Read Runners discussion

William Wordsworth said, "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."

Reading (or listening to) poetry does evoke strong feelings in some. And so, let's get together to share, discuss, and recommend poetry to our fellow readers on this thread.

We could talk about what kind of poetry we like, sign up for buddy reads of favourite poets, and discuss what we like or do not like in the works of famous poets.

Oh, nice thread ^___^


So, most of you must have read The seven Ages by William Shakespear.... it is my favourite poem..... :) :)

Here is a link : http://lit.genius.com/William-shakesp...

And I recommend it to everyone one :D

Great idea Sumit! ^_^

Umm Sumit - A thread for sharing and discussing poetry already exists. Should I delete that one in view of this new thread?

Sri, this one is more of a buddy reading thread - the idea came from Zaara. But, if you think that the two threads are redundant, please delete whichever is more so. :P

Arshi, yes that's a fantastic poem - very short, powerful, and humbling as well. :)

@Sumit - I will delete the other one as no one seems to be interested in contributing in that thread and it has been silent for a really long time.

Great idea Zaara :)

@Sumit.... stop mixing my name with Arshi's -___- :P

Nice Idea Zaara :):)

Gehna wrote: "@Sumit.... stop mixing my name with Arshi's -___- :P"

Apologies, Gehna!

What other poems do you really like?

@Sumit.... I also like The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth.... Lord Ullin's Daughter by Thomas Campbell.... And I love almost all the poems of Robert Frost :D :D :D

Solitary Reaper!!
Gehna, you just reminded me of last year's English syllabus ^___^

Nice thread, Sumit :-)

@Ishi.... Those are nice poems na ^___^

I found a book in the library.... it was something Classic poems of Classic times, or something like that..... I don't remember.... that was a good book for different Poems :D:D

That's nice :-D

Ginny, I read all of those.
I love Seven Ages too. :)

Besides those, Gitanjali is one of the closest to my heart. :)

I'm ever ready to join in Poetry Buddy Reads. :)

@Tonks... same pinch , buddy :D :D

Ozymandias is another poem I love. :-)

@Ishi.... my favourite line from that poem is "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings" ^____^

Wow! It got going, dinnit? I'm out guys...logging in from the gods damn app (can you tell I'm having a Locke hangover yet?)...bk later...

Ishi wrote: "Ozymandias is another poem I love. :-)"

Ozymandias, wow... Ishi and Gin, it's my best friend's favourite poem...I was (then) thoroughly impressed with what I thought were the deeps of his mind...

I dunno how to say this without sounding like a pompous ass....I wanted a place where I could not just discuss but FIND and share poems we all love and read poems which we have not yet met...if we could all share our favourites....and if they are short...if we could POST our faves (or link them as Gin has)...this would be a go to place for anyone who wanted a 60 sec poetry fix....

Here is one of my favourites...
O Me! O Life!


O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me; 5
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

Walt Whitman

Opinions diverge on what is the most important thought or concept in that poem....what do you guys think?

~~Poulomi Nymphadora Tonk$~~ wrote: "Ginny, I read all of those.
I love Seven Ages too. :)

Besides those, Gitanjali is one of the closest to my heart. :)

I'm ever ready to join in Poetry Buddy Reads. :)"

Thanks Tonks...I've dabbled in the Gitanjali but never fully finished it....I tend to read poems in bite sized pieces...let the words wash around inside for a bit...

Zaara wrote: "Opinions diverge on what is the most important thought or concept in that poem....what do you guys think?"

Zaara, thanks for sharing that poem. I read Leaves of Grass long ago. :)

I think the overall tone of the 'question' part of the poem is very existential and despairing. But, the poem does end on a positive note with the poet finishing on a particularly high note, having got an answer to his questions.

A visual explanation I found interesting: http://zenpencils.com/comic/45-walt-w...

Hmmm...I have unfinished bits and pieces in most every place...I tend to take my poetry in bite sized pieces...I'll chk out the link, thanks.
Plan to read any Neruda? I want to read twenty songs...

Hey guys! This is a great initiative..thanks Zaara and the mods for creating this thread. I have something interesting to share here:


I recently (3 months ago) discovered the poet Sylvia Plath. I have listened to her read some of her work. I have also watched a programme about her life starring Daniel Craig and Gwyneth Paltrow called 'Sylvia'. It was a very interesting and informing documentary and it gave me a good perspective on Sylvia's state of mind which reflects largely in her poetry.

I wanted to discuss with people about Sylvia and her poetry. What are your favourites? Do you like her poetry? What do you think about the dark and rather disturbing elements of it?

One of my favourites of hers is called 'Daddy'

You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time--
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town
Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.
But the name of the town is common.
My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene

An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You--

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I'm finally through.
The black telephone's off at the root,
The voices just can't worm through.

If I've killed one man, I've killed two--
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.

There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

What do you think?

Of the top of my head? My first, very first thought about this poem? I empathise. But that's too strong a word, I guess. I'm still getting my head round this...
Good on ya, Paakhi. Thanks for posting....

I've read bits of Ariel and will get around to bell jar someday, but the book I think of whenever I encounter Plath and Woolf (I'm currently reading mrs Dalloway) is touched by fire by Kay Jameson...

Paakhi, since u wanted to know about the dark, disturbing elements.... touched by fire will def explain...although I feel sometimes that these women just burned too brightly, had too much packed into them...ultimately, they consumed themselves as fuel

Ok, now my questions for you...what are your favourite lines from this poem....
Why do u think she used the nazi imagery?

And here's something short and relevant, though you've prolly found it itself
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

Sigh, the love of poetry! Thanks for this thread, Zaara.

I was just reading one of my favourite poems, which never fails to move me to tears. Here's a visual representation of the same.

http://zenpencils.com/comic/william-e...

Invictus goes to school....now that's something we've all had to face....this site is cool!
This is one of my favourites and I think I may have mentioned it already....
http://bettinamay.com/poem/2008/10/vi...

Guess, I'm still a novice at this. I've always loved poetry, but haven't tried much. This thread is really going to make things happen for me. :)

Paakhi, I have heard of Sylvia Plath, but never read them though. The one you posted, is a vivid glimpse into the Nazi times and the insecurities of life as a Jew, in my view.

I don't know ANYTHING technical either! Polo...I'm just here to find out more...

Sumit- I love that poem. Invictus, right? :)
Esp. this line.. "My head is bloody but unbowed. "

Zaara- I'm glad someone is on the same boat as me. :D
*high 5*

Zaara wrote: "Paakhi, since u wanted to know about the dark, disturbing elements.... touched by fire will def explain...although I feel sometimes that these women just burned too brightly, had too much packed in..."

Hi Zaara, sorry for catching up so late. But here I am.. I guess the times in which these authors published their works were not extraordinary, but their reflections made them brilliant. It is these jewels that keep those 'periods' alive. Regarding your hypothesis about 'These women had too much packed into them...ultimately, they consumed themselves as fuel'... is somehow correct..Freud believed that the conflicts can be channelized to constructive expressions but; I think that it is not just the expression but a resolution either through internal forces or by facilitation through the other which leads to healing! About Woolf, our medical textbooks discuss her as a case of bipolar affective disorder. I have not read much of her work, my sister has, and she is quite impressed with Woolf. I will read her sometime.

Regarding Plath, I have Bell Jar but I always procrastinate at the thought of picking it. I often read her poetry though. Neruda, Rumi and Khalil Gibran are my all time favs.. :D

I love Rumi too but I haven't read much Neruda except for twenty songs. Whose translations are you using for these two?
And I'm sure you've read gibran's on Marriage? It's a tiny little gem that every man and woman must read before leaping off the dock into I Do....
What are you reading now?

I'm planning to read Barrett Browning's ultra-famous Portuguese Sonnets this year. I'm planning to read them thru the year in leisurely bites, if anyone's interested in joining or just discussing the book and its philosophy, that would be great.
Here's a sample for those who want to know what the poems will be like:

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

This was beautiful, Zaara. I wish I could join in but I've got a busy schedule most of this year..

Wow Zorro! That is lovely. Consider me in. (Nice nickname, no?)

Sumit wrote: "Wow Zorro! That is lovely. Consider me in. (Nice nickname, no?)"

Yea Rex...its very ummmm macho ;-)
Great...feel free to post (or not) as you go/as the mood moves you.

Zorro? :3

Thinking about this today...

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

The poem is about the Buddha. My question is...why did Rilke use almonds as his first image...all the other imagery is soooooo cosmic...
Anybody here?

Since I am haunting this thread alone...
Haiku for,today..this one is famous....

Blowing from the west
Fallen leaves gather
In the east.

- Buson

*lurking*

I like this haiku https://2esoe1011.files.wordpress.com...

Oh, btw, haikus don't start with capital letter, or do they?

This is a poem that has stayed with me through ages Chess by Rosario Castellanos

Because we were friends and sometimes loved each other,
perhaps to add one more tie
to the many that already bound us,
We decided to play games of the mind

We set up a board between us
equally divided into pieces, values and possible moves
We learned the rules, we swore to respect them,
and the match began

We've been sitting here for centuries, meditating ferociously
how to deal the one last blow that will finally
annihilate the other one for ever.