Classics Without All the Class discussion

I do a lot of different reading challenges, and one that I'm doing this year is to read a bunch of different genres, one of which being poetry. I'm a little stuck for ideas, so I thought I'd ask you all for suggestions. Who to read, how to go about it, anything :). I haven't read a poem since high school and I have no idea how to decide on something now.

Honestly, if anyone knows of a good collection that has a bunch of different authors, I'd be thrilled to try that. That way I can get a wide variety :).

Oh, and the only guidelines are that the page total has to be over 200 pages from no more than 2 books.

Try looking into "The 100 Best Poems of All Time" edited by Leslie Poleu. It's just over 200 pages and contains some classic and modern poetry.

The 100 Best Poems of All Time

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "Try looking into "The 100 Best Poems of All Time" edited by Leslie Poleu. It's just over 200 pages and contains some classic and modern poetry.

The 100 Best Poems of All Time"

That looks great! Thanks!

I'm personaly not a fan of poetry. But if I had to give a recomendation I would chose Pablo Neruda. The problem is the languaje. Reading poetry in a languaje that is not the original one may be tricky...

LaLaLa Laura wrote: "Try looking into "The 100 Best Poems of All Time" edited by Leslie Poleu. It's just over 200 pages and contains some classic and modern poetry.

The 100 Best Poems of All Time"

No problem-o. Good luck and Keep us posted with how your challenge goes!

There is also a great collection of poetry called Poetry Speaks, which I don't see on here. But it comes with CD's that have recordings of the original poets reciting their own poetry. It is amazing to hear Sylvia Plath and Dorothy Parker reading their own poetry. I love it.

Angie wrote: "There is also a great collection of poetry called Poetry Speaks, which I don't see on here. But it comes with CD's that have recordings of the original poets reciting their own poetry. It is amazin..."

The CD idea is a great one. The best tip I ever got for enjoying poetry is that it is written to be heard. I always read it out loud (So it's not the best thing to read in a coffee shop!)

Leora wrote: "Angie wrote: "There is also a great collection of poetry called Poetry Speaks, which I don't see on here. But it comes with CD's that have recordings of the original poets reciting their own poetry..."

That reminds me of the podcast called Literary Disco. Rider Strong from the show Boy Meets World is one of the hosts and they talk books. One of the segments they do is called Poet Voice and the premise is about how poets read their poetry out loud and the voice they use. Pretty funny/awesome stuff.

Angie wrote: "There is also a great collection of poetry called Poetry Speaks, which I don't see on here. But it comes with CD's that have recordings of the original poets reciting their own poetry. It is amazin..."

I saw those at my library, but didn't really look at it very closely. Guess I need to give them a second look!

It's so hard when you have to decide if you want to compromise the rime, the rythm or the content...it's harder when you want to make it just like the original. It's very interesting to see how different translators worked with the same poem. I'm gonna check it out.

Thanks!

Try Edgar Allen Poe

Poetry is a genre that I sometimes find challenging, but I did really enjoy this anthology of poems which my book club read together.

Americans' Favorite Poems: The Favorite Poem Project Anthology

I also enjoyed the collection of Mary Oliver which won the Goodreads award for 2012 under poetry entitled A Thousand Mornings

Julie wrote: "Poetry is a genre that I sometimes find challenging, but I did really enjoy this anthology of poems which my book club read together.

Americans' Favorite Poems: The Favorite Poem Project Anthology..."

I forgot that Goodreads had an award section for poetry! :) I'll go see who the other nominees were, too.

Thanks, I'll check both of these out :)

I am a big fan of Rumi personally.

How about:

The Essential Rilke

or

Book of Longing

The Rilke is more challenging than the Cohen book (in my opinion), but his work is classic! The edition I listed for Rilke is supposed to be a good translation.

Hello, CassieV! How is your poetry search coming along?

Laura wrote: While I don't speak Spanish, W.S. Merwin's translations of Neruda are supposed to be very well done. I received Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair from a friend who is a Spanish speaker; the edition I have has the English and Spanish side by side, so if you are bilingual you can compare them. The poems are absolutely beautiful; it is one of my most cherished books.

I don't know if you can find them in English, but his sonets are realy beautiful.

Laura wrote: "An anthology seems like a great way to get your feet wet and find someone's work you really respond to.

Rumi and Rilke are favorites of mine, too, as well as Yeats and T.S. Eliot and William Carlo..."

That's what I was thinking. I went ahead an got The 100 Best Poems of All Time, and then I thought I'd try to expand from there :).


LaLaLa Laura wrote: "Hello, CassieV! How is your poetry search coming along?"

THanks for asking! As I said I got the anthology about from my library. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to get into it yet, just the first few. I really want to be able to focus on them, which means finding a quiet time where my kids are actually quiet/sleeping and isn't easy for me to find right now. I've got some plans to dig into it more this weekend, though! :)

Thank you all for your suggestions, I will definitely keep exploring this genre, though it may be slowly!

The Everyman Pocket Poets are a good place to start, as are Shakespeare's sonnets, and Richard Siken if you want something darker. Tennyson is a personal favourite, as is Edgar Allan Poe, and you can find recordings of their poems from Librivox.

Are you looking for shorter poems, or epics like Beowulf or the Iliad? I assume you're going for something more like "The Raven" or "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which are longer poems considered "classics," but not necessarily the epics which are treated more like books.

Angie wrote: "There is also a great collection of poetry called Poetry Speaks, which I don't see on here. But it comes with CD's that have recordings of the original poets reciting their own poetry. It is amazin..."

CD is an AWESOME way to become familiar with poetry. I listened to Sylvia Plath read her poem "Daddy" and I seriously will never forget it. I listened to it in my 12th grade AP lit class and still hear her voice echo in my head whenever I read that poem. To me, her voice is just chilling!

I hadn't thought about it with the audio... that does make a huge difference with poetry, especially if you can get the author to read their poem.