Kipling might be the English poet who appeals the most to us foreigners beyond the Anglosphere. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's the very regular and rythmic meter that makes it clear that it follows some rule, even when the rule is not entirely evident. But I've seen it time and again - even in folks who otherwise don't care for poetry.
You're probably not old enough yet to appreciate "Fern Hill." I'm pushing 80 and when I was in college I thought Ginsberg and the Frisco poets and Cummings were all the rage. Fortunately, I've kept reading always, finding some (for me) undiscovered gems; we can't read everything after all. There are some short poems by the Henry VIII set that are stunning. It's difficult not to rally 'round your/mine favorites that smacked you upside the head at crucial moments in life's passage. I will always chuckle and appreciate "My Last Duchess." "Subject matter" can be a sticking point in evaluation. I believe many of the WW1 poets ("Flanders Fields" was a sobering place to visit on our trip to Belgium in 2016) standup well as singular poems. I have always loved William Blake (and the theft by Jim Morrison). Shelly's "Ozzy" poem alone validates his existence/inclusion. And, oh yes, the poem/song conundrum will always exist. Bobby D is a true poet as are many of the contemporary songsmiths. To rhyme or not is always a question. We all benefit as we wrestle with what others have left us to ponder. Thanks!
Come on, Liza. Don't you read any poetry not assigned to you by a professor? This is all the stuff shoved down your throat in college. You have some classics here, don't get me wrong (though I disagree with you about ee Cummings- Buffalo Bill is a jam) but you are completely missing all contemporary poetry. Like the last fifty years at least. Makes me think you like studying poetry more than you like reading it.
Eight poems by Keats!? Spot on. When all is said and done, for better or worse, Keats embodies the widest range of what is known and thought as poetry. That which we cannot live without.
Eh, e.e. cummings is no more to blame for his imitators than Lord Dunsany is for being the First Terrible Fate That Awaiteth Unwary Beginners in Fantasy.
And one last thing, if you ever visit Scotland be well advised and keep your Robert Burns footnote to yourself. It'd not go down well in the Taverns of Festivity and Literature.
Perhaps my favourite ever poem (partly because I know it by heart and have recited it to myself in times of adversity more than once) is Constantly Risking Absurdity by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Kipling might be the English poet who appeals the most to us foreigners beyond the Anglosphere. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's the very regular and rythmic meter that makes it clear that it follows some rule, even when the rule is not entirely evident. But I've seen it time and again - even in folks who otherwise don't care for poetry.
A solid list. Tinturn Abbey and Grey’s Elegy would be good additions
The complete absence of Robert Service makes me sad.
I don’t know if Service is widely known or taught outside Canada anymore, although he was famous in his own time.
You're probably not old enough yet to appreciate "Fern Hill." I'm pushing 80 and when I was in college I thought Ginsberg and the Frisco poets and Cummings were all the rage. Fortunately, I've kept reading always, finding some (for me) undiscovered gems; we can't read everything after all. There are some short poems by the Henry VIII set that are stunning. It's difficult not to rally 'round your/mine favorites that smacked you upside the head at crucial moments in life's passage. I will always chuckle and appreciate "My Last Duchess." "Subject matter" can be a sticking point in evaluation. I believe many of the WW1 poets ("Flanders Fields" was a sobering place to visit on our trip to Belgium in 2016) standup well as singular poems. I have always loved William Blake (and the theft by Jim Morrison). Shelly's "Ozzy" poem alone validates his existence/inclusion. And, oh yes, the poem/song conundrum will always exist. Bobby D is a true poet as are many of the contemporary songsmiths. To rhyme or not is always a question. We all benefit as we wrestle with what others have left us to ponder. Thanks!
Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas is exquisite, and would have my vote to join this list. Thanks for mentioning it, John.
Expected to be enraged, but then loved it.
My biggest quibble is that ee cummings isn’t completely skippable. “somewhere i have never traveled gladly beyond” is a great poem.
Oh, and not enough Dickinson.
Come on, Liza. Don't you read any poetry not assigned to you by a professor? This is all the stuff shoved down your throat in college. You have some classics here, don't get me wrong (though I disagree with you about ee Cummings- Buffalo Bill is a jam) but you are completely missing all contemporary poetry. Like the last fifty years at least. Makes me think you like studying poetry more than you like reading it.
Had a similar thought myself reading the list, all the big ones from the big guns.
Eight poems by Keats!? Spot on. When all is said and done, for better or worse, Keats embodies the widest range of what is known and thought as poetry. That which we cannot live without.
Eh, e.e. cummings is no more to blame for his imitators than Lord Dunsany is for being the First Terrible Fate That Awaiteth Unwary Beginners in Fantasy.
Disappointed by the lack of Cummings. Once I discovered his non-anthologized poems, the ones that aren't just clever and cutesy, I liked him a lot.
Kudos - I would add two - however Poetry is also as Beauty in the eyes of the Beholder - On His Blindness by Milton and Finite Infinity by Dickinson
A fine list. But Emma Lazarus? C'mon man! That's a sappy piece of garbage. Some others to consider.
Walt Whitman, "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"
Edwin Arlington Robinson, "For a Dead Lady," "The Gift of God," "Eros Turannos," "The Unforgiven,"
"The Poor Relation," "The Mill." They are all better than anything Sylvia Plath ever wrote.
Lots of Thomas Hardy poems.
And Richard Cory. Spot on.
Samuel Barber did a beautiful setting of Dover Beach for voice and string quartet! A joy to play.
Dulce et Decorum Est is my favorite poem in the world. Playful, lighthearted...
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/interesting-reading-dulce-et-decorum
And one last thing, if you ever visit Scotland be well advised and keep your Robert Burns footnote to yourself. It'd not go down well in the Taverns of Festivity and Literature.
Perhaps my favourite ever poem (partly because I know it by heart and have recited it to myself in times of adversity more than once) is Constantly Risking Absurdity by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Predictable, but sadly no Robert Browning, even simply Meeting At Night, a sort, precise, extraordinarily beautiful poem.