The rockstars of poetry
Before I list my poetical heroes, I should let you all know some stuff. The header picture has been changed and accompanied by a little “description” if that’s what you would call it. Also, there’s a new page called “Poem of the Week”. It’s over on the right column under the topic titled “Other”. And well, that page is what it is, the poem of the week. Any suggestions for the poem or have something to say about it, leave a comment. I’ll update this page every Monday, even if I don’t write a blog post, so check back every week for something new! Thanks!
And now onwards to my heroes. I’m taking a break from analytical posts, and I’m going back to the other side of me for a while.
1. Edgar Allan Poe – Now this wasn’t expected at all, was it (sarcasm, people, I know it’s difficult to register over the internet)? He’s my all-time favorite, and a great short story writer. His style is distinctive, and he seems to have experimented a lot in writing different kinds of poetry (structure, diction, usage of different figurative language, etc.). And his themes appeal to me, and he’s gotten me through some tough times.
2. Edna St. Vincent Millay – She sometimes reminds me of Poe, but less oppressive and with a more varying subject range. I especially like “Dirge Without Music”. Somewhere inside of me, she strikes a profound chord with her writing.
3. Vikram Seth – The gentler side of me is reflected in his works. A welcome poet after all these dark, gloom-and-doom ones, hm? His poems are simple, yet deep, not long-winded, but not too short either. Perfect lengths and great themes.
4. Matthew Arnold – I admit, I only heard of him after reading Fahrenheit 451, but after “Dover Beach” I found so much more that was amazing. I absolutely love his way of writing. He shot up to rockstar status in no time.
5. T.S. Eliot – A towering figure in poetry indeed. I especially like his longer poems like “The Hollow Men” and “The Wasteland”, and my style has been greatly influenced by how he writes these darker poems. Although “The Hollow Men” has no rhyme scheme, which I normally dislike, I find it to be as good as one that does traditionally rhyme. Absolutely resolute and clear allusions to Heart of Darkness, which, by the way, is a great book.
6. Robert Frost – He may be a little overrated, but you know what, maybe there’s a reason why everyone likes him. Please, no quoting “The Road Not Taken”. Cause that just gets annoying.
7. Carl Sandburg – His way of injecting himself into the point of view of many poems give me much inspiration. Of course, I can’t really walk with “little cat feet”, but that’s what poems are for.
8. Emily Dickinson – Although–I find–her style to be–a bit–obnoxious sometimes–there is the–occasional gem–that I stumble upon–in the mass of–her extremely–almost unnaturally–prolific–life.
And with those people in mind, here’s some random haikus by me.
Between the act and
the thought, I stand wavering.
I don’t know what’s truth.
Snowflakes drift slowly
to the ground, intensifies
to blizzard, like life.
[Entitled “Escaping Destiny”]
Did you really think
that a lifetime of running
would save you from me?
– Beyond Apathy
Poetry – The Hollow Men (T.S. Eliot)
For Change
For Change
I hate people–
their stuck up ways,
arrogant noses turned up at the world,
never accepting…their minds never unfurled.
I hate society–
Hoards of sheeple,
lifelessly bleating out the same tune.
The world falls apart as they’re stuck in their rooms.
I hate power–
the golden poison glows
in their eyes, searching for more
as good becomes worse, and the worse, the poor.
I hate ignorance–
people never want to know
about our society as one whole;
Don’t bother to look over the rim of your own bowl.
I hate apathy–
someone’s got to care,
“Change our world!” they all cry,
then go back to a hypocritical lie.
– D.Y.
Isn’t it great that half the people in the world want change, but they don’t know what they want to change? Take global warming.
Now before this so-called “Climate Gate Scandal,” before people found out that scientists were fudging data (and a lot of data it seems), nobody gave a crap about global warming. Sure, society in general might have had a few scares, but really, did they care? “Our planet is (evidently) burning up! SOMEBODY FIX IT! Kthxbai.”
Ooh, corruption, that always catches everyone’s eye. Now everyone says that they care about global warming, and everyone’s going around with their own, mostly uninformed opinions, but they still don’t really care about global warming per se. They care more that something exciting, something out of the ordinary, something CORRUPT happened (shocker!).
How could those terrible, terrible scientists have done that to us poor, unaware general public?
We really are quite excitable goats…..umbrella of scandalous affairs, GO!
– Beyond Apathy
