Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Annapolis, MD
Weather: Low 70s and overcast
All week I’ve been thinking and blogging about poetry—its appeal to different ages, its forms, its seemingly universal origins. I don’t know if I’m any closer to a definition of what poetry is than I was on Monday, but the questions are a little clearer. Thanks to those of you who have responded and helped me in the process. Here, on this last day of Poetry Month, are some questions for us to ponder:
1. At what age do you remember reading your first poem? Do you remember what it was?
2. Is there any particular person, friend, family member or author, whom you associate with poetry?
3. Who is your favorite poet, excluding the Bible and Shakespeare?
4. Do you like poems with rhythm and rhyme or free verse? Poems with open-ended lines or not?
5. When did you last read poetry and what kind was it? How did it make you feel?
6. When did you last read poetry aloud to someone else?
That question may be edging toward the romantic, and I haven’t mentioned those great poets known for their romantic sentiment, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. For different reasons their work is hard to quote, but here are the first two lines from Robert’s “Never the Time and the Place”:
Never the time and the place/ And the loved one all together!
This path how soft to pace!/ This May–what magic weather!
Happy May Day.
I am delighted that you mentioned Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Browning Library at Baylor University in my hometown houses a marvelous collection of their works and artifacts. It’s one of Waco’s best-kept secrets.
My grandmothers were great lovers of poetry, and my mother also. Poems were part of our bedtime ritual further back than I can remember. The first poem I ever read, though, was probably either The Owl and the Pussycat or When Young Melissa Sweeps the Room. Both were in the Childcraft poetry collection where I spent hours delighted by the illustrations and word play.
Etta, thank you for exploring this writing tangent this week. I had not thought before how profoundly those poetry roots shaped my love for words of all sorts.
I don’t read poetry that often, but I love hymns, which are, after all, poetry set to music. My Dad, loved poetry and often memorized favourite pieces. I can never see the Fall colours without hearing his voice reciting, “Along the line of smokey hills/the crimson foret stants.” from “Indian Summer” by Wilfred Campbell
I distinctly remember a fourth-grade teacher reading Robert Service’s poetry to us in class. It had such an impact on me — a male teacher expressing a love for poetry and the poems themselves which used humor and rhyme to express the dangers of the Yukon Gold Rush. It was history, poetry, humor and beauty all mixed together. I’ll NEVER forget it.
The earliest poetry I can remember were roadside Burma-Shave advertisements on long car trips when I was only four or five. Every hundred yards would be a small sign with the next line. My parents (probably eager for anything to entertain the young-uns) would read them out loud and everyone would watch for the next one. They were four-liners with meter, rhyme, and a punchline with a pun. I’m sure by then I had also experienced Dr. Seuss. Together, at a very young age, they prepared me for Odgen Nash, which I remember memorizing and reciting on the play-ground. My novel takes place in 1966, probably a little past the Burma-Shave era, but I’ve included a short mention in tribute.
To Etta and all the Commenters:
THANKS for a great week of poetry discussion! I’m just catching up now, but it’s such a wonderful topic to explore.
As soon as I learned to read, poetry was part of my reading experience; I was drawn to it. I wrote my first poem at age 8, sitting in a bedroom that I, my aunt, and two brothers shared that year. Poetry helped me claim something for myself in a house that was full of love, but crowded and chaotic at times. I remember looking around the room for things to rhyme and wondering how I could incorporate my aunt’s poster of the Monkeys!
One of my favorite definitions of poetry is “Ars Poetica” by Archibald MacLeish, concluding with the lines, “A poem should not mean/But be.” For the entire poem, check out poets.org. The specific link to that poem is http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15222
Enjoy!
Lynn, thanks for reminding me of the Childcraft poetry volume. I had a set when my daughters were young and remember reading from it to them. Such a good Mother’s Day memory.
Brian, I hadn’t thought of the connection between the Burma Shave signs and Dr. Seuss, but the similarities in tone and rhythm are obvious. Thanks for commenting on another of our culture’s poetry roots.
Donna, I’m interested to read what you say about the value of poetry in your early years. I wish I’d thought to mention poetry as a personal resource during childhood and what that could mean to the adult.