Starting over with poetry and the greats.

The only poetry i've ever read was at school, bit of Shakespeare, probably a few others but i was so uninterested that i can't even remember them.

Roll on 30 years and i find my tastes have changed so much, and i would like to start reading some of the works of the great poets of our time. Doesn't matter who or thier nationality, i just thought i'd ask for some recommendations. If you have any snippets of info as to why these are great, or what theme thier works take, that would be great.

The main reason i ask is i have taking a great liking to poetry in music, or at least lyrics that are more poetic than the usual mainstream pop. I am in the process of learning a couple of instruments and am trying my hand at songwriting, and a greater knowledge of poetry would most definately help me with the kind of lyrics i aspire to write.

Heres an example of the kind of thing i love....not everyones tastes but he is a poet and an actor as well as a songwriter, and it shows in the music he makes.

Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit are an English folk rock band signed to Transgressive Records. They are fronted by Johnny Flynn (also known as Joe Flynn), an actor, poet and songwriter who cites W.B. Yeats and Shakespeare among his influences. He is a member of the 'Propeller' theatre troupe, and has acted in several plays including Twelfth Night and Richard Bean's play The Heretic at the Royal Court Theatre (2011). Johnny Flynn has most recently taken on the role of Lee in Jerusalem, Jez Butterworth’s hit play.

Johnny Flynn

Thats just one example of the flavour i like. I like a lot of folk, bluegrass, bit of country. but i'd say folk is my main love, and i've noticed a lot of folk songs are just folk tales and poems passed on down the centuries.

I'll of course do my own research into this, but i thought i'd ask here too.

Cheers,

CX.

reply to post by CX


I would suggest going back and reading shakespeares sonnets.

They should be your bedrock.

I would get a good anthology of poetry and just start reading. I have personal favorites for a wide variety of reasons: John Donne, Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, Adrienne Rich, Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda, Paul Celan. They're all so different from each other it's hard to pinpoint anything that unifies them, other than pleasure in reading them.

A great start.....thank you both.

CX.

The sufi poet Rumi....

reply to post by CX


A good book to start with is The Top 500 Poems. It contains many of the best and most popular poems of the English language by many of the greats like Shakespeare, Byron, and Poe.

The Top 500 Poems

You can check out the modernist, avant-garde, experimental style of verse if you're bored with poetry they teach you at school. The Poems for the Millenium series are essential.

Vol. 1

Vol. 2

Vol. 3

With Eastern poetry Chinese and Japanese verse are beauts. With the former you can check out:

Classical Chinese Poetry

And the latter:

Classic Haiku

Happy reading.