Who is your favorite poet?

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   savanahlposted 13 years ago

   I'm writing an article on great poets and would like to ask for your help.
   Who is your favorite poet and why? It doesn't have to be someone famous. Published and unpublished names welcomed. I'll go first.
   
   My favorite Poet is E.E. Cummings. I loved the way he broke out from the crowd and did things differently, (for his time) such as using ampersands and his signature "i" that he didn't capitalize.

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      Brenda Durhamposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Wow!  Cummings (er...cummings...ha) was always my favorite too, for that reason.

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         savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm reading E.E. Cummings Revisited by Richard S. Kennedy. It really delves into his life and the meaning behind his poetry and art. Awesome read.

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            Brenda Durhamposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Sounds interesting.
            I'm glad you mentioned Cummings.  This may sound strange, but for several years I've intermittently signed my name (when typing, not when writing) with small letters, and it really hadn't occurred to me exactly why I do that.  Now I reckon it's a connection to my liking for cummings's style.   Isn't it odd the influences we retain sometimes?.....

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               savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               It's amazing! I love to take some quiet time whenever I can and sit and reflect on things like that. You'll be amazed at how many little influence affect our lives.

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               couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You would have done it even without cummings. Instincts run deep.

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      pinto2011posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If you will ask that who is the greatest poet of all then undoubtedly and unbiasedly there is only one man in this universe. He is Mirza Galib of India, the emperor's poet. But language is barrier for you to personally read and savor his writings because he used to write in Farsi language. Not only his writings are great, he was having the perfect attitude of an artist. He was Michael Jackson of poetry.

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         savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Well, pinto2011, since you put it like that, I will definitely check him out. I have a friend who speaks Farsi. Thanks for sharing

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         couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         pinto - the onus is on you to translate something short for us. Please

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      PDXKaraokeGuyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      My favorite(s): Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Wallace Stevens, Sylvia Plath, William Carlos Williams

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      buckleupdorothyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      My favorites are Borges, Anna Akhmatova, Emily Dickinson, Cevat Çapan, and T. S. Eliot.

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   SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years ago

   pearl diver....he evokes many emotions, thoughts, and all so tenderly...he's very creative

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      savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I like pearl diver as well. I'm a big fan.

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   SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years ago

   i also luv to read Ralwus...he doesn't write here anymore...i found him again though and i am able to read some of his work regularly...he's also very creative

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      savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      SomewayOuttaHere, where can I fine Ralwus's writings?

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         SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         ...we're friends on FB

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   Motown2Chitownposted 13 years ago

   Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Edgar Lee Masters.

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      couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Not too many people today get Dickinson. She had an uncanny knack for writing about death as though she were actually speaking to us while going through it.

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   snakeslaneposted 13 years ago

   H.D. (Hilda Doolittle, 1884-1961) 'Hermetic Definition'.

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   chanrothposted 13 years ago

   Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and a khmer poet kuy sarun

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      snigdha.sposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      William Shakespeare, Robert Frost and Khalil Gibran, Mirza Ghalib

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      savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I love Emily Dickinson as well.

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   snakeslaneposted 13 years ago

   Hello again savanahl, I'm sorry I did not answer the second part of your question earlier. (Why is H.D. my favorite poet?) I am working on that now. Regards, s lane

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      savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Looking forward to hearing from you.

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         snakeslaneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Ok, here goes.
         H.D. was a contemporary of Ezra Pound (was once engaged to him) and wrote a memoir about him "End to Torment".
         She was also a reknowned poet in her own right whose style is often referred to as 'imagist' and frequently described as "crystalline" a label she apparantly loathed as superficial.
         Her writing is largely influenced by Sigmund Freud. In a forward to "Hermetic Definition" Norman Holmes Pearson says this about her work:
         "Like many Freudians, she became quasi-Jungian and could bring the cabala, astrology, magic, Christianiy, classical and Egyptian mythology, and personal experience into a joint sense of Ancient Wisdom."
         As an aspiring writer, I admire the way she deftly moves between myth and metaphor, and between deeply personal and universal themes.
         I also enjoy the range of life experience that informs her work, (beautifully detailed in her autobiography 'HERmione' published posthumously by her daughter Perdita Schaffner).

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            savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for sharing. I'm reading some of her poetry as we speak, Evadne in particular. Very mythical and beautiful imagery. Can't wait to read more. Thanks.

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               snakeslaneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You are very welcome, good topic.

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   No contest - Thomas Hardy!

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      savanahlposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Nice one.

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   savanahlposted 13 years ago

   Anybody like Ernest Hemingway?

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      tammyswallowposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I LOVE Ernest Hemingway!

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    Sarah Bolluytposted 13 years ago

    Jess Bolluyt.  She is beginning to be published and recognized.  She is my twin sister.
    
    I also enjoy the poetic translations of Dante's Divine Comedy - I have no idea which one is the best actual translation of Dante's original text, since I do not know Italian, but they are certainly wonderful to read!  I am most familiar with those by Longfellow, Ciardi, and Cary.

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    Rosemay50posted 13 years ago

    Emily Dickinson, Lord Byron, and John Keats
    All great poets

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       habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Ditto on Keats! What a tragic life he led.

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    dkm27posted 13 years ago

    John Updike, Langston Hughes, Rudyard Kipling and Sylvia Plath are a few of my favorites.

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    jhamannposted 13 years ago

    Theodore Roethke and Elizabeth Bishop.

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    jhamannposted 13 years ago

    Oh I forgot the why,  Roethke wrote "My Papa's Waltz" and "Waking"  and Elizabeth Bishop is the author of many great poems, too many too count,  I also have to give a shout out to Ezra Pound who wrote those incredible "Cantos."

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    timmathisenposted 13 years ago

    Picking a favorite poet is like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream at Baskins Robbins. But the most influential to me have been Steven Dobyns, Alan Dugan, and William Carlos Williams.

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    sofsposted 13 years ago

    Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese christian poet, his philosophy and spirituality have made his writing deep and full of wisdom. He was not in any sense a christian poet but there was a huge influence of Christian thought, Sufism, Islam and Hinduism in his poetic essays.  I love Keats and many other romantic poets but the influence Kalil Gibran's poetry has had on my life is amazing. I would consider him an all time great.

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    NightFlowerposted 13 years ago

    My favorite poets are Frederico Lorca, Sonja Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Shakespeare, Rita Dove, Amir Baraka, I'm going to stop right there...too many for me to keep going but my all time favorite (i think) is Sonja Sanchez.

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       timmathisenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I'm glad you mentioned Lorca. This gave me some inspiration to go re-read his "Suites."

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    livelongerposted 13 years ago

    My favorite is Wislawa Szymborska, and I found out yesterday that she passed away a few days ago.

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    prettydarkhorseposted 13 years ago

    I like the passionate poetry of Pablo Neruda

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    SomewayOuttaHereposted 13 years ago

    omg...i can't believe i didn't mention her...another one of my favs is Kimberlyslyrics and she just publshed an ebook of her poetry....she is amazing! and so very creative

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    JKennyposted 13 years ago

    I like World War One Poetry, particularly Wilfred Owen.

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    Poetic Foolposted 13 years ago

    Wow, tough question!  There are so many great poets.  I like Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, e.e. cummings (out of respect), Sylvia Plath, W. H . Auden, so many more. And those are just modern age poets. If I had to pick one though it would be Frost.

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    jessica.written.posted 13 years ago

    Emily Dickinson. she was afraid of facing the world physically but could destroy and regrow it mentally. found love, found loss and still she continued. she was innocent but also daring. she wrote with all the human emotion. logic. she wrote truth, because she had no reason to lie.

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    Anabel Li93posted 13 years ago

    There're plenty of them but I'd chose Sergei Yesenin, a russian poet. He's incredible..I'm not only impressed by his poetry but his life. Do you like to read him?

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    mega1posted 13 years ago

    Pablo Neruda

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    vespawoolfposted 13 years ago

    Edgar Allan Poe. His use of language and rhythm was beautiful and sing-song. Even though his poems are a sad reflection of his life, the stories he told through poetry are timeless.

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    StellaSeeposted 13 years ago

    I like John Keats because I like the imagery he brings out in his poetry (at least to me). As for a more modern poet, I like Sylvia Plath

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    poeticmentorposted 13 years ago

    I can't believe no one has mentioned the great MAYA ANGELOU!  She is the truth. I have many and the second greatest is ME! come by. 1

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    savanahlposted 13 years ago

    I forgot to mention Perspycacious. Great Haiku poems.

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    Sonya L Morleyposted 13 years ago

    Ranald Macdonald, Dylan Thomas.  They write/wrote about the connectedness of everything in life and in death and I find their poetry stirring and beautiful.

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    asmaiftikharposted 13 years ago

    Well i like alot poets but no one can compete with john Keats And Shakespeare.
    Beauty is truth and truth is beauty.

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    tammyswallowposted 13 years ago

    A must read- Stanley Kunitz, "The Thing That Eats the Heart." I think he is the best poet in our lifetime. I love Billy Collins "The Laynard", Sylvia Plath, John Donne, Alexander Pope, Elizabeth Bishop, and of course Emerson.

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    Jonathan Jancoposted 13 years ago

    Edgar Allan Poe.
    Because I'm such a hopeless romantic.

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    kimberlyslyricsposted 13 years ago

    Tupac Shakir may he RIP

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    mega1posted 13 years ago

    I still love Neruda - I'm liking Ralwus too
    
    of course I used to worry that maybe everyone is a poet and so it would be a field of no distinction
    
    but now, I really know it's not that everyone is juat a poet
    but that we all just are poetry

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       kimberlyslyricsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       +1

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    Jaggedfrostposted 13 years ago

    Most of the poetry I have read since rediscovering my voice (shortly after beginning to write here) have been from authors here.  Many of whom I honor and value.  Larry, Ralwus, Silentreed, amongst others.  I value Frost, Emerson, and Shakespeare.  I favor Poe but do not emulate him if I can manage it. Mostly I shut all these voices out of my head when I sought my own.  I now like mine very well but as I am not as known as my honored fore-bearers, I shall point to them and not myself. Only hoping the three finger rule works just as well now as ever.

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    ShubeyThePoetposted 12 years ago

    So far i've read all of Tupac's poems and I've been reading Robert Frost as well. Not too much into Frost, he just isn't my style and I get bored of him at times. Basically at the moment I'd have to say Tupac but i'm trying to read other poets too, so please give suggestions! I'm into deep poets, so that's why i'm not down with Frost.

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       Jaggedfrostposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I have found that people resonate with poets that explain it how the reader feels life is or should be.  The further we expand into the mindset of other points of view we start to appreciate the cleaver ways in which they describe their way of life.  I am not surprised that you are not into Robert frost as he idealized rural and farm life in much of his work.  I very much doubt that he would understand Tupac any more then you understand his work.

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          ShubeyThePoetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I agree Jagged, I have his whole collection and i'm still reading. I've kinda made a note to myself that I don't want to end up writing like him because he just gives off a boring feel in my opinion. But he was no doubt good though, i'm not saying he wasin't. He just wasn't my style. I'm sure EVERYBODY would've understood Tupac if he wrote in correct grammar. Even so his messages still stood out.

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    whonunuwhoposted 12 years ago

    My favorite poets are Frost, Kipling,Wordsworth, Longfellow, Francis Scott Key, and Emerson, and not necessarily in that order. There are many more and I suppose Kipling is one of my favorites.

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