Comments on: Poetry

By: Mike C

Mike C — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:45:09 +0000

Robert Frost has a few other good ones, including this one that I personally feel is his best poem:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

By: The Legacy

The Legacy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:25:40 +0000

Joe,
I won’t give you the full thing because A) I doubt this thread is getting much attention at this point and B) you can get the gist of this poem from the excerpt, but I’d like to present you with my favorite piece of poetry, courtesy of Charles Bukowski. Blame it on the college student in me…

Beer
Rivers and seas of beer
The radio sings love songs
As the phone remains silent
And the walls stand
Straight up and down
And beer is all there is.

By: Josiah

Josiah — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:48:35 +0000

Long time reader, first time writer. At my fancy 2001 college graduation our president read us Frost’s “Birches.” My wise-ass friends and I all assumed this was the introduction to some speech-or-other about doing well in the world. But no. Pres took his sweet time in delving into all the textual/contextual ins and outs of this thing, and we were lost pretty quick. (We were ready go GO – we were GRADUATES. What was this damn close reading supposed to be good for?) These days I have a bit more appreciation for what great works of writing mean, and how they relate to the day-to-day. But it’s hard to stay alert, and so my point is this: posts like this one are like Susan Doyle – it’s great to see something (anything) with new eyes. Thanks.

By: David in Toledo

David in Toledo — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:20:34 +0000

It’s a vivid picture, the yellow wood, the black leaves.

Frost was about 40. He’d done some farming because no one without a reputation can support himself as a poet. He’d done some teaching. He’d taken his family to England (where he probably wrote “Road Not Taken”) for three years, published his first book collection there, then come back to New England in 1915 and had “Road” published as the first poem in his second book.

Given a different temperament, he might have become a Professor of Literature. While he did take appointments at various universities, Frost did not turn into a full-time academic. Was his the best of all possible Frost lives? Was his the only possible Frost life? It got him much favorable recognition, but it was not trouble-free.

Mark Harris (“Bang the Drum Slowly,” in the Henry Wiggen manner) wrote a long article after spending time with Sandburg and Frost. He expected to prefer Frost, but after the one-on-ones, he didn’t.

By: Zach

Zach — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:53:15 +0000

Like the idea, but yeah, something by Langston Hughes, cause he captures race in America during the 1920s.

Here’s one every school kid reads:

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

By: DF

DF — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:02:30 +0000

I recommend the poem The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W.Service. It’s not as serious and heavy as Eliot or Frost, but it’s very American. He’s not American but his works focus on the Yukon.

Anyway, if you were looking to get back into poetry he has some good ones.

By: Mike in MN

Mike in MN — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:56:15 +0000

Joe, another great blog post. I’ve not read much poetry lately other than the poems my 13 year old writes for class (since the boys left the Suess age), but this will get me to pick up a book or two or poetry over the next few days.

By: DF

DF — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:53:29 +0000

William Carlos Williams should have a shot at the title.

By: Steve M

Steve M — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:58:17 +0000

Damn, Joe, you are a fantastic writer.

By: Road Traveled Remorse « Very Well Then

Road Traveled Remorse « Very Well Then — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:53:09 +0000

[...] Posnanski revisits a poem I know mostly for being on the back of every graduation program that was ever handed to me. Â Â Given the graduation context, perhaps itâ€™s tellingÂ that IÂ wrongly remember the poem to be titled “The Road Less Traveled”. Â Â [...]