Monday 11 April 2016

Poetry Celebration Tag

As part of  the Poetry Celebration at The Edge of the Precipice during April, Hamlette has posted some questions which I've answered below.




What are some poems you like?

I've loved poetry for as long as I can remember so I'm culling a lot here...


The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."



The Fool's Prayer by Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887)

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept -
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung!
The word we had not sense to say -
Who knows how grandly it had rung!"



When You are Old by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)


Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)


The Pulley by George Herbert (1593-1633)


Scots Wha Hae by Robert Burns (1759–1796) Because I'm a Scot...



What are some poems you dislike?

Nothing really stands out. There are lots I don't care for but there are so many good poems anyhow I don't think too much about those I don't fancy.


Are there any poets whose work you especially enjoy?  If so, who are they?


George Herbert
William Butler Yeats
Leon Gellert

I like the humourous poetry of Hillaire Belloc, Arthur Guiterman, Edward Lear, and this piece by Australian poet, Thomas E. Spencer, How McDougal topped the score


Do you write poetry?


Yes, I do but I haven't written much in recent years. Most of my poetry has been reflective & personal but I've written a number of songs - poetry set to music.


Have you ever memorized a poem?

I've memorised poems I've read to my children, because I read them over & over for years and I know snippets of longer poems. Poems set to music have definitely helped me enjoy and memorise poetry and these days it seems to be the only way I really memorise well.


Do you prefer poetry that rhymes and had a strict meter, or free verse?  Or do you like both?

I probably prefer poems that rhyme as long as it's not forced but they don't have to have a strict meter.


Do you have any particular poetry movements you're fond of?  (Beat poets, Romanticism, Fireside poets, etc?)(If you haven't got any idea what I'm talking about, that's fine!  You can check out this list for more info, if you want to.)


I'm not familiar enough with all these terms to answer this question properly but I'm not fond of poems that are too flowery and have an overabundance of references and allusions to matters I have no idea about. I like to be able to make a connection in some way with what I'm reading. I enjoy reading ballad poems aloud to the kids - some favourites have been:


The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon Byron
Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Babington Macaulay
The Highwayman by Arthur Noyes
Lady Clare by Alfred, Lord Tennyson



Some other posts related to poetry:

Poetry Selections for Memory Work
Poetry as a Means of Intellectual Culture
Ideas for Poetry with Children

8 comments:

Mama Squirrel said...

My youngest liked Scots Wha' Hae because the girls in Baby Island sang it. We used to sing it along with the Corries on You-tube.

Carol said...

My youngest loved that book! I like the version by Scocha which is more upbeat but I read somewhere that the song was originally meant to be slower like the one I posted. Great song whatever tempo.

Hamlette (Rachel) said...

That's so great that you've always loved poetry! I envy you that. Such great answers to the tag. Edward Lear is really funny :-) And "The Highwayman" is kind of addictive, isn't it? I love its cadence.

Carol said...

:)

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I purchased a used poetry book of the poems of Robert Burns and I realized that I can't read them for myself. I can only understand them if someone else reads them aloud. I do wish we had a poet that the whole country loves. Maybe Walt Whitman or Robert Frost are the closest to that love. I enjoyed reading your favorites. My Poetry Answers

Carol said...

I feel much the same way when I read American authors & poets. I understand the language but not the connections. We've been listening to an audio of Tom Sawyer & the narrator has made it so enjoyable because he knows the lingo.

Chere Mama said...

I love all your choices. The Hound of Heaven especially! One of my sons would love to read Ozymandias aloud with great energy. The last line almost rings like a gong. George Herbert, too! Oh, so many choices, so little time. And now that you mention The Highwayman, maybe I should go back and re-read it.

Carol said...

Yes, so many choices. It was difficult to narrow down my list here!