Poetry they say is a song that arises from a bleeding wound or a smiling mouth. The song that immortalises feats of bravery, captures forever the fleeting moments of ecstasy, comforts the soul of the forlorn poet, and paints vivid pictures of the world before the eyes of the reader. Poetry has been my friend when words otherwise have failed me. When feelings overcome my being, rationality diminishes into insignificance and sleep comes only once I've poured my angst out onto a sheet of paper. The truth is when I'm writing my thoughts down it's a completely selfish act, I don’t give a single thought to the reader. I suppose that’s the difference between amateurs and professionals. I've officially entered the world of these professionals. I finally resolved my dilemma and chose the option I knew I would enjoy the most, that of a writer. I'm treading the road less travelled as opposed to the more safer option that had confronted me not so long ago, which I talked about in my last blog. What remains to be seen is how successful I will turn out to be, or whether this would be only the first of the seven careers of my life! (I'm referring to Ailyn’s comment in my previous blog)
The world of bloggers has brought me onto many people’s pages who've expressed themselves through rhyming, through verses that take innumerable number of meanings for each of us. Scores of faceless people, posting their poems on the internet…
For a second just stop reading this and think of the names of the famous poets that come to your mind…..the ones that come in my mind are Shakespeare, Homer, Keats, Wordsworth, Milton, Rumi, … the thing that strikes me here is how none of them belong to this era…Where are the poets of this generation? Who are the poets of this generation? Thousands of faceless people, putting their thoughts in verses…. Yet where is the beacon of light who speaks of our culture the way Homer immortalised that of the Greeks? Or are there people among us about whom I'm blissfully unaware of… there must be surely poets among us that a large number of us enjoy reading, a favourite of people like you and me... So tell me, who is your favourite poet?
19 comments:
i have too many even though iam not a very serious poetry reader ..and as usual i cant choose
John Donne- he s very chauvinistic and his sonnets can get explicit but his love poetry is awesome.
T.S.Eliot- love song of J Alfred Prufrock and Four Quarterts
Neruda- the love poems ..
Ben Okrie - very very mystical at times..
but yeah u were rt still hanker after eighteenth century stuff ..modern poetry is rather complicated at times and perhaps old is gold .
This is easy ... my favourite poets of all times (not only of our times) - Roger McGough, Spike Milligan and Edwin Morgan (currently the poet laureate of Scotland). And yeah Ogden Nash as well. These guys are funny, deep and know economy of words better then any other poets.
You will be successful...
wow .. well i'm not a big poetry reader .. but from what i read here .. i think u can write some goood poetry urself .. .. why dont u put some of ur work on this blog .. would love to read it :)
u r such an amazing writer ur words hold my attention...
wow...
nothing can keep u from succeeding
Taking a quick look at the rather enormous collection of poetry sitting on my bookshelves, I hereby recommend some of my favourite contemorary poets:
Raymond Carver (recently deceased - also known for his short stories),
Michael Ondaatje (difficult, recommended for more sophisticated poetry readers. Most well-known for his novel "The English Patient", but really a poet at heart),
Wislawa Szymborska (Nobel Prize winner),
Denise Levertov,
Cyril Wong (outstanding young name from Singapore -destined for future greatness on the international scene),
Li-Young Lee (writes powerful poems esp about family relationships,
Stephen Dobyns (brilliantly imaginative, creates weirdly fantastical scenarios out of everyday events)
Ted Hughes (yes, Ted of Sylvia Plath),
Charles Bukowski (your ideal introduction to poetry, if you think that poetry is airy-fairy, what-the-hell-does-it-mean, intellectual bullshit).
Rafael Campo (writes powerfully from his interesting personal life, as an immigrant, racial minority, doctor and gay man).
Billy Colins (funny, light, whimsical and original)
Sharon Olds (really, a woman's poet - writes a lot about love, marriage, motherhood etc).
Those interested in Asian poetry in English will find the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore (at www.qlrs.com) to be a great starting point to finding out who's writing what in Asia.
I'm slowly building a nice collection of links at my blog, Reader's Eye, to interesting poetry blogs out there in cyberspace. Reader's Eye is at http://readerseye.blogspot.com
My first visit here..thanks for dropping into my blog. I like ur style...i really think that writing is at its best when its done naturally and not keeping the reader in mind. After all...this is art, this is expression. All the best in your new ventures...I hope you can stay true to the spirit of your expression and not get locked in churning out what the reader wants..
My first visit here..thanks for dropping into my blog. I like ur style...i really think that writing is at its best when its done naturally and not keeping the reader in mind. After all...this is art, this is expression. All the best in your new ventures...I hope you can stay true to the spirit of your expression and not get locked in churning out what the reader wants..
wow..this is quite a list of poets we've conjured up in such short while... but one things still bothering me.... indians! indians! where are the indian poets???
Edwin Thumboo and Kirpal Singh. Google their names, add "poetry" and you'll find them.
Vikram Seth has written a novel in verse. He also has some pure poetry, but I don't really recommend it.
poetry!!....n alanis too?? Gawd! n I thot I was the only one with this combo :P ....hmm, you wondering 'bout "Indian" poets...er....right?? well, I've mostly haven't n usually don't read any "renowned" pieces of poetry....rather, resort to writing my own....am able to associate n vent out the feelings much well through that :)
Anyways, you may check out my stuff at ma site :
http://www.geocities.com/soumabhsen
If ya like my work lemme kno....if ya don't , then they were never meant to.U see, afterall, they're for my own emotional consumption |:?)
~Sen~
Vikram Seth is amazing ... golden gate is a work of art and his collection of poems for kids - beastly tales from here and there - is an all time favourite of mine .. sorry to say but I hate Ted Hughes - not because of his writing but becuase of what his association did to Sylvia Plath ... oh! and dylan thomas rocks
dylon thomas...finally someone i know! :) this discussion has been interesting...now i got o so many books to catch up on... not many ppl r reading poetry now a days, but good to know there r ppl around who're still at it, inspite of all. vikram seth- i really feel like checking his book out, simply bcos of the 2 absolutely contradictory reviews ive received...
Seth's "Golden Gates", a novel written entirely in verse, is a good read. But I appreciate it as a novel, rather than as poetry.
Seth's poetry is the rhyming kind. To me, it feels dated. Most of the latest rhyming poetry in the world was written 50 or 60 years ago. For that reason, I don't enjoy Seth's poetry.
Poetry is a subculture these days. It will never quite flourish, but it will never quite die.
Come check out my poetry blog sometime. It's quite new, so far I've mostly put up my own previously published poetry, and featured a few from a Filipino pet. I also have a few interesting links to other poetry blogs. Especially check out the link to I-Land-I-Site, now there is a real poet at work.
Hi Gul
Fav Poet? I rather have fav poems
"Where the mind" by Tagore and
"No man is an Island" by John Donne" are two of them.
I've only recently begun my forays into the world of poetry.About a year or so and so far, I am enjoying it immensely. It disturbed me however , when I found that in response to your question , I could only think of shakespeare, byron , wordsworth and maybe a few poets from the early 20th century.But I presumed that it was because of my ignorance. It is nice to know that there are others who exactly feel the way I do...
Well, In any case, now I have a lot of poets to explore. Oh and Vikram Seth's golden gate is very nice.
christ college is takin up all of my time nowadays.. im stumped with work for now...
Koth- ive visited ur site quite often n i think its an abosultely wonderful forum... will check out the other link soon
Hemanshu- i love Tagore n Frost myself :) will return to the blogworld soon...
vandy- :) its so nice to see u... "where the mind.."- that would be one of my fav poems too :)
Mercury- vikram seth's Golden Gate is now at the top of my list of books i o so need to read!
will be back...hopefully soon :)
Mercenary professionals write for others - but I think it shows. The best always write for themselves but let us share. Too many poets to mention but they're out there. Stumbled on your site via Reader's Eye. Glad I did. Thank you.
I liked your site and style.Have you read anything by Laurence Hope, she lived in India at the turn of the century,and has several books based on Indian love lyrics.I have several including a beautiful illustrated one by Byam Shaw.Its called The Garden of Kama, she also wrote Srars of the desert and Indian love.Look her up on the web and enjoy.
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