[The Lyceum]

(Original post by hobnob)
Contemporary ancient Greek poetry ftw!

Ha people DO actually write it, one of the professors here at Ox composed an ode for the 2004 Olympics. It was ****e to be honest, but ah well.

I admit, I do spend way more time with ancient poetry (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Akkadian) than I do with modern and that has somewhat skewed my tastes. I like good metre and rhythm, I can't help it. Its not my fault if I prefer this kind of more...primal, yet formalised, expression more reminiscent of song to the overly trite self absorbed formless ****ery more at home on some emo kids deviant art page poetry.

I also find it really hard to enjoy the pretentious over wrought stuff we have to deal with in school, you know? "what does the poet mean by having his fish in a bowl? I think it represents the hopelessness of life". I could not care, there are some fish in a bowl.

Poetry ought to have power, it ought to ignite some sense of feeling or emotion in you rather than force you to sit down and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

I was going to copy paste in Akhilleus' grim speech on the inevitability of death ("all men die, get used to it") with Carol Anne Duffy's bizarre poem about dicks, but that would be too easy.

tl'dr: poetry ought to incite emotion (Homer, Petrarch), entertain (The Goblin Market, Blake, Dunne) or at least do something rather than coming across as the stale provender of the boring, pretentious, middle classes. This is particularly problematic with English lit in modern times. Poetry in many other languages is still flourishing. Modern Greek poetry is pretty bling bling, for example.

[hobnob]

(Original post by The Lyceum)
Ha people a few die-hard classics-geeks DO actually write it, one of the professors here at Ox composed an ode for the 2004 Olympics. It was ****e to be honest, but ah well.

Fixed.

I admit, I do spend way more time with ancient poetry (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Akkadian) than I do with modern and that has somewhat skewed my tastes. I like good metre and rhythm, I can't help it. Its not my fault if I prefer this kind of more...primal, yet formalised, expression more reminiscent of song to the overly trite self absorbed formless ****ery more at home on some emo kids deviant art page poetry.

Hmm, I don't know... I'm also far more used to reading old stuff, so it seems a bit weird when something is spelt normally and not steeped in allegory, but I wouldn't really say I know enough about contemporary poetry to dismiss it all as totally worthless. I'd say it's probably far more likely that I just don't know the temporary poets who are actually worth reading because I've never really bothered to find out about them. How can you know that it isn't similar for you?

I also find it really hard to enjoy the pretentious over wrought stuff we have to deal with in school, you know? "what does the poet mean by having his fish in a bowl? I think it represents the hopelessness of life". I could not care, there are some fish in a bowl.

Yes, but that's school. Proper literary analysis isn't like that. And even if it were, you couldn't really blame the poets for it, could you?

Poetry ought to have power, it ought to ignite some sense of feeling or emotion in you rather than force you to sit down and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

Yes, but sometimes you have to invest a bit of effort for anything to 'ignite'. That isn't to say that I like poetry that is obscure for the sake of being obscure, but you can't expect everything to be instantly accessible - and I don't actually think you do like your poetry instantly accessible, otherwise you wouldn't have included the authors you did in your list of dead poets worth reading.

[miser]

I don't read much poetry from established writers, but I read a fair amount on DeviantArt as well as writing some myself occasionally when I feel I have a nice idea.

[The Lyceum]

(Original post by hobnob)
Fixed.

Hmm, I don't know... I'm also far more used to reading old stuff, so it seems a bit weird when something is spelt normally and not steeped in allegory, but I wouldn't really say I know enough about contemporary poetry to dismiss it all as totally worthless. I'd say it's probably far more likely that I just don't know the temporary poets who are actually worth reading because I've never really bothered to find out about them. How can you know that it isn't similar for you?

Yes, but that's school. Proper literary analysis isn't like that. And even if it were, you couldn't really blame the poets for it, could you?

Yes, but sometimes you have to invest a bit of effort for anything to 'ignite'. That isn't to say that I like poetry that is obscure for the sake of being obscure, but you can't expect everything to be instantly accessible - and I don't actually think you do like your poetry instantly accessible, otherwise you wouldn't have included the authors you did in your list of dead poets worth reading.

There are a few contempory(ish) English poets I like, yes, but generally they're in the minority. I dare say you're right, over all.

Also what about the "beer factor"? i.e does this poet seem like a guy you could knock back a few with? I think that definitely applies to most of my list above. Well...Shakespeare seems the indiscriminately handsy "look whats in my breeches!, do you want to quatro my folio?" type of guy, but otherwise.

[hobnob]

(Original post by The Lyceum)
There are a few contempory(ish) English poets I like, yes, but generally they're in the minority. I dare say you're right, over all.

Also what about the "beer factor"? i.e does this poet seem like a guy you could knock back a few with? I think that definitely applies to most of my list above. Well...Shakespeare seems the indiscriminately handsy "look whats in my breeches!, do you want to quatro my folio?" type of guy, but otherwise.

Wait, are you saying you could see yourself going on a pub crawl with Christina Rossetti?

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by hobnob)
Yes, but that's school. Proper literary analysis isn't like that. And even if it were, you couldn't really blame the poets for it, could you?

So what is "proper literary analysis"?

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by The Lyceum)
There are a few contempory(ish) English poets I like, yes, but generally they're in the minority. I dare say you're right, over all.

Also what about the "beer factor"? i.e does this poet seem like a guy you could knock back a few with? I think that definitely applies to most of my list above. Well...Shakespeare seems the indiscriminately handsy "look whats in my breeches!, do you want to quatro my folio?" type of guy, but otherwise.

LOL you sir will get + Rep. just for the Shakespeare joke

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by The Lyceum)
There are a few contempory(ish) English poets I like, yes, but generally they're in the minority. I dare say you're right, over all.

Also what about the "beer factor"? i.e does this poet seem like a guy you could knock back a few with? I think that definitely applies to most of my list above. Well...Shakespeare seems the indiscriminately handsy "look whats in my breeches!, do you want to quatro my folio?" type of guy, but otherwise.

But hang on for a minute - on a more serious note, does Dante really have "the beer factor"? You'll have to admit that even if Dante's boring, he's a brilliant poet, not only with language but also pretty much unrivalled in terms of the lucidity of his allegories (e.g. the divine justice in the Inferno, etc.). I suppose that doesn't mean you'll "like" him, though.

[hobnob]

(Original post by Big-Daddy)
So what is "proper literary analysis"?

What you do / what you're meant to be doing if you're pursuing English as an academic subject in a remotely serious manner. Questions like 'What does the author mean by X' and 'Produce a feminist reading of "Mary had a little lamb"' are only for tormenting schoolchildren.

[hobnob]

(Original post by Big-Daddy)
But hang on for a minute - on a more serious note, does Dante really have "the beer factor"? You'll have to admit that even if Dante's boring, he's a brilliant poet, not only with language but also pretty much unrivalled in terms of the lucidity of his allegories (e.g. the divine justice in the Inferno, etc.). I suppose that doesn't mean you'll "like" him, though.

Boring? I'd have thought Dante would be the sort of person drawing all the attention by telling stories about his exploits. Maybe a bit self-absorbed but nevertheless entertaining...

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by The Lyceum)
Poetry ought to have power, it ought to ignite some sense of feeling or emotion in you rather than force you to sit down and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

With a viewpoint like this I can perfectly understand why you favour Classical poetry so much. But wouldn't you say that the themes a writer invokes and what comments he or she makes on them would be what contributes philosophically to how strong a poem's meaning is? I tend to judge the poem first on its meaning and its glances on life, and then by the language and rhythm used (not that the two are distinct, but they do require slightly separate thought as a writer). Maybe you would rather stay on the level of what the poem makes you feel at heart?

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by hobnob)
What you do / what you're meant to be doing if you're pursuing English as an academic subject in a remotely serious manner.

Can I have an example, to give me an idea of what you mean?

[-aimz]

I hardly ever read poetry of my own accord, I'm usually only introduced to it through studying it, but I'd definitely read an anthology if it caught my eye. Anything that isn't published comes across as amateur to me *literary snob*

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by hobnob)
Boring? I'd have thought Dante would be the sort of person drawing all the attention by telling stories about his exploits. Maybe a bit self-absorbed but nevertheless entertaining...

I guess I can imagine him in the middle of a crowd with sweeping movements, whirling arms and a flood of words pouring out of his mouth to illustrate the latest suffering he beheld in Hell. But I personally would find it hard to guess that from The Divine Comedy alone, except by the fact that obviously the main character is Dante - the rest seems like the sort of thing I would expect from someone who has successfully undertaken a task the size of Dante's in The Comedy. For instance, yes, we constantly get insights into what "Dante" was thinking, but to portray a soul ascending into Heaven without showing the changes in his character as he develops would be to miss a tack, and clearly Dante didn't. I'd say my vision of him as a crowd-puller comes from my knowledge of his political career and prominence more than his poetry, which could easily have come, as far as I can tell, from a quiet and self-reflective man sitting in his house all day. Maybe it did.

[Barden]

I think the question is, does anybody actually enjoy poetry?

[Big-Daddy]

(Original post by -aimz)
I hardly ever read poetry of my own accord, I'm usually only introduced to it through studying it, but I'd definitely read an anthology if it caught my eye. Anything that isn't published comes across as amateur to me *literary snob*

Same - and most stuff that is published. Either amateur or simply weakly thought.

[Vindobona]

I write poems from time to time when I'm bored, high, or in love.

[WillowSummers]

Yeah sure, a bit of Baudelaire, a bit of T.S Eliot, some Machado when the mood strikes (it's so fun to bring up "El crimen fue en Granada" when anyone mentions Granada!)

So yes, I do. But mainly 'cause I like languages and the like.

[im so academic]

(Original post by hobnob)
What you do / what you're meant to be doing if you're pursuing English as an academic subject in a remotely serious manner. Questions like 'What does the author mean by X' and 'Produce a feminist reading of "Mary had a little lamb"' are only for tormenting schoolchildren.

Which is?

[Imposition]

(Original post by im so academic)
Which is?

Hi again IMSO, or d'you prefer ISA?
You should join the current year 12 thread

What subjects are you currently doing in year 11/12?