UK Book Club discussion

It's poetry for August.

I often struggle with poetry. I enjoy it while I'm reading (on the whole) but nothing usually sticks with me afterwards.

In past rounds of the genre challenge I've read Carol Anne Duffy's The World's Wife, Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven, Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Armitage, Simon, The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke and The Collected Dorothy Parker (probably my favourite!)

This time around, I think I'm going to try old misery-guts himself, Philip Larkin. I can get a copy of Philip Larkin: Poems selected by Martin Amis at my local library, so it seems to be a good place to start.

What would you recommend and what will you be reading?

I have a confession. When we did Poetry in March 2018 I started The Iliad and I'm still going!
So I guess I should really pick that up and try and get it finished!

But I do have a copy of Beowulf which I am really keen to read.

The only book by Mary Stewart that I have not read is her volume of poetry, Frost on the Window: Poems, so I’ll read that.

I recommend Firekeeper: Selected Poems by Patiann Rogers.

I recently read ‘Milk and Honey’ and ‘the sun and her flowers’ by Rupi Kaur. They were my first and second poetry foray since high school which was over 20yrs ago and it sparked a new interest in poetry as I enjoyed it so much.
I’m sure there is lots more stand-out poetry out there so I’m keen to hear what others have read.

So I’m relatively new here and will give a go at doing the joining in thing :) I’ll be reading either :
‘Edgar Allan Poe’s collected poems’
Or
‘The Sick Bag Song’ by Nick Cave (it’s pretty much a poem right?) …
p.s I have no idea how to do the links to these books on here forgive me x

{update} and definitely ‘What’ by John Cooper Clarke

Welcome Natanya :)

Natanya wrote: "p.s I have no idea how to do the links to these books on here forgive me"

Hi Natanya, When you are typing in the comment box there is an add book/author button just above it. If you click on that it opens a search window. This may depend on if you are on a laptop or a phone though as screens are different. Hope that helps.

Oddly enough, I read Poems from the Women's Movement by Honor Moore in July and it was excellent. I might try to read The Animals in That Country by Margaret Atwood or A Year of Last Things: Poems by Michael Ondaatje in August for this challenge. I've also ordered Ariel by Sylvia Plath so I do have a few options.

Great selection, Bill. I'm still waiting for Philip Larkin to become available at my library...

The best thing about poetry imho is that it's (usually) short!

I've just finished Philip Larkin: Poems selected by Martin Amis. All the famous one's are here:

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

And of course:

They f**k you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

He raises a chuckle, but he was very glum!

Liz wrote: "The best thing about poetry imho is that it's (usually) short!

I've just finished Philip Larkin: Poems selected by Martin Amis. All the famous one's are here:

Sexual intercours..."

I don't know Larkin but from those two they sound accessible.

I just finished Beowulf. The version I had was really comprehensive with a good introduction which was worth reading first. I think I'd like to compare it to the Penguin Classic text if I ever come across it.

Finally made myself finish my selection, Frost on the Window: Poems by Mary Stewart. Pretty disappointing. In the Foreword the author admits that these are mostly poems written in her youth, and it shows. My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My review of Ariel by Sylvia Plath 3.5 stars

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

Bill wrote: "My review of Ariel by Sylvia Plath 3.5 stars

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

I really like The Bell Jar, but have yet to try any of Sylvia Plath's poetry.