Do you think that poetry deserves a wider readership?
Yes, the good stuff does. Then again, most good literature does.
Do bookstores with no designated poetry section but entire shelves full of Ayn Rand and Bibles make you angry?
Yes. Mainly because of Ayn Rand.
If you had a beautiful little bookstore and could stock it with whatever you wanted, wouldn't you have a section devoted to poetry?
Naturally.
Why is poetry important?
It makes you pay attention to language. And it either forces you to stop and think or it sweeps you away. Both are powerful things.
Also:
What are your favorite poems?
Hmm. That is a tricky question.
It varies a lot depending on when and how I am. I had a major thing for Poe's "Alone" at the beginning of high school, and it still has the perfect rhythm for me, I think.
And I really, really like Stanislaw Lem's poem in the Cyberiad on "Love and Tensor Algebra" (which I have only read in English translation).
I love Burns when he is playful (which he is quite often). Like the really short ones:
Thou graybeard, old Wisdom! may boast of thy treasures;
Give me with old Folly to live;
I grant thee thy calm-blooded, time-settled pleasures,
But Folly has raptures to give.
or
I'm now arrived -- thanks to the gods! --
Thro' pathways rough and muddy,
A certain sign that makin' roads
Is not this people's study:
Altho' I'm not wi' Scripture cram'd
I'm sure the Bible says
That heedless sinners shall be damn'd
Unless they mend their ways.
But I also love reading Dante out loud in the Italian. I don't always understand it all, but it always sounds divine.
And more. But quite often I love parts of poems rather than the whole.
Who are your favorite poets?
So many.
Keats is up there, Sapfo, Catullus, Dante, Shakespeare, Spenser, Rochester (who is the one that should be taught in schools if you want kids to read poetry), Blake, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Ronsard, Mallarmé, McGonagall (for sheer hilarity), and more I am sure.
Jens Bjørneboe, Rudolf Nilsen, Nordahl Grieg and Arnulf Øverland among the Norwegians.
How did you discover them?
I read them.
Why should I read them? I am compiling a christmas list, and need to know.
They will give you pleasure.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
Poetry:
08/11/2010 02:07:39 AM
- 1331 Views
Re: Poetry:
08/11/2010 04:13:38 AM
- 863 Views
This is why people dislike you.
09/11/2010 07:03:17 PM
- 878 Views
Umm...I care?
09/11/2010 08:42:55 PM
- 862 Views
Because you should care about being intelligent, rather than appearing to be intelligent.
09/11/2010 10:32:04 PM
- 893 Views
Again, why would I care?
09/11/2010 10:38:21 PM
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No one can make you care about being decent, or intelligent, or a viable member of the community.
09/11/2010 10:41:34 PM
- 817 Views
I think it's rather pointless, to be honest.
09/11/2010 10:54:17 PM
- 852 Views
Then why are you even here?
09/11/2010 10:59:49 PM
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I don't know. I thought I'd see how long I could string you along.
09/11/2010 11:00:37 PM
- 730 Views
You're the one who doesn't care.
09/11/2010 11:02:11 PM
- 768 Views
I care only as much as I care. What others think is irrelevant to that.
09/11/2010 11:04:15 PM
- 785 Views
But you're still responding to me.
09/11/2010 11:05:37 PM
- 811 Views
Because I'm stringing you out until you quit.
09/11/2010 11:10:18 PM
- 902 Views
I'm not going to. I find this entertaining.
09/11/2010 11:12:27 PM
- 810 Views
I do as well. It's fun pretending to be an asshole, I'll admit.
09/11/2010 11:17:34 PM
- 795 Views
Come now, who's pretending?
09/11/2010 11:22:18 PM
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That is officially the last one before I start editing and making them NM. *NM*
09/11/2010 11:24:12 PM
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Me, most of the time
09/11/2010 11:40:26 PM
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Keep telling yourself that. *NM*
09/11/2010 11:46:34 PM
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Why would I? It's not something I think much about these days. Again, what others think is trivial. *NM*
10/11/2010 12:01:03 AM
- 423 Views
Are you 5?
09/11/2010 11:14:26 PM
- 682 Views
Nah
09/11/2010 11:15:48 PM
- 941 Views
But you were asked about it originally. That was my point.
09/11/2010 11:23:25 PM
- 732 Views
And I was evasive about it at the time. When pressed, I answered more fully.
09/11/2010 11:48:27 PM
- 830 Views
Why be evasive?
10/11/2010 12:16:19 AM
- 928 Views
Because I didn't want to spend an hour pulling out a few dozen books.
10/11/2010 12:19:55 AM
- 922 Views
Ye gods. Could you people at the very, very least make your messages NM?
09/11/2010 11:17:25 PM
- 798 Views
I must say, I'm glad you all decided to play up when I was having an evening off. *NM*
10/11/2010 12:08:59 PM
- 387 Views
I disagree with your claim that there can be no value in translations.
09/11/2010 08:51:20 PM
- 800 Views
Not "no value", but "different value" is what I would argue
09/11/2010 09:55:54 PM
- 870 Views
I don't disagree, but you can't possibly learn all languages, yet you can read translations of all.
09/11/2010 10:56:58 PM
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My choice, hands down, is to ignore the poetry in languages I don't read.
10/11/2010 01:44:32 AM
- 817 Views
An English translation of The Divine Comedy was pivotal to my conversion to Christianity.
10/11/2010 11:04:57 AM
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Ooh, good survey. I've been thinking for a while we needed more poetry discussion.
08/11/2010 10:58:24 AM
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I think you underestimate the number of translations of the Bible.
09/11/2010 01:20:30 AM
- 951 Views
Did they just translate logos as... life-light?
09/11/2010 07:14:28 PM
- 820 Views
Yes. Yes, they did. *NM*
09/11/2010 09:56:09 PM
- 313 Views
I think poetry is largely overrated.
08/11/2010 06:12:59 PM
- 935 Views
the problem is most good poets are dead and dead people tend to fail at marketing
08/11/2010 06:44:18 PM
- 872 Views
I like some poetry, but by no means all.
09/11/2010 12:28:41 AM
- 946 Views
Now that you mention it, The Imperfect Enjoyment might rank among my favourite poems. *NM*
09/11/2010 12:46:56 AM
- 339 Views
It is excellent
09/11/2010 08:16:01 PM
- 978 Views
Re: Poetry:
10/11/2010 04:57:31 PM
- 776 Views
Re: Nice
11/11/2010 01:39:48 AM
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Man. . . That voice? Yeah. He should be reading me stories every night.
11/11/2010 11:57:02 AM
- 1006 Views
Re: Man. . . That voice? Yeah. He should be reading me stories every night.
12/11/2010 04:36:22 AM
- 1755 Views