poetry recommendations for me, please

[Neddy Nederlander]

Hello. I was wondering if I could have some of you recommend poetry for me to check out. I'm going to go to the bookshop in a week or so, one that has a very good poetry section. You can recommend novels as well if you think that may help my writing in any way. I haven't bought much poetry myself, in fact the only book of poetry I have bought myself is Ted Hughes "Birthday Letters", which I really like. I am also a big fan of Ken Kesey's writing, and i get a lot of ideas for my poetry from his style of writing. Any help would be much appreciated. I know that you can only improve yourself in writing music by listening to lots and lots of it, and I think it's the same with poetry.

[Rachel Lindley]

Frankly, I think one of the best investments to make in poetry is to purchase either or both of Norton's Anthology of Poetry and Norton's Anthology of Modern Poetry. They are massive, however, and expensive. However, they cover the widest range of poetry in one place, and will give you an excellent overview of what was and is out there.

If you want something smaller, then there's the anthology edited by Czelaw Milosz, A Book of Luminous Things. That's usually available in well-stocked poetry sections of book stores.

Anthologies are always a good idea, because you can figure out what and who you like to read in one place.

Rachel

[Donner]

Hi, Neddy,

You can't go wrong with a good anthology. They can be expensive, but will expose you to many writers. From there you can select a few you like and pick up more of their writings. There are several recommendations on the PFFA Reading List (http://www.everypoet.com/readinglist.htm)--check those out. I personally own the Norton Anthology of Poetry, Fourth Edition (about $50) and the wonderful A Book of Luminous Things (thanks to a recommendation by Gabriel--about $15) on my shelf at home. You might also be able to pick up a good anthology at a used book store.

I've found several writers that have become personal favorites by simply browsing the bookstore shelves and reading through a few selections. Dylan Thomas and Pablo Neruda made it into my personal library that way, and my taste ranges from Shakespeare and Stevens to Mimi Khalvati and Keats to Philip Larkin and Li-Young Lee. You never know what will strike you when you open a collection of poetry.

Donner

[Rachel Lindley]

It's crossposting madness!

[Harry Rutherford]

And buy a selected Yeats and read it all.

[TB]

Or a complete works of Yeats otherwise you might not get some of the ones like this:


A first Confession

I admit the briar
Entangled in my hair
Did not injure me;
My blenching and trembling,
Nothing but dissembling,
Nothing but coquetry.

I long for truth, and yet
I cannot stay from that
My better self disowns,
For a man's attention
Brings such satisfaction
To the craving in my bones.

Brightness that I pull back
From the Zodiac,
Why those questioning eyes
That are fixed upon me?
What can they do but shun me
If empty night replies?


Which is great!

[LoganInternationAirport]

Originally posted by Neddy Nederlander
I haven't bought much poetry myself, in fact the only book of poetry I have bought myself is Ted Hughes "Birthday Letters", which I really like.

Great attitude for a start, and good going for understanding Birthday Letter as a first book. There are parts of it I've most certainly struggled with, though I agree that it's a great book: probably Hughes' best work.

Off the top of my head I'd recommend:

Mark Doty: Source
Lavinia Greenlaw: A World Where News Travels Slowly
Matthew Francis: Dragons [Frog Chronicles is a marvelous poem]

The Forward Poetry Prize books are always interesting as well, though they perhaps over-represent the instantly accesible at the expense of some more complex -- but also more rewarding --work.

[Donner]

Originally posted by TheBroad
It's crossposting madness!

Bwhahahahahahahaha!

[Dark Barde]

To kind of springboard off what Donner said, you might want to sit yourself down in a Barnes and Noble or the like, buy yourself a cup of java and rummage through an anthology, pick out authors you like, make a list and then just find them on the internet. That's the cheapest way to go, in all honesty.

Or you could just look on the internet before you go, then pick up something you like. Six of one...

[LoganInternationAirport]

Originally posted by Dark Barde
To kind of springboard off what Donner said, you might want to sit yourself down in a Barnes and Noble or the like, buy yourself a cup of java and rummage through an anthology, pick out authors you like, make a list and then just find them on the internet. That's the cheapest way to go, in all honesty.

Yeah, and poets don't need your money, they're rich enough anyway. It's different with major label music being proliferated on mp3, where the artists struggle to make a living, but poets, well, they can afford for you to take their work and pay them nothing.

No wonder poetry's on the decline.

[Howard Miller]

"No wonder poetry's on the decline."

Naive hyperbole. If poetry is on the decline--I know of no evidence that it is, and this is the stereotypical cry of each rising generation about everything, not just poetry--the internet has zip all to do with it. No poet makes a living from sales of his work, and relatively few poems by any given contemporary writer are available on the 'net, certainly not enough to significantly affect one's royalties.


Howard

[LoganInternationAirport]

Naive hyperbole. If poetry is on the decline--I know of no evidence that it is, and this is the stereotypical cry of each rising generation about everything, not just poetry--the internet has zip all to do with it. No poet makes a living from sales of his work, and relatively few poems by any given contemporary writer are available on the 'net, certainly not enough to significantly affect one's royalties.


The fact is, though, that few people bother to buy poetry, even those that love it, and really, those that love it SHOULD buy that which they love, it's only fair. Perhaps poetry isn't on the decline, but it's at least a massively minority interest. I wasn't saying poetry is on the decline because of the interest, but rather because of the sort of attitude that says you shouldn't bother to buy books of poetry if you can get it another way.

I'd hazard a guess that Seamus Heaney makes a fairly good living from the sale of his work alone, and the more work people buy of a poet who doesn't need to support him/herself another way, the more le-way they get to spend time on perfecting their poetry, rather than working at something else.

[Howard Miller]

There are more volumes of poetry being published currently than at any previous time in history; there are more volumes of poetry being purchased currently than at any previous time in history. Looked at narrowly in terms of interested and money-spending audience, everything--various forms of music, film, theatre, clothing styles--are each "a massively minority interest." There are very few interests--aside from sex and fast food--that engage any significant majority of the population at any given time.

Robert Frost was the only American poet of the 20th century whose primary income was from the sale of his poetry; virtually all poets, including Seamus Heaney, work for a living.

[TB]

Careful Howard. You're close to suggesting that writing poetry isn't working for a living!

I think Andrew Motion does nothing else as well as Frost.

Librarian seems to be an eternally popular poet's job........... must be free access to all those books they'd otherwise have to go out and buy

[LoganInternationAirport]

Originally posted by Howard Miller
There are more volumes of poetry being published currently than at any previous time in history; there are more volumes of poetry being purchased currently than at any previous time in history. Looked at narrowly in terms of interested and money-spending audience, everything--various forms of music, film, theatre, clothing styles--are each "a massively minority interest." There are very few interests--aside from sex and fast food--that engage any significant majority of the population at any given time.

Robert Frost was the only American poet of the 20th century whose primary income was from the sale of his poetry; virtually all poets, including Seamus Heaney, work for a living.

Poetry is undeniably very unpopular compared to just about every other form of media. Most of the population will read a novel, watch a film or listen to music at some point every month or so, the same is not true of reading poetry. There is a sizable proportion of the population who will read no poetry whatsoever apart from that they are forced to read as part of their education.

I didn't argue that Heaney DOES live off the sale of his poetry, rather that he could. Look at the sales figures, it'd be entirely possible for him to make a living from the sales of his poetry, albeit a modest one.

[TB]

Originally posted by TB
Careful Howard. You're close to suggesting that writing poetry isn't working for a living!

I think Andrew Motion does nothing else as well as Frost.




Apologies. I've just been checking and note that he is still head of creative writing at UEA. I (mistakenly) thought he'd given up on being made laureate.

[Dark Barde]

Well, Milton of course believed that writing poetry was work, and hard work at that... Puritan ethic and all. I mean, how else do you justify sitting around and reading for eight years?

I didn't mean to imply that one should just read poetry on the internet and not buy any, but that one should scout around for stuff to buy instead of just blindly picking something, paying for it and ending up unhappy. I "file-share" music with friends, not because I'm trying to get something for nothing, but because I'm trying to determine whether I want to buy the CD or not. Same thing for poetry. I mean, if the only poem I like is in one of my anthologies, why am I going to pay for a whole other book?

I think that the relative popularity of poetry is irrelevant. We've already determined in another thread that the "popular" poets tend to be from the shallow end of the pond. Those who are in this game for the money are almost certainly going to cater to the masses, and I sure as hell won't buy their books.

[TB]

Originally posted by Dark Barde
Well, Milton of course believed that writing poetry was work, and hard work at that... Puritan ethic and all. I mean, how else do you justify sitting around and reading for eight years?




I think we all agree that writing half of Paradise Lost and all of Samson Agonistes whilst blind definitely constitutes hard work!

[Dark Barde]

Originally posted by TB
I think we all agree that writing half of Paradise Lost and all of Samson Agonistes whilst blind definitely constitutes hard work!

You're damn tootin'. I heard he taught his daughters to write Greek so they could transcribe his work, but he never actually taught them to understand the stuff they were transcribing. I mean, it's not like they would get it anyway, they were WOMEN after all... ;)

DB (bradeos eimi, alla philo ponein)