poetry. Anyway, as someone who seeks out culture and inspiration here at the APFFN, it doesn't bother me where these matters of poetry are discussed. Bring on the Renaissance Babbling...

correct you are my dear,
oh and i somehow think this discussion's been done, but I can't be sure

Poetry's all cool ,but i really can't be arsed discussing the merits of it at this point in time. And if that moron comes on here and starts proclaiming one poet or the other as the greatest poet ever (and how stupid we are to not know that the entire world of literature thinks that) well then...... I officialy lose all confidence in the human race (well some parts of the human race)

cheers

I personally am a fan of Auden, Eliot, Cummings, and a wide variety of other modernists. I'm something of a modernist-type guy.

Yeah, you can bet that someone will...but the subject seems subjective enough not to cause too many fights, unless...well...been there, done that.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; bring on the beauty.

LOL, been there done that indeed, hey Brick?

cheers

You know it!!! LOL...indeed. . I'm over it, now, of course.

As am I, ofcourse.
By the way how's the MSN quest going, did you get my PM?

cheers

still not connected. Kinda embarrassing, but I'll work on it some more. Thanks for reminding me...