Poetry > C Poetry

Advantages: A true classic of the English language
Disadvantages: In Middle English without translation, it can be difficult to read

In Chaucer's work, 'The Canterbury Tales', perhaps the greatest of English literary works from the period of the language known as Middle English, there is one particular piece that have always stood out for me. 'A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,' This is perhaps my favourite character, as when I first read it, it seemed to epitomise what I hoped for in my own life. 'That unto logik hadde longe y-go. .... For him was lever have at his beddes ...
...to his magnus opus, 'The Canterbury Tales', a collection of stories with prologue told by pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury (car radios and in-flight movies were rare in those days), Chaucer wrote minor poems to suit various occasions (his first record as poet comes from having written a poem as elegy on the death of John of Gaunt's first wife, Blanche, in 1369), and the major work for which he was noted for 'Troilus and Criseyde', which showed ... Read review

Advantages: Unconventional, interesting, a rare voice even today
Disadvantages: A bit elementary at times

------------------------------------------ anyone lived in a pretty how town with up so floating many bells down ------------------------------------------ The poetry of ee cummings is something that most Americans gain exposure to during secondary school (and occasionally in the education of those outside America) -- he is often seen as an acceptable example of one who broke the rules -- rules, the teacher will often hasten to add, which must ...
...this is not what ee cummings would hope had come of his legacy. In reading his poetry in this edition, his prose, his theatrical writings, and his unpublished manuscripts (some of which have been published under the title Etc.), a new vision begins to emerge of a real maverick--not someone who wanted to break the rules, but someone who eschewed the idea of rules so completely that breaking them was beyond the question, for that would have to recognise ... Read review

Advantages: Ballad style poetry: easy to read and to listen to
Disadvantages: Makes you try to look deeper

“The Hunting of the Snark”, a poem by Lewis Carroll, was first published 1876. Lewis Carroll, the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is best known for 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', probably the only book of his that the majority of people remember. But 'Alice' was not his only work. Carroll wrote a variety of other works including humorous prose and poetry and mathematical treatises. “The Hunting of the Snark”, is often referred to as a ...
...the poem is in parts absurd. Written in ballad form with rhyming alternate lines, it is easy to read and to listen to. Many people claim that the poem is in reality not nonsense but a satirical social comment on the church, law, exploration and medical ethics. Some even say it is another example of Carroll’s sexual repression. And yes there are scenes in the poem representing trails, vivisection, an artic expedition and religion. Some lines can be ... Read review

Advantages: strange, intruiging and startling.
Disadvantages: hard to make sense of

I first read e.e.cummings about three years ago and have never really got over him. An amazing innovative poet with the power to transofrm words and reveal meanings. Famous for using punctuation and capitalisation in strange ways, cummings has the ability to revitalise frequently used language and turn it into something new and ecxiting. For example: "anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn ...
...In this poem, anyone and someone could in fact be individual people, or they could rpresent a wole group. Words like "How" are employed peculiarly as adjectives. What, after all is a "pretty how Town"? e.e.cummings is not easy reading. His poetry is hard to make sense of, and often its not even about sense, its about sound, rhythm and impression. There are quite often meanings that can be found, but to some extent they will be things that you bring ... Read review

Advantages: all
Disadvantages: none that i found ,yet.

hi this book tells you magic poems.it coutains curses,elves,changelings,wizards,ghosts,mermaids and the like are plain enough subjects in an anthology of magic verse.but i he has also included poems of mystery and magic many poets see in the day to day events of the natural world and of everyday life those happenings that perhaps we too oftan take for granted.celebrated poet charles causley has gathered toghether the very best of magical verse from ... Read review