At least a couple of these poems would seem to have a limited theme--
'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer' and 'To Helen'. But, somehow, I
feel their power goes way beyond their subject matter, and they seem to
sum up the human condition in its entirety. "Then felt I like some
watcher of the skies when some new planet swims into his ken"-- the
human sense of wonder and discovery has never been expressed so
magically. And the human sense of wonder and discovery seems central to
the whole human experience. And 'To Helen' might stand for all the
ideals and dreams and aspirations that guide us 'to our own native
shore'-- whether we think of that as Heaven or some other destination.
These are not very original choices. As the poetry anthologist Arthur Quiller Couch wrote: "The best is the best, though a hundred judges have declared it so; nor had it been any feat to search out and insert the second-rate merely because it happened to be recondite." In the long run, the best poetry achieves its deserved popuarity-- and the much-despised 'man in the street' is the best judge. Still, I think it's valid to put forward personal choices.
Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Locksley Hall by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The Passing of Arthur by Lord Alfred Tennyson. (Audio here.)
Psalm 23 of the King James Bible
Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats
Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe.
These are not very original choices. As the poetry anthologist Arthur Quiller Couch wrote: "The best is the best, though a hundred judges have declared it so; nor had it been any feat to search out and insert the second-rate merely because it happened to be recondite." In the long run, the best poetry achieves its deserved popuarity-- and the much-despised 'man in the street' is the best judge. Still, I think it's valid to put forward personal choices.
Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson
Locksley Hall by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The Passing of Arthur by Lord Alfred Tennyson. (Audio here.)
Psalm 23 of the King James Bible
Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats
Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe.
All excellent choices - esp, imho, being a lover of the Romantics, those from Keats.
ReplyDeleteA few other from the Romatics that I esp love are:
Shelly's Ozymandias
http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/
Byron's She Walks in Beauty
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173100
and So We'll Go No More a Roving http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173101
ST Coolridge Kubla Khan
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173247
and the The Rime of the Ancient Mariner http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173253
Two final ones I really love, not romantics but from Irish authors are Goldsmith's An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog http://graduate.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/24goldsmithD2.html
and Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ballad-reading-gaol
Thanks, Father. All amazing stuff. I thought of including Kubla Khan, which seems to be open a window onto another world entirely. There is something eerie about that poem. She Walks in Beauty is the most beautiful love poem (or, perhaps, 'admiration poem') ever written.
ReplyDeleteThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner-- well, I never liked narrative poetry. I guess Wilde's Ballad is narrative, but not really-. It's wonderful stuff, too.
'Elegy in a Country Churchyard' by Thomas Gray is one of my favourites.
ReplyDeletePaul
I posted this on Facebook as well, and somebody mentioned "Elegy in a Country Churchyard". I do see its brilliance, and I think it deserves its popularity. But, for some reason, it's never appealed to me as much as it appeals to so many people. I love the most famous stanzas, but lots of the other stanzas seem very ordinary.
ReplyDeleteIs the audio of 'The Passing of Arthur' on the same page as the poem? I couldn't find it at that link.
ReplyDeleteThere is a remarkable recording of Tennyson reciting - or rather, declaiming - the Charge of the Light Brigade. I must admit I found it rather startling. Apparently the recording (which was on a wax cylinder) had a narrow escape when Tennyson's son left it next to a radiator!
What do you think of either of R.S. Thomas's poems 'The Bright Field' or 'Pilgrimages' for the list?
Robert Frost's, an American poet, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a personal favorite of mine. Another one is Edmund Waller's "Go, Lovely Rose."
ReplyDelete