Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

I figured I should add 'Project Gutenberg' to my thread name, since most of my poetry discoveries come from there. I'm excited about 2017....at least for reading, that is. ;-))

NOTE TO SELF: When a specific poem touches your heart, post it in this thread https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

JANUARY TITLES COMPLETED
1. Mazeppa ~~ George Gordon Byron ~~ Jan 8 to Jan 9

APRIL TITLES COMPLETED
1. The Elephant's Ball and Grand Fete Champetre ~~ W. B. ~~ Apr 28 to Apr 28

JULY TITLES COMPLETED
1. Lalla Rookh ~~ Thomas Moore ~~ July 8 to July 10

AUGUST TITLES COMPLETED
1. Young Adventure ~~ Stephen Vincent Benét ~~ Aug 28 to Aug 31

SEPTEMBER TITLES COMPLETED
1. The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne ~~ Gelett Burgess ~~ Sept 14 to Sept 14
2. Poems ~~ Victor Hugo ~~ Specifically The Djinns here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8775/8...
Sept 17 to Sept 17
3. Tam O' Shanter ~~ Robert Burns ~~ Sept 18 to Sept 18
4. The Mythological Zoo ~~ Oliver Herford ~~ Sept 18 to Sept 18

FIRST GROUP OF FIVE

1. More Translations From The Chinese by Arthur Waley
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16500/...
2. Derby Day In The Yukon by Yukon Bill
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33758/...
3. Hafiz In London by 14th Century Hafiz
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51392/...
4. Ballads Of Lost Haven by Bliss Carman
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18268/...
5. Crescent Moon by Rabindranath Tagore
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6520/6...


I THINK I CAN ~~ I HOPE I CAN ~~ I WILL TRY, ANYWAY
Adam Mickiewicz
Konrad Wallenrod
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34050/...
Pan Tadeusz
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28240/...

Edward Thomas
Poems
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2...
Last Poems
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2...

Robert Burns
Tam O' Shanter
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25733/...
Start Sept 18 ~~ FINISHED Sept 18

Ludovico Ariosto
Orlando Furioso
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6...

Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Volume I by Various
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43224/...

Victor Hugo
Poems
For now, specifically The Djinns here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8775/8...
This poem was mentioned in a book read in December 2016.
Start Sept 17 ~~ FINISHED Sept 17

An impressive starting list, Ms. Gutenberg :)

Thanks, Jen! Plans always look good on paper! LOL

Mazeppa by George Gordon Byron

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Well, I've certainly been a bad reader of poetry so far this year. Been a bad reader of everything, really. Too distracted by Real Life, I guess. And with a 28 -hour bus trip coming up on Monday, I can't concentrate on much of anything besides Trip Details. So I am reading short titles from various lists I have and that is why I'm finally posting again here.

The Elephant's Ball and Grand Fete Champetre by W. B.

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Nice to see your reviews as always, Debbie. Looking forward to your Edward Thomas review. And I really enjoyed Tam O'Shanter as a kid.

Thanks, Jenna! Hope I can get out of my sluggish reading mode and finish up some of these titles before the end of the year. Not sure why I have been such a lazy reader (of everything, not just poetry) this year. I'll blame it on the weather, that's always a good scapegoat.

Young Adventure by Stephen Vincent Benét

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne by Gelett Burgess

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've read The Djinns by Victor Hugo tonight. It is one title in a large volume, but I don't think it is fair for me to officially review a whole book that I don't really want to read, so I will just babble about the poem a bit here and add it to my list for this year. Here is the direct link to the poem http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8775/8...

I learned about this poem last year while reading a book called The Flying Legion by George Allan England. The characters were out in the desert suffering a sandstorm at one point, and I suppose that is what made one of them remember this poem. I only wrote down to look up the poem, I didn't make any other notations, so I cannot remember for sure why it was brought up in that book.

This wanted to be a dramatic piece, and it probably is in the original French, but this translation seems clunky. I hated the thumpety-thump feel to it right from the start:

Town, tower,
Shore, deep,
Where lower
Cliff's steep;
Waves gray,
Where play
Winds gay,
All sleep.

Hark! a sound,
Far and slight,
Breathes around
On the night
High and higher,
Nigh and nigher,
Like a fire,
Roaring, bright.

The storm arrives, each line in the following stanzas gets longer, and more frantic, until finally it passes over and away and we end with:

More and more
Fades it slow,
As on shore
Ripples flow,—
As the plaint
Far and faint
Of a saint
Murmured low.

Hark! hist!
Around,
I list!
The bounds
Of space
All trace
Efface
Of sound.

Certainly doesn't make me want to jump up and finish the rest of the collection. But it was interesting for me to learn that Victor Hugo wrote poetry, since I had only ever known about his novels.

Tam O' Shanter by Robert Burns

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Mythological Zoo by Oliver Herford

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am wimping out and calling it quits for this year. I have not been in the right frame of mind for serious reading since January 20, and my overall numbers in everything suffered, not just poetry.

Next year I will still have a goal of 20 but other than a few selections that are on a Procrastinator's Challenge list, I will read at random and hope for more reading time and a better mindset.

Enjoy the rest of 2017, everyone!

Same here, Debbie. Here's hoping for a more poetic 2018 for both of us.