What's the first poem(s)/poet(s) you ever read?

This is the place for readers of poetry. Discuss poetry and literary art. You can also discuss music here, including lyrics. Also, you can discuss poets themselves, in addition to poetry.
User avatar
Teesie
Posts: 1464
Joined: 14 Mar 2011, 01:59
Bookshelf Size: 0

What's the first poem(s)/poet(s) you ever read?

Post by Teesie »

What's the first poem(s) or poet(s) that you recall reading that made a big impression on you?

For me it was three different poems I read in a literature text book at school in 6th grade. Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, and Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening and James Whitcomb Riley's When the Frost is on the Punkin

Ever since I read these poems that first time I have been in love with poetry and reading in general. It was that same literature book that opened my eyes to a world unknown, and for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed reading and was proud to say so!
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood

When I started infants school my older brother was studying this poem & it has been in my head since .... to this day I can recite that poem & it still makes me cry.

'My spirit flew in feathers then
That is so heavy now,
The summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow'.
We fade away, but vivid in our eyes
A world is born again that never dies.
- My Home by Clive James
User avatar
Teesie
Posts: 1464
Joined: 14 Mar 2011, 01:59
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Teesie »

^Thanks Fran I looked it up. It's a very moving piece. I like it.
Melaniep
Posts: 163
Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 11:20
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Melaniep »

Where the Sidewalk Ends - by Shel Silverstein :D
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

Melaniep wrote:Where the Sidewalk Ends - by Shel Silverstein :D
A beautifully, evocative poem :D
We fade away, but vivid in our eyes
A world is born again that never dies.
- My Home by Clive James
User avatar
Teesie
Posts: 1464
Joined: 14 Mar 2011, 01:59
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Teesie »

Thanks Melaniep, I enjoyed it.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives one.
User avatar
Woodland Nymph
Posts: 269
Joined: 08 Sep 2009, 08:25
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Woodland Nymph »

My father read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" to me when I was very young; I didn't understand much of it, but I attempted to read Poe's poetry several times after that, and today he is one of my favorites.
"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." - Oscar Wilde
User avatar
Tip the Bottle
Posts: 879
Joined: 09 Jun 2010, 21:06
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Tip the Bottle »

The first poem I truly remember reading was in school and it was e. e. cummings she being brand. I went to a predominantly all boys technical school and I think this was the teachers idea of getting hormone driven young men interested in poetry. It worked for me, for the rest of the class, meh not so much.
"When the give you things, ask yourself why.
When you're grateful to them for giving you the things you should already have anyway, ask yourself why."
-Lady in Blue, rebel broadcast
Seraphy
Posts: 49
Joined: 25 Mar 2011, 04:32
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Seraphy »

The first poem I came across was Over the Fence by Emily Dickinson in high school, very short, but beautiful.
Zekes
Posts: 158
Joined: 09 Nov 2010, 02:07
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Zekes »

I can't remember the first poem that I've read but as what I remember my all time favorite poem is Alone by Edgar Allan Poe. That poem inspires me to write my own poem.
User avatar
Maud Fitch
Posts: 2730
Joined: 28 Feb 2011, 23:05
Favorite Author: Jasper Fforde
Favorite Book: The Eyre Affair
Bookshelf Size: 0
fav_author_id: 4856

Post by Maud Fitch »

The Crocodile

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale?

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
("Lewis Carroll" 1832-1898)
"Every story has three sides to it - yours, mine and the facts" Foster Meharny Russell
Timpane
Posts: 83
Joined: 04 Apr 2011, 11:29
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Timpane »

The Raven" to me when I was very young; I didn't realise much of it, but I tried to read Poe's verse some times after that, and today he is one of my favorites.
User avatar
Pecorino
Posts: 70
Joined: 25 Mar 2011, 18:08
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Pecorino »

I remember reading Trees by Joyce Kilmer when I was a little girl.

TREES
by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Knowledge and art supplies are my Number 1 source of energy!
Butterbescotch
Posts: 515
Joined: 13 Apr 2011, 08:27
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Butterbescotch »

Timpane wrote:The Raven" to me when I was very young; I didn't realise much of it, but I tried to read Poe's verse some times after that, and today he is one of my favorites.
The Raven also. I never knew it was from Edgar Allan Poe until I look it up. I'm so proud. :oops: :oops:
User avatar
Sine_Ni_Ceallach
Posts: 169
Joined: 06 Oct 2013, 20:57
Currently Reading: The Iliad by Homer
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sine-ni-ceallach.html

Post by Sine_Ni_Ceallach »

The two poems I remember having the biggest impression on me the first time I read them was J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Road Goes Ever On and On", and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". I absolutely love them!
"I could not be sure she was sane; and, in fact, there was a certain restless brilliancy about her eyes that half led me to imagine she was not." -Edgar Allan Poe
Post Reply

Return to “Poetry & Music”