More Poetry . . . Please!

I recently got a new book of poetry. It's an anthology that's sometimes used in college or university literature courses, and so presents a through-the-centuries and an across-the-board sweep of the genre. The subtitle is "A Pocket Anthology," though I dare say it will fit in no pocket of mine. However, it's small enough to carry in my purse or schoolbag, and certainly great for a bus- or train-ride read.

The first 55 pages are very textbookish, with short articles on types of poetry, the language of poetry, figurative language, stanza forms, and other arcana such as meter, feminine endings, and synechdoche. This, of course, would be enough for many to relegate the book to the shelf or worse, but once past this formidable section, we get to the poems themselves.

It starts off with ballads and lyrics from Scotland and England from around 1500. This is not the earliest English poetry there is, but it's pretty close to the start of what we have. Poetry by these "old dead white guys" is often disparaged, but it's pretty amazing. The words and lines are beautiful. The succinctness of the sonnets takes my breath away.

Some of my favourites are here: "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins; "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold; "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost; and "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman.

More--so many more--there's not time enough to read them all. But I think I shall make a resolution: more poetry. I am going to read more poetry. More of the favourites and more of the new.

Even if it's just one a day, like the multi-vitamin, my life will be enriched.

What are your favourites? Where will you start? How will you enrich your life with poetry?

An Enchanted Poem

My mother was a poet. She had a way with words. Her specialty was haiku. She had many hundreds of haiku poems published.

The following poem was not written by her. It was written by Marguerite B. Palmer. I don't know who she was or if she wrote anything else, but my mother loved this poem. It articulates many of the same sentiments evident in my mother's haikus. I present it here for your enjoyment.

The Enchanted Wood

By Marguerite B. Palmer

There was a strange enchantment on the wood:
A transient rain had beaded Queen Anne's lace
And pearled the matted grasses where we stood.
There was a jeweled look about the place.

Translucent amber glistened on the pines
Whose branches hid unnumbered singing birds;
Diamonds were caught in spiderwebs and vines.
There was a magic that eluded words.

So we were silent from the moment when
We found a jade-touched stone on which to sit
And memorize it all, for even then
We knew that we could not go back to it.

* * * *
One of my favourite poems is "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Do you have a favourite poem? One perhaps that you've memorized? Or just one that, when you read it, it speaks to your heart and you know that it's true.

Leave a comment to let us know your favourite poem!