Posted by Serenity in Anne books, Reading, You Say Things Now | 6 Comments
My favorite poem is one I’ve never heard – National Poetry Day
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, by SheepGuardingLlama on Flickr
Apparently it’s National Poetry Day. I like the idea of poetry. And I do enjoy reading it, but I’ve really done that so few times in my life. I couldn’t immediately point you to my favorite classic poems. And I’ve only written a few in my life. They all rhymed, which hardly seems Dickensonian enough to share today.
I’d like to be more familiar with the genre and always admired it in my author heroine, L.M. Montgomery. Poetry found its way into almost all her books – probably literally all of them.
This is one of my favorite passages from Rilla of Ingleside, which takes place during World War I.
The poem was a short, poignant little thing. In a month it had carried Walter’s name to every corner of the globe. Everywhere it was copied – in metropolitan dailies and little village weeklies, in profound reviews and “agony columns,” in Red Cross appeals and Government recruiting propaganda. Mothers and sisters wept over it, young lads thrilled to it, the whole great heart of humanity caught it up as an epitome of all the pain and hope and pity and purpose of the mighty conflict, crystallized in three brief immortal verses. A Canadian lad in the Flanders trenches had written the one great poem of the war. “The Piper” by Private Walter Blythe was a classic from its first printing.
Can you imagine writing something that “caught up” the whole of humanity that way? Can you imagine even reading it? Fortunately, and I think this might be the purpose for a day like today, at least one poem or line of poetry written by somebody somewhere has that power over each of us. Is there one like that for you?
I love Billy Collins’ poetry – I discovered him in college and I’ve read nearly everything he’s written. Very accessible, and often surprisingly funny.
Currently I’m loving “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver, which can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html. And I’ve long been a fan of Robert Frost and his gentle New England rhymes, and of Emily Dickinson – she’s just brilliant.
I’m not as familiar with the genre as I’d like to be, either. But these poets and their words are dear to me.
Thank you, Katie! I just love hearing about what moves people. And I’m definitely going to check these out, starting with that link!
Katie, I love that poem. Thanks for pointing me to it.
I inherited a love of poetry from both of my parents. They both dabble in writing it as well. My dad used to (and still does) read Shakespeare a lot, and used to read some of the sonnets to me when I was little. My mother gave me a very old copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass when I was in college (for the first time). It was very controversial way back when because of risque themes, but I imagine most commercials these days could make old Walt blush.
I don’t pretend to be a poetry scholar, but I do like the genre. I don’t know if any poems outside of the Bible have really moved me for more than a moment, but I sure love this one by Elizabeth Barrett Browning on love. http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/sonnets-portuguese/14.html
Katie–Billy Collins is one of my all-time favorite poets. His work reminds me that life is mostly made of ordinary things and that those things can be transcendent in themselves. His poems also tend toward the whimsical and have a delightful sense of humor. Here’s a favorite of mine: Introduction to Poetry.
I love that, Matt!