Writing Poetry?

[chibi-master]

So I'm supposed to pick a poet to do a lot of research and stuff on, but there's a problem...

I usually can't stand poetry.

Maybe I'm just stupid or something, but a lot of poetry just strikes me as pretentious and angsty. Does anyone have any suggestions for poets whose poetry does not come off that way?

[Shwa]

Try finding poetry that fits your interest. It could be able love or betrayal, something ominous or just smack you in the face obvious. Here are some examples, ones by Edgar Allen Poe, a well known story of dark remembrance which I think you would know, called, "The Raven"

[url="http://poestories.com/read/raven"]http://poestories.com/read/raven[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlgQQgDhH7U"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlgQQgDhH7U[/url]
I wish it was the actual video, but only the audio, but it goes on the poem besides the comical humor of the Simpsons.

Another which is a semi- love/hurt poem by Thomas Wyatt during King Henry the 8ths rein:
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etqW_7XFwvU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etqW_7XFwvU[/url]
From Season 1 of the Tudors


[center]"AND wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]
[center]Say nay ! say nay ! for shame[/center]
[center]To save thee from the blame[/center]
[center]Of all my grief and grame.[size=1]1[/size][/center]
[center][color=#ffa500]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/color][/center]

[center][color=#ffa500]Say nay ! Say nay ![/color]
[/center]
[center]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]
[center]That hath lov'd thee so long ?[/center]
[center]In wealth and woe among :[/center]
[center]And is thy heart so strong[/center]
[center]As for to leave me thus ?[/center]

[center]Say nay ! Say nay ![/center]
[center]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]
[center]That hath given thee my heart[/center]
[center]Never for to depart ;[/center]
[center]Neither for pain nor smart :[/center]
[center]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]

[center]Say nay ! Say nay ![/center]
[center]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]
[center]And have no more pity,[/center]
[center]Of him that loveth thee ?[/center]
[center]Alas ! thy cruelty ![/center]
[center]And wilt thou leave me thus ?[/center]

[center]Say nay ! Say nay !"[/center]

Sometimes they are hard to understand yes, but, once you piece together their real meaning, it's actually quite exciting.

~Shwa Edited December 3, 2012 by Shwa

[Allamorph]

[quote name='chibi-master']Maybe I'm just stupid or something, but a lot of poetry just strikes me as pretentious and angsty.[/quote]
[font=Calibri]This is perhaps one of the most idiotic things I have ever seen you say. Like, the whole sentence.

Anyhow. I'm not generally fond of poetry either, but my distaste stems from continually seeing person after person believing they can just toss deep-sounding words on a piece of paper, claim it means something personal to them, and [i]voila[/i] it's poetry. That's a crock of horse crap, and anyone with half a brain can see that there was no effort put into the supposed poem's creation. (Lo and behold, people with half a brain tend not to be stupid. Funny how that works.)

Poetry is only interesting when the poet takes pride in their work. Writing a poem requires an intense familiarity and faculty with the language, a precise control over word placement, and the ability and desire to work within stringent boundaries, because it's through those boundaries that the poet's skill and talent can be observed. So what you want to do right now is look for some of the classical poets, since it'll be easier to find quality among them.

Poe is a good one. "The Raven", "The Bells", and (to a lesser extent for me) "Annabel Lee" are excellent works of hisâ??and "The Bells" abandons the confines of strict meter so it can actually [i]sound like bells[/i]. Robert Frost is another; "Fire and Ice" remains one of my favorites to this day. And of course anything by Lewis Carroll is fantastic and great fun to play with.

[center]- - - - - - -[/center]

If it's not the stupidity of most modern poets that bothers you, and instead the concept of the meter, we can talk further. But basically, if you like music, you should like meter, because poetry is the basis for song.[/font] Edited December 3, 2012 by Allamorph

[chibi-master]

I think maybe my problem with a lot of poetry is that I have trouble understanding parts of it. Words, meaning, etc. I'm probably just mistaking my own ignorance for pretentiousness on the part of the writer.

It took me a lot of searching, but I think I finally found a poet that I'd be comfortable doing this project on. I decided to go with Pablo Neruda.

I actually did try to sign up for Poe since you both recommended him, but my teacher said she wouldn't allow it because, "Everybody already knows Poe. If [I] did the project on him it would be like cheating."

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Calibri]That is a truckload of Grade A Baloney. The only 'reason' everyone 'knows' Poe is because "The Raven" is beat into their heads from second grade by people who generally haven't got a clue how to approach it in the first place and are only going over it because it's in the curriculum, and "The Telltale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", and occasionally (blessedly) "The Masque of the Red Death" are the only things anyone can think of for 'variety' around Halloweenâ??and because some of the more aged English teachers get a little bit sappy over "Annabel Lee". No one ever reads "Fall of the House of Usher" because they think it takes way too long and are afraid of losing people's interest. (Ray Bradbury riffed off of "Usher" in his short "Usher II" in [U]The Martian Chronicles[/U]. That short is one of my favorites of his.) No one reads "The Maelström" because I'm pretty sure nobody understands it, nobody reads "The Oval Portrait" or "The Eight Chained Ourangoutangs", and No One even remotely [I]knows[/I] about "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", which is Poe writing comedy (of all things; he satirises the Transcendentalists beautifully) and is quite possibly my favorite next to "Usher".

Ooooh. That burns me up a little. I want you to march right back to your teacher and ask her very indignantly what her reaction would have been if you had chosen Emerson, Thoreau, Frost, or Eliot. I am willing to bet dollars to donuts she wouldn't have said one word against it. That is poetary discrimination and I am VERY OFFENDED.

=P

(But really, I am.)

[CENTER]- - - - - - - - -[/CENTER]

Oof, Pablo Neruda. Good man, but that's gonna be a bit of a difficult project, there. Foreign poets are typically a little tougher to get at because they write in their own language, and although their work might be masterful, it will invariably lose something in the translation. Meter doesn't always work right, some flow is going to be lost, and ... well, think of it like an Asian coming up to you and insulting you by calling you a vegetable. Unless you know the culture, you're not going to understand the meaning very well.

Still, if you do your work right, you should be okay. It's not a backbreaking project, just a bit thicker to get through than, say, Carroll.[/FONT] Edited December 5, 2012 by Allamorph

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Allamorph' timestamp='1354728301' post='712575']
[font=Calibri]Ooooh. That burns me up a little. I want you to march right back to your teacher and ask her very indignantly what her reaction would have been if you had chosen Emerson, Thoreau, Frost, or Eliot. I am willing to bet dollars to donuts she wouldn't have said one word against it. That is poetary discrimination and I am VERY OFFENDED.

=P

(But really, I am.)[/font]

[/quote]
Funny thing about those four poets you listed. They were all chosen for this project by other students and the teacher had no problem with any of them. Multiple people chose Frost and Eliot, actually.

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Calibri]Yep. Totally prejudiced.[/FONT]

[Vicky]

EDIT: Judging from the date, you might not need this anymore. But it's been written so it might as well be posted :P

Poetry is amazing. I love poetry. Songs are poetry, adverts are poetry, poetry poetry poetry.
 
You don't have to be Eliot or Poe or Bukowski to write poetry. Widen your search a little.
 
In all honesty there are very few influential/mainstream poets I like. T.S. Eliot is my favourite, Ezra Pound and Sylvia Plath come pretty close in second place. Anything pre-20th century isn't my cup of tea. This is the problem with people disliking poetry, I find; we're only introduced to most of the famous, older poets which I find have a very stagnant and boring way of writing poetry.
 
In my class, our poetry teacher challenged every single person who disliked poetry. Whatever excuse they had, she came up with a reason, or a poem, that changed their mind completely. People who said "I just don't like poetry" were shot down because they did in fact listen to Eminem and many other popular songs that use poetic techniques and are therefore poetry (whether they are GOOD poetry is another story), people who found it "too boring and slow" were introduced to the madness of Bukowski and anyone who complained the language in poetry was "old-fashioned" was stunned to silence by Phillip Larkin's blunt edge and his ever famous line "they fuck you up your mum and dad" and his ramblings about being a filthy old pervert.
 
So, there will be something that counts as poetry you'll adore. Be it songs, Will.i.am or Dante. The problem is getting your teacher to agree with that - which, if you can argue for it properly, they should agree or they shouldn't be teaching you about poetry at all.
 
Other than that, I've got nothing to suggest except a few of my own favourites.
 
Because I love poetry so much and I eat and shit poetry, I've got a huge backlog of poets I truly appreciate:
 
These are some of my favourites, if you're interested (some well known, others not, some arguably not poets, but poetry is life itself so of course they are):
 
Itch (youtube five bottles of shampoo)
Phillip Larkin
Charles Bukowski
T.S. Eliot
Felipe Andres Coronel (aka Immortal Technique)
John Cooper Clarke (youtube "chickentown") < (from my hometown, aka "The Punk Poet" highly renowned for his live performances)
Alex Grant
Mark Girst (youtube his name to see the most legendary rap from a poetry teacher, ever)
Paul Celan (a must-read)
Nazim Hikmet
Raegan Butcher  (http://www.raeganbutcher.com/):
Billy Childish
Jack Micheline

Edited January 6, 2013 by Vicky

[Boo]

Mark Girst (youtube his name to see the most legendary rap from a poetry teacher, ever)

 

Thanks. High five. 

[Claire]

I don't read a lot of poetry, which is a shame cause I often find lots of things to like about it when I do. The most I can say is that I'm a fan of Thomas Hardy.

 

 

Going and Staying

 

                         I

 

The moving sun-shapes on the spray,

The sparkles where the brook was flowing,

Pink faces, plightings, moonlit May,

These were the things we wished would stay;

        But they were going.

 

                         II

 

Seasons of blankness as of snow,

The silent bleed of a world decaying,

The moan of multitudes in woe,

These were the things we wished would go;

        But they were staying.

 

                         III

 

Then we looked closelier at Time,

And saw his ghostly arms revolving

To sweep off woeful things with prime,

Things sinister with things sublime

        Alike dissolving.

 

A second favorite of his would be "Convergence of the Twain."

Edited January 29, 2013 by Clurr

[Break]

e.e. cummings.

 

Get on board. He's the best.