POLL What's your favorite poem?

Originally posted by Melusine: ooh Sirtainly my boyfriend will fall in love with you if he sees that! He is an incredible Keats-fan! I'm quite fond of him too. Did you ever read Adonais by P.B. Shelley? It's an elegy for Keats and it's very good I think. "Oh weep for Adonais! - he is dead! What other poems do you like?

Erm I'm not sure if i want your boyfriend to fall in love with me,

Haven't read that one by Shelley, perhaps I should look for it at the library. I don't read too much poetry but some of John Betjeman's (sp?) works are very good. One play that I read, which I think was entirely in verse was Farquhar's "Recruiting Officer" thats well worth a read if you haven't done so already. I have a friend who likes Japanese poetry, a style I think called Hi-Que (not spelt this way I'm sure). Some of that is very deep and poiniant, but there are only ever a few lines long.



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Holy Avenger of the OHF

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[Zenith]

By Rudyard Kipling:

Seal Lullaby

Oh, hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us
And black are the waters that sparkled so green
The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between
Where billow meets billow, their soft be thy pillow
Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease
Storm shall not wake thee nor shark overtake thee
Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging sea

[slackerboy]

my favorite poem is called Ozzymandius (not sure about spelling) its about an inscription on some old ruins. some king from long ago was bragging about what he had built and how great it was. but all you could see was a couple of blocks of stone. and a bunch of sand. but i cant find a copy of it anywhere

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I know of the poem slackerboy, I will see if I can find a copy and post it here.

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Holy Avenger of the OHF

HATS for sale baby!
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[Melusine]

Slackerboy, you mean Ozymandias by Shelley. I will type it out below. Sirtainly, the verse form you were referring to is spelled Haiku.

Ozymandias, by P.B. Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Very good choice by the way slackerboy!

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Melusine, Archbabe of the OHF and the LH

Your voice is ambrosia

[Melusine]

Sirtainly.....BTW A haiku I especially like and which really shows the poignancy you were referring to, is this one, by Buson(in translation of course) :

The piercing chill I feel:
My dead wife's comb, in our bedroom,
Under my heel...

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Melusine, Archbabe of the OHF and the LH

Your voice is ambrosia

Thanks Melusine, I can now spell "Haiku" properly. Wonder if it has a litteral meaning in Japanese, given as "hai" is "Yes".

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Holy Avenger of the OHF

HATS for sale baby!
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[IdiotRogue]

Doubt thou that the stars are fire
Doubt thou that the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt that I love...

William Shakespeare (or Francis Bacon if you have difficulty believing someone with no formal education could write so much so well)

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Next time I send some damned fool, I'll go myself...

[slackerboy]

Originally posted by Melusine: Slackerboy, you mean Ozymandias by Shelley. I will type it out below. Sirtainly, the verse form you were referring to is spelled Haiku. Ozymandias, by P.B. Shelley I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away. Very good choice by the way slackerboy!

THANKS!!! i've been trying to find that forever


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[slackerboy]

i also like the poem Richard Corey ( i think thats it) about the rich guy every body wanted to be, that ended up killing himself
and the classic (sometimes over done) poem about 2 roads diverged in a yellow wood.
kind of trite i know but i still like it

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