How to "get into" poetry?

turgon

So for the past 9 months now Ive been reading a lot of classic prose, and I really want to start reading poetry. However, its obviously a different kind of experience.

I studied poetry back in Secondary School, and I really liked it. Especially Philip Larkin and Derek Mahon.

You see, I dont want to just get "The Best of WB Yeats," because it would probably be a bit too much. And unfortunately I threw out my old school poetry book. Would there be any good introductory books on poetry?

Any good analytical techniques?

TedB

turgon wrote: »

So for the past 9 months now Ive been reading a lot of classic prose, and I really want to start reading poetry. However, its obviously a different kind of experience.

I studied poetry back in Secondary School, and I really liked it. Especially Philip Larkin and Derek Mahon.

You see, I dont want to just get "The Best of WB Yeats," because it would probably be a bit too much. And unfortunately I threw out my old school poetry book. Would there be any good introductory books on poetry?

Any good analytical techniques?

I'd love to get into poetry. I loved it at Leaving Cert level but I just feel if I get a load of collected works I'll drown or just nothing bother reading them...

turgon

Yep. Like supposing you get WB Yeats selected works, with 300+ pages of poetry. Where does one even start?

buck65

Michael Longley edited a small book on Irish poetry that I find very good, all the main players are there. http://www.amazon.co.uk/20th-Century-Irish-Poems-Poet/dp/0571209416/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247143779&sr=1-2
I also own the Penguin book of Contemporary American poetry that is quite comprehensive and one gets a good idea about a poet. There are 4/5 poems from most authors.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contemporary-American-Poetry-Penguin-poets/dp/0140586180/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247143867&sr=1-3

994

I don't like Yeats at all. Maybe get some Keats, or an anthology of "classic" poetry. A lot of poetry is free on the Internet (if the poet is dead 70 years) so go to wikisource.org.

bullpost

I have a book of poems , one for each day of the year. I read one every night before going to sleep - I'd recommend it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poem-Poems-Worth-Learning-Heart/dp/185619499X/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247150512&sr=1-12

raah!

turgon wrote: »

I studied poetry back in Secondary School, and I really liked it. Especially Philip Larkin and Derek Mahon.

I'm in a very similar situation to you, and bought Philip Larkin's "High Windows" because I missed leaving cert poetry. I read a poem or two pretty much everyday and I know nothing of 'analytical techniques' other than what was taught in the leaving.

So I'd reccommend this, some very good poems in there, and most are better than what they would put in the leaving because much of larkin's stuff is too bleak or adult for the leaving.

Edit: They sell it in Hodges Figgis if you want to buy it.

sceptre

Get a nice compendium featuring stuff by more than one poet. With that in mind I'd heartily recommend something like this. Of course when it says "The Nation's Favourite Poems" on the cover, it's referring to a different nation. The poems that it contains are, however, quite good and undeniably popular (as well as populist). You'll like them, buy it anyway.

getz

turgon wrote: »

So for the past 9 months now Ive been reading a lot of classic prose, and I really want to start reading poetry. However, its obviously a different kind of experience.

I studied poetry back in Secondary School, and I really liked it. Especially Philip Larkin and Derek Mahon.

You see, I dont want to just get "The Best of WB Yeats," because it would probably be a bit too much. And unfortunately I threw out my old school poetry book. Would there be any good introductory books on poetry?

Any good analytical techniques?

i have aways hated poetry i could never get into the poets mind,i found that they were to artifial [wrote to order] then a few years ago i picked up a book of poems by emily bronte,non had ever been wrote for publication,just for her sisters,now i am converted,

turgon

Thanks for all the links, Ill have a look into them!!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

turgon

Cheers donegalfella, The Best Poems of the English Language seems to be what Im looking for. It helps to have such an introduction for someone like me who has never studied poetry outside of the strict confines* of secondary school education.

For those interested: book shop link.

*not an over-exaggeration

TedB

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I think I'll get that book as well. Cheers!

994

Stephen Fry wrote a book "The Ode Less Travelled" (cringe) which is good for details about meter etc.

Earthhorse

The best way to get interested in poetry, to get interested in any art form really, is to find an artist you like and, from there, artists similar to them, usually people they influenced or were influenced by. It sort of provides you with a foothold into the world from which you can find your way. So, given this, it really is then a question of how do you find someone you like. As others have said, buy an anthology.

To my mind there is only one anthology worth buying if you are seriously interested in getting into poetry and that is the Norton. Indeed, I wouldn't even buy the Norton Anthology of English Poetry but the Norton Anthology of English Literature; this will contain plays, extracts from novels, essays and poetry but there is more than enough there to sink your teeth into. There are two volumes (and yes, you should buy them both) and you needn't buy them firsthand if they're too pricey for you.

Unlike donegalfella I would not point you in the direction of learning more about prosody, metre and forms, because that is really more meta-poetry than poetry. You will learn about villenalles by reading villenalles. By encountering, say, Heaney's Villenalle for an Anniversary, noting the odd form then encoutering it again elsewhere and something will click in your brain and go, ah, so that's what a villenalle is. To quote Yeats:

Michale Angelo left a proof
On the Sistine Chapel roof

That is, I would just get on with the business, well, the pleasure, of reading poetry rather than reading around it. (For the record, the Norton has plenty about metre, form and the lives of the poets but it's set out in such a way that you can read it after reading the poems).

That's how I would go about it anyway; indeed, that is the way I went about it. The Norton is a goldmine of good stuff, years after I first opened it I was still discovering gems but, as df says, you need to go about it in a way that feels right to you. If you like, you might post what sort of authors you like and we could recommend off that (though you might be looking for something different from poetry than from prose) but I do think embarking on your own journey is more likely to reap real rewards.

chancer_007

tended to have little interest in poetry at school
found myself in a situation recently where I wrote some poems for the love of my life.
Had never even attempted to write a poem before this.
Not technically correct poems but simple poems none the less.
I think if people want to "get into" poetry I think the best thing to do is to actually write a poem for a loved one.You will find yourself putting in more thought & meaning when its for someone you love.
anyway,thats what I found.
best of luck to everyone

turgon

So I got Harold Bloom "Best Poems of the English Language" collection today, a hefty enough tome that wouldn't fit under "B" because my shelfs too small! Maybes its symbolic of how reading poetry might broaden my horizons ....

Later on today I ended up turning to WB Yeats' "Second Coming," principally because it had a short introduction on it. It was my first time ever reading and trying to decipher a poem without my school teacher at the board shouting his interpretation!

I actually read it with my girlfriend, and we were at least half an an hour (probably and hour) at it (it being 23 lines) trying to determine what we thought it meant (and turning to the dictionary twice). I personally think its an excellent poem. I just dont know if my interpretation is "right," and Ill probably be very nervous giving my views on any poem for a long time.

I suppose my thoughts on it are influenced by Blooms opinion that it is about the Russian Revolution. In this case I thought the line

And what rough beast, its hour come at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

told us that there were no sureties as to the results of the communists winning the Revolution. In fact, given that the promises of the Revolution would have been equality and a good life and that in the end 54+ million were killed, it seems pretty accurate.

Or maybe Im totally off the ball...:)

I've a few poetry books that I'd recommend. I bought a very nice edition (hardback from the '40s) of The Oxford Book of English Verse about a year ago. It's definitely my favourite poetry book: the book is absolutely packed with brilliant poetry; it has pages upon pages of poems by all of the English Greats. The book covers a period of 800 years or thereabouts, so there's a lot of variation.

Another one I would highly recommend is The Oxford Book of Short Poems. This is different to my previous recommendation in that it doesn't exclude poets of other nationalities, every poem is also limited to, at most, 13 lines. The reasoning behind this is that it omits sonnets, which would otherwise no doubt riddle the book.

Apart from those two, I have various other compilations of poets' works (Keats, Yeats, Shakespeare etc.).

I only got into poetry myself in the last year, it's something I'd recommend everyone to do.