Favourite Poem

[Pcdunn]

I love the poems of Walt Whitman. This is one of the shortest and most beautiful, I think:



WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER

by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

[Mayerling]

I have always loved poetry, and there have been several excellent poetry anthologies published recently.

I thought that this was timely moment to open up a poetry thread asking you what your favourite poem is.

Having checked out the copyright situation, it is permissable to reproduce a poem for "criticism or review".

"In addition to the specified exceptions, there exists a group of exemptions which fall within the scope of ‘fair dealing'. Material reproduced for the purposes of non-commercial research or private study, for criticism or review or for the reporting of current events is included in this group. If material is reproduced for these purposes, provided it is genuinely and fairly used for the stated purpose, and is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, it may be considered fair dealing and thus exempt from clearance."

(http://www.cla.co.uk/copyright_infor...t_information)

I still remember the emotional jolt of Philip Larkin's "An Arundel Tomb", but a poem that has haunted me for years is "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson.

Richard Cory

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935),

I did not know this until a few years ago. President Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed by the work of Robinson, he arranged to give him a small Federal Civil Service job so he could earn a living, and work on publishing his poetry.

There are many fine poems. One of my favorite ones is by an Australian poet of the 19th Century, Adam Lindsay Gordon (who, given "Richard Cory's" fate was a suicide in 1870).

"We eat and drink or ere we die,
(the sunlight flashes on the sea)
Three hundred soldiers feasted high
An hour before Thermopylae.
Leonidas poured out the wine,
And shouted ere he drained the cup,
'Ho! comrades, let us gaily dine--
This night with Pluto we shall sup.'
And if they leaned upon a reed,
And if that reed was slight and slim,
There's something good in Spartan creed--
The lights are growing dim."

Jeff

[SuspectZero]

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536

[Robert]

http://genius.com/2700772

[barnflatwyngarde]

I have always loved poetry, and there have been several excellent poetry anthologies published recently.

I thought that this was timely moment to open up a poetry thread asking you what your favourite poem is.

Having checked out the copyright situation, it is permissable to reproduce a poem for "criticism or review".

"In addition to the specified exceptions, there exists a group of exemptions which fall within the scope of ‘fair dealing'. Material reproduced for the purposes of non-commercial research or private study, for criticism or review or for the reporting of current events is included in this group. If material is reproduced for these purposes, provided it is genuinely and fairly used for the stated purpose, and is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, it may be considered fair dealing and thus exempt from clearance."

(http://www.cla.co.uk/copyright_infor...t_information)

I still remember the emotional jolt of Philip Larkin's "An Arundel Tomb", but a poem that has haunted me for years is "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson.

Richard Cory

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935),