Today, October 4th, is National Poetry Day, and in the honour of poets everywhere, we thought we should discuss some of our favourite rhymes, stanzas and verses.
Here are our favourites!
Kelli Savill says:
"My personal all-time favourite poem is by Mary Elizabeth Frye. Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep was written in 1932, in Baltimore. Frye had never written poetry before, but the troubles that a German Jewish woman, Margaret Schwarzkopf was going through, inspired her to.
"Margaret Schwarzkopf had been concerned about her mother, who was ill in Germany, but she had been warned not to return home because of increasing anti-Semitic unrest. It’s pretty indescribable and I've loved it for as long as I can remember. Anything by ee cummings pleases me, too!"
Cate Sevilla says:
"My must-read poem is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. "It's my favourite, simply because we had to memorise and recite it at school and it reminds me of being little. Also, the imagery in my head is so beautiful whenever I read it.”
Frost wrote this poem in 1922, after sitting up all night writing an alternative one. He ran out to the sunrise when he became inspired to write Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
Jen Evans says:
“I can't cut it down to one, so here are three: A Poison Tree by William Blake because it contains one of life's most valuable lessons. Dog in the Playground by Allan Ahlberg as it sums up childhood memories OR Oh, The Places You'll Go by Doctor Zeuss because it’s as relevant to grown-ups as it is to kids).”
Jenn Taylor says:
(Jenn has also picked three. The Jen(n)s are big poetry fans. Or indecisive.)
1. Man in Space by Billy Collins - the best feminist poem written by a man that you'll ever read (although it's kind of 'of its age')
2. Poem Ended by a Death by Fleur Adcock - when I read it as a teenager, it made me realise that poetry could be vicious and vitriolic and not just all that "I wandered lonely as a cloud" guff
3. The Christening by Simon Armitage - because it makes me laugh and also frown quite a lot in confusion.
What is your favourite poem? Can you even pick just one?
Image via DerrickT's Flickr