>>25311748
My apologies for this essentially being an incredibly long and bloated blogpost. But my point is that if you are not yet an enjoyer of poetry, that you should find one that speaks to you, and memorise it. Any other anons care to share their favourite poems they have memorised?

>>25311748
Yes memorizing poetry is where it's at. You do better to break up gigantic text walls though with paragraph breaks and things.

One of the many books I will never get to writing is

"One Hundred Poems To Learn By Heart"

where the idea is you start off very short and easy and gradually build up to slightly harder (but still not too hard). There are lots of great poems that are pretty easy to learn by heart.

>>25311748
Nice OP, memorising poetry is cool. I've commited to memory the Sonnet 'let me not to the marriage of true minds'. Picked up a Wordsworth anthology yesterday - been really enjoying it so will memorise something from there aswell.

>>25311748
based memorization chad

bump I'm interested in this. Do you recite it for people anon? how do you bring it up? is it not awkward?

>>25311785
>You do better to break up gigantic text walls though with paragraph breaks and things.
I wouldn’t want to risk Reddit spacing.
>"One Hundred Poems To Learn By Heart"
This a very good idea.
>>25312020
Respect
>>25313352
I've recited for my gf, but if I am being honest I struggle with it. It feels like "showing off" in some kind of self-absorbed way, despite her being interested and impressed, and being otherwise completely at ease together (4 years together). I read aloud to her a lot while she falls asleep and I enjoy reading aloud to her from whatever I am reading, even poetry, but something about the recitation, it is performance ultimately, and I struggle with that. As for reciting to friends I wait for subjects related to specific poems to come up, I don't want to obviously steer a conversation towards poetry and then say "look what I can do." Neither would I just stare off into the distance at a quiet moment and start reciting, its all just too performative, it has to be totally organic. In this vein I have recited Ozymandias once to my main group of friends as we were talking about literature we studied at school, and which things we particularly enjoyed. A friend mentioned liking studying Ozymandias at GCSE, and so I recited it, and they were impressed. But I fear that anything fairly long would turn into something uncomfortable, a feeling of overwhelming self-consciousness, or boredom or interruption by my "audience". I'm sure I'll get there one day as my inner library grows along with my confidence in it. I have recently got one friend into poetry and we have been writing humorous poems together and planning to compile them into a handwritten manuscript, which has been fun to see a STEMfag (Mech-engineering) find something of a poetic voice.

>>25311820
Forgot to reply to you. Sonnet 116 that is! I have often thought I'd like to recite that on my wedding day. Which has been your favourite Wordsworth so far?

Let's try and type an entire poem from memory. No cheating. Bonus points if it's in a foreign language.

They flee from me, who sometime did me see
with naked foot stalking in my chamber
I have seen them gentle, tame and meek
who are now wild and do not remember
that sometime they put themselves in danger
to take bread at my hand, and now they range
Busily seeking continual change

Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
wenty times better, but once in special,
in thin array, under a pleasant guise
when her loose robe from her shoulder did fall
and she me caught in her arms long and small
and therewithal sweetly did me kiss
and said "dear heart, how like you this?"

It was no dream, I lay broad waking
But all is turned something something through a strange sense of forsaking,
And I have leave to go, of her gentleness
And she also to use newfangleness
But since I so kindly am served
I fain would know what she hath deserved.

>>25313906
>I wouldn’t want to risk Reddit spacing
never understood the "reddit spacing" thing, people wrote like this in 4chan before reddit existed.

it's just a way to keep text easy to read

>>25311748
I have that book, I got it in a charity shop for £1
It's very good and I like the structure and layout, but I did dislike the fact that for some poems it only includes a few representative stanzas

>>25313951
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth; faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polpyi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages. And will lie
Battering upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
Till the latter fire shall heat the deep,
Then once by man and angels to be seen.
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die

>>25314926
Hate autocorrect

>>25314918
I too got it in a charity shop, but for £2.99. It is disappointing and I didn't realise many were shortened. For example I really liked William Dunbar's Lament for the Makaris , and didn't realise till I was out and about one day and wanted to read it and went to Poetry Foundation online, only to find there was ~10 stanzas missing from the collection.

>>25313951
(1/2) as it is too long:
Earendil was a mariner that tarried in Arvernien, he built a boat of timber felled in Nimbrethil to journey in.
Her sails he wove of silver fair of silver were her lanterns made.
Her prow he fashioned like a swan and light upon her banners laid.

In panoply of ancient-kings in chained-rings he armoured him, his shining-shield was scored with runes to ward all wounds and harm from him.
His bow was made of dragon-horn his arrows shorn of ebony. Of silver was his habergeorn, his scabbard of chalcedony.
His sword of steel was valiant, of adamant his helmet tall.
An eagle-plume upon his crest, upon his breast an emerald.

Beneath the moon and under star he wandered far from northern strands, bewildered on enchanted ways beyond the days of mortal lands.
From gnashing of the narrow-ice where shadow lies on frozen hills, from nether heats and burning wastes he turned in haste and roving still.
On starless waters far astray at last he came to night of naught, and passed and never sight he saw of shining shore, nor light he sought.

The winds of wrath came driving him and blindly in the foam he fled, from west to east and errand-less unheralded he homeward sped.
There flying Elwing came to him and flame was in the darkness lit, more bright than light of diamond, the fire upon her carcanet.
The Silmaril she bound on him and crowned him with the living light, and dauntless then with burning brow, he turned his prow and in the night.

From other world beyond the sea, there strong and free a storm arose, a wind of power in Tarmenel by paths that seldom mortal goes.
His boat it bore with biting breath as might of death across the grey and long forsaken seas distressed from east to west he passed away.

Through evernight he back was borne on black and roaring waves that ran, o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores that drowned before the days began. Until he heard on strands of pearl where ends the world the music long, where ever foaming billows roll, the yellow gold and jewels wan.

He saw the mountain silent rise where twilight lies upon the knees of Valinor and Eldamar beheld afar, beyond the seas.
A wanderer escaped from night to haven white he came at last, to elvenhome, the green and fair, where keen the air, where pale as glass.
Beneath the hill of Ilmarin, a glimmer in a valley sheer, the lamplit towers of Tirion are mirrored on the Shadowmere.

He tarried there from errantry and melodies they taught to him, and sages old him marvels told and harps of gold they brought to him
They clothed him then in elven-white and seven lights before him sent, as through the Calacirian to hidden land forlorn he went.
He came unto the timeless halls where shining fall the countless years, where endless reigns the Elder king in Ilmarin on mountain sheer.
And words unheard were spoken then of folk of men and elven-kin, beyond the world were visions showed forbid to those that dwell therein.

>>25313951
(2/2)
A ship then new they built for him of mithril and of elven-glass.
With shining prow, no shaven oar, nor sail she bore on silver-mast.
The silmaril as lantern light and banner bright with living flame.
To gleam thereon by Elbereth herself was set who thither came.
And wings immortal made for him and laid on him undying doom,to sail the shoreless skies and come behind the sun and light of moon.

From everevens lofty hills where softly silver fountains fall, his wings him bore a wandering light beyond the mighty mountain wall.
From world's end then he turned away and yearned again to find afar, his home through shadows journeying and burning as an island star.
On high above the mists he came, a distant flame before the sun, a wonder ere the waking dawn where grey the norland waters run.

And over middle earth he passed and heard at last the weeping sore, of women and of elven-maids in elder-days in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid till moon should fade, an orbed star.
To pass and tarry never more on hither shores where mortals are.
Forever still a herald on an errand that should never rest, to bear his shining lamp afar, the flammifer of Westernesse.

>>25313906
I've recited to girls before too but at that point girls will just love whatever you do. It's probably one of those things you have to be entirely unapologetic about. Break out some verses that are pertinent to the situation like Aragorn. If 8 mile is anything to go by black people do it at lunch at work kek. If your friend group is tight you could warm them up to it until it becomes a little culture of your own. I'm trying to think of other non-performative/pretentious examples. Interstellar has a character inserting poetry into regular conversation.
>I have recently got one friend into poetry and we have been writing humorous poems together and planning to compile them into a handwritten manuscript, which has been fun to see a STEMfag (Mech-engineering) find something of a poetic voice.
chads

>>25311754
what do you recommend one reads first, to get started? I am new to poetry in general. I have read Housman which I enjoy alot. I like the more.. classic style? I think people call it. Where there is a consistent rhyme scheme and rythm. I tried reading Emily Dickenson and while I do enjoy some of it, alot of it seems very esoteric and the slant rhymes don't really speak to me that much (yet) And in general it is just heavy reading (maybe I'm just retarded and got a shit attention span)
I've also read some Frost, and some of his "shorter" poems are very nice, like what I mentioned earlier, but he also has very long stories with slant rhymes that I
I happen to know a few poems in my own language because I enjoyed them so much I kept going back and reading them

>>25311748
Honestly: based.
I've had people be awed by me remembering a full prayer (for some reason) so I can out imagine how cool people would find it if you could spit out an entire poem like a medieval bard.
I don't think I'd have the patience for it, but that's really neat anon. What kind of collection would you recommend if I'm more into stuff like Bukowski than Shakespeare?

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124 KB JPG

>>25315678
Honestly, judging by what you have said I personally think you should start with the English Romantic poets. Most of the Romantic poets used rhymed verse for one, and conceptually they are typically very easy to understand and relate with, usually centred around, at least from what I have gleaned in my year long odyssey, themes of beauty in general but specifically of nature, of emotion and spirituality; of love and death, imagination etc. They are the poets of deeply personal and subjective perspectives and experiences, but still of a world with objective truths, a distinctly theistic and pre-modern world. A world of mystique and things which are unknowable but familiar. That's my view anyway. A short collection like Picrel is good, either in physical form or if you don't wish to spend money PDF or eBook form, failing that then simply use Poetry foundation to read the top recommended poems by Google of each English Romantic poet. This is a fairly standard short list of some of the most important and renowned
>Lord Byron
>William Blake
>William Wordsworth
>Samuel Taylor Coleridge
>John Keats
I also think with your professed enjoyment of rhyme and meter, you should also read some of John Dryden and Alexander Pope's poetry, both short and long. These two were very focused on a revival of Classical, Greco-Roman works, both famously translated Homer, and while not necessarily strict translations of Homer, they are worth reading at least in part, due to their (imo) great beauty and scope: particularly Pope's Illiad (his Odyssey was famously rushed and a work of collaboration for financial reasons).
The Romantics often despised such poets, and I have read a lot of people in general deriding Pope and Dryden, but I think they are great. Though I spent 10s of thousands of £ just to study the Classics, despite a likelihood of it netting me a job being very low, so maybe take my passion for the Neo-Classical with a pinch of salt.
>>25315704
>What kind of collection would you recommend if I'm more into stuff like Bukowski than Shakespeare?
That is a bit more difficult for me to answer as Bukowksi and the like are not for me. I've tried with the vast majority of post modernist free verse and realism and it doesn't do anything for me. So far Eliot and Pound have been the only free verse I have truly enjoyed, they are very unlike Shakespeare so maybe try them?

>>25315704
Maybe try Jeffers, Burroughs, Carver, Larkin

>>25311748
You might be interested in this tool: www.linebyline.app
>>25313951
Levis exsurgit Zephyrus,
et sol procedit tepidus.
Iam terra sinus aperit,
dulcore suo diffluit.

Ver purpuratum exiit,
ornatus suos induit,
aspergit terram floribus,
ligna silvarum frondibus.

Struunt lustra quadrupedes
et dulces nidos volucres;
inter ligna florentia
sua decantant gaudia.

Quod oculis dum video,
et auribus dum audio,
heu! pro tantis gaudiis
tantis inflor suspiriis.

Cum mihi sola sedeo,
et haec revolvens palleo,
sic forte capit sublevo,
nec audio nec video.

Tu saltim, veris gratia,
exaudi et considera
frondes, flores, et gramina,
nam mea languet anima.

>>25315742
>themes of beauty in general but specifically of nature, of emotion and spirituality; of love and death, imagination etc
that is exactly what I love to read, and also write about! I actually enjoy emily dickensons poems about nature (which she does ALOT) my favorite is "will there really be a morning"

Will there really be a "Morning"?
Is there such a thing as "Day"?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like Water lilies?
Has it feathers like a Bird?
Is it brought from famous countries
Of which I have never heard?

Oh some Scholar! Oh some Sailor!
Oh some Wise Men from the skies!
Please to tell a little Pilgrim
Where the place called "Morning" lies!

My favorite from one from my own country. I'll see if I can recite it by memory.

Sig "ja" til kærlighed, for den er sjælden
mens lykken er almindelig og bleg
sig ja endog til andres kærlighed
for intet kan man angre som et "nej"

Og er der intet ekko i dit hjerte
så agt den elskende alligevel
han ændres gennem noget, der er dig
dit "nej" slår noget dyrebart ihel

og muligt får du aldrig lært at elske
men du kan lære dig at sige "ja"
hvis du kan tænde lyset i hans øjne
så ved du lidt om kærlighed endda.

>>25315704
you would like the French

>>25315755
I have never heard of any of those, so I'll give 'em a shot!

>>25315742
I've actually been meaning to read Byron and Keats (I'm not from the US/UK, so they were never required reading) so I'll add those to the list too, thanks!
Also, your post reminded me that I used to read, record, and edit sections of my favorite books to post on instagram - people were really impressed with that as well. Might do a poetry version of that if I find anything that really clicks.

>>25313906
I think the mannered way of doing this is to have a snatch of verse for the situation and no more. 2 or 3 lines relevant to the situation is cool. Reciting stanzas randomly, not so cool.

>>25311748
>>25311785
>>25311820
Interesting, I never thought of doing this.

>>25313951
1/2

Curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
the lowing herds move slowly o'er the lea,
the ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
and leaves the world to darkness, and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
and all theair a solemn stillness holds,
save where the beetle wheels his droning flight
and drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.

Save where, from yonder ivy-mantled tower,
the moping owl does to the monn complain
of such as wandering near her secret 'ower
molest her anicient, solitary reign.

Beneath these rugged elms, this yew-tree's shade
where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
each in his narrow cell, forever laid,
the rude for-fathers of the Hamlet sleep.

The breezy scent of incense-breathing morn,
the swallow twittering in a straw-built shed,
the cock's shrill clarion or echoing horn
no more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
nor busy house-wife ply her evening care.
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
or climb his knee, the envied kiss to share.

Oft did the harkest to their sickle yield,
their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.
How jocund did they drive their team afield,
how bowed the wood beneath their sturdy stroke.

Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
their homely joys and destiny obscure,
nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,
the short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the bomp of power,
and all that beauty, all that health e'er gave
await alike the inevitable hour;
the paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
if memory over their tombs no trophies raise
where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
the pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot was laid
some heart once pregnant with celestial fire.
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.

But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
rich with th spoils of time did ne'er unroll.
Chill penury repressed their noble rage,
and froze the genial current of the soul.

Some village Hampden here, with dauntless breast,
the little tyrant of his field withstood.
Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest,
some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood.

The applause of listening senates to command,
the threat of pain or ruin to despise,
to scatter plenty o'er a smiling land
and read their history in a nation's eyes

their lot forbade. Nor circumscribed alone
their growing kirtues, but their crimes confined.
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
and shut the gates of mercy on mankind.

>>25317570
2/2

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
to quench the blush of ingenious shame,
to heap the shrine of luxury and pride
with incense kindled at the muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
their sober wishes never learned to stray.
Along the coll, sequestered vale of life
they kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Yet e'en these bnes, from insult to protect,
some frail memorial still erected nigh,
with uncouth rhyme and shapeless sculpture decked,
implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse
the place of fame and elagy supply,
while many a holy text about she strews
that teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
this pleasing anxious being e'er resigned,
left the warm precincts of the cheerful day
nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?

On some soft breast the parting soul relies,
some pious drops the closing eye requires.
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
e'en in our ashes li*e their wonted fires.

To thee, who mindful of the unhonoured dead
dost in these lines their artless tales relate,
if chance by lonely contemplation led,
some kindred soul shall inquire thy fate,

Haply, some hoary-headed swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn,
brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
to meet the sun upon the upland lawn,

"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech,
that wreathes it's old fantastic roots so high,
his listless length at nootide would he stretch
and pore upon the brook that babbles by.

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
muttering his wayward fancies would her rove.
Now weeping, woeful, wan like one forlorn,
now crazed with care, now crossed in hopeless love.

"One morn I missed him on the customed hill,
and on the heath and near his favourite tree.
Another came. Nor yet beside the rill,
nor at the wood nor up the lawn was he.

"The next with dirges due in sad array,
slow through the churchyard path we saw him borne.
Approach and read, for thou canst read, the lay
graved on the rock beneath yon aged thorn."

EPITAPH

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,
a youth to fortune and to fame unknown.
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
and Melancholy claimed him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
larger still in recompense did nature send,
He gave to misery all he had, a tear,
he gained from heaven, 'twas all he wished, a friend.

No farther seek his virtues to disclose,
nor draw his frailties from their dread abode.
There they alike in trembling hope repose,
the bosom of his Father, and his God.

>>25317611
Wait, I mean (second last stanza line 2)

Heaven did in recompense as largely send