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World Poetry Day March 21!

It would be nice if we could celebrate that by sharing a favorite poem or two. Does anybody have one that's stuck with them?

I like Go From Me by Elizabeth Browning. The language may be Victorian but the sentiment is timeless.

Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand

Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore

Alone upon the threshold of my door

Of individual life, I shall command

The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand

Serenely in the sunshine as before,

Without the sense of that which I forbore--

Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land

Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine

With pulses that beat double. What I do

And what I dream include thee, as the wine

Must taste of its own grapes. And when I sue

God for myself, He hears that name of thine,

And sees within my eyes the tears of two.

I also like The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Many are familiar with the closing lines but not the rest.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

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Permalink Reply by pragati parikh on March 22, 2010 at 10:22am

I have many favorites
its difficult for me to write all the poems hence i would just share the names
If : by Rudyard Kipling
My last duchess: by robert browning
The souls prayer: by sarojini naidu and
Ode to the poets: by john keats ................ it starts as:-

Bards of passion and of mirth
ye have left your souls on earth!
have ye souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?

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Permalink Reply by Callie Leah on March 23, 2010 at 12:29pm

One of my favorites is Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire
But if I had to perish twice
I'd say that for destruction Ice
Is just as good
And would suffice

I'm not so sure what it means, but I like the rhyme scheme.

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on March 24, 2010 at 2:03pm

I love If, pragati. :) I should have added that to mine too. Most people think just of The Jungle Book when you mention Kipling and are unaware of his poetry. That poem is timeless. Nice to meet you! :)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Are there any modern poets you like as well?

pragati parikh said:

I have many favorites
its difficult for me to write all the poems hence i would just share the names If : by Rudyard Kipling My last duchess: by robert browning The souls prayer: by sarojini naidu and
Ode to the poets: by john keats ................ it starts as:-

Bards of passion and of mirth
ye have left your souls on earth!
have ye souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?

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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on March 24, 2010 at 2:05pm

Callie Leah said:

I'm not so sure what it means, but I like the rhyme scheme.

That makes two of us, Callie! I'm not sure what that means either and I've read it many times before. Maybe we're not meant to know and just enjoy it. :) I think we can analyze poetry too much sometimes.