Reading Poetry

[Tarin]

I'd really like to augment my reading list with some poetry. But I'm at a bit of a loss for where to start. I was hoping some you poets and poetry fans might be able to nudge me in the right direction by answering some of my neophyte questions. :)

1) How do you prefer to read poetry? Do you sit down with a volume and read it through, as you would a novel, or do you prefer to read only one or two poems at a time?

2) How do you find poetry that you enjoy? Do you randomly pick up a volume at the library or book store - or do you look for a particular kind of poetry?

3) Any poets in particular that you recommend - both classic and modern?

Thanks.

[vpwriter]

The only poet I really like reading a lot of is Robert Frost and that is because of the imagery he paints of nature in his writing. I unfortunately do not have much skill in discerning and interpreting poems.

[Gina123]

I enjoy poetry and find it nourishes me, or should I say, it feeds my soul! I have an entire shelf of books of poetry but I would recommend these two as a start. (Sometimes I have randomly picked up poetry books at the library!)

A Treasury of Christian Poetry
Best Loved Poems of the American People

I also enjoy a number of English poets.

For me, you don't read a book of poetry as a book. From looking through the books so often I know where my favorite poems are and turn to them from time to time. Its probably something everyone does as suits them.

Good poems express a thought or feeling so well. Here is an example (I really enjoy Dickinson)

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag today
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break agonized and clear!
___________Emily Dickinson

[Tarin]

Thanks, Gina. I've always like Dickinson myself. :)

[Xenia]

Ahhhh, one of my favorite subjects! I can sit down and read poetry like I would a novel. I usually don't though. If I have discovered a good book of poetry I don't want to gobble it up too quick. It's like a delicacy to be savored!
I like just about any form of poetry but if it's rhyme then it better be very good or I'm slamming it shut! I think free verse is my favorite. I love the shorter Japanese styles too. I love poetry from different eras and different cultures!
Some of my favorite books are:

The Golden Treasury ~ selected and arranged with notes by F.T. Palgrave (the volume I have is old and there is no copyright date)

The Random House Treasury of Best Loved Poems ~ edited by Louis Phillips (easily found in a good book store.)

Selected poems of Emily Dickinson

It Can Be Done. Poems of inspiration ~ Collected by Joseph Morris and St. Clair Adams (copyright 1921 by George Sully and Company)

Way-Side Thoughts by Mrs. Susan Richards (copyright 1883 pacific press publishing house)

Farm Ballads by Will Carleton (copyright 1899 harper and brothers publishers)

Plath by Sylvia Plath

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

One of my favorite authors is Henry Vaughn 1621 - 1695. Here is a link to some of his best. http://users.compaqnet.be/cn127848/obev/obev091.html
Also from this link if you select Table of Contents at the bottom of the page you will be taken to the home page of The Oxford Book of English Verse!

To sample some good Japanese style poetry see: http://simplyhaiku.com/

I suppose I better quit now... enjoy :)

[Keith Wallis]

Nobody has mentioned Dylan Thomas yet ! He was a master.
For giggles - try Roger McGough.

[Tarin]

Thanks for the suggestions! :)