Wednesday 13 February 2008

Random jottings

You know when you've never heard of a writer and then someone mentions them to you or you read their name for the first time and within days they start popping up everywhere? I'm experiencing that at the moment with Marianne Moore. I had, literally, never heard of her before recently discussing twentieth century poets with a friend, who raved about her as an outstanding poet worthy of a far higher profile. Then I saw her book cover on Nigel Beale's collection of his favourite book covers on flickr (there are lots of lovely faber covers on there) and today her name's popped up in David Morley's poetry workshop on the Guardian Books site.

So I thought I'd head over to one of my favourite poetry sites, the Poetry Archive to see what I could turn up. I love the Poetry Archive. It's a charity that exists to promote the worldwide audience for poetry and they have an incredible archive of recordings of various poets reading their own work. If you ever fancy listening to Yeats reading The Lake Isle of Innisfree or Tennyson reading The Charge of the Light Brigade or just want to meander through, listening to your favourite poets or poems you remember from school then this is the place for you. Unfortunately no Marianne Moore for me on there but now that she exists for me I hope to read some of her work myself soon.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Catherine! I followed you here from AKR's Treataweek blog. So cool that you are doing this, not just making a commitment to read so much this year, but to keep a record of what you read....

I am trying to read Peter Carey's entire oeuvre. He is so scarily GOOD.

xo
Preeta

Stefanie said...

I love when something like this happens. Marianne Moore is wonderful.

Logophile said...

Preeta, welcome! I need some more Peter Carey in my life...I also can't wait to read your own book!! So exciting!!

Stefanie, I love a personal recommendation so your comment makes me want to read her even more!

Juliet said...

Agree entirely about the Poetry Archive. It's wonderful - I don't go there anything like enough, but when I do, it spells disaster for my day's work plans!

Anonymous said...

Marianne Moore... I have to say that I think I have heard her name somewhere. Do you any works she is known for?

I love poetry. I usually lean towards the Romanticists because of their ability to use imagery to explore a theme. How about you? Any favorite poets? :]

Logophile said...

Juliet, know what you mean about losing time in the poetry archive! It never ceases to delight me...

Orchidus, I'd be with you on the Romantics to an extent - I love Coleridge, but I'm not so hot on Byron...it's so hard to pin down a favourite poet, but I'd have to say Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Patrick Kavanagh, Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, Milton and John Donne are all up there for me (can you tell I'm terrible at picking just one favourite?!). How about you? Any particular favourites?

Anonymous said...

Hahaha. I have to agree with you that note. I usually read Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Shakespeare. But, with literature class introducing new-to-me poets, I have to say I am starting to like some of John Keats' and Dylan Thomas' poems. I have yet to read a few of the poets you have mentioned, namely Seamus Heaney and Eavan Boland. Any recommendations on which poems to start with?

Anonymous said...

Hello!

Marianne Moore is good. Try Dean Koontz's books. Especially Odd Thomas. Gentle horror. Very warm. :)

Marilyn K

Anonymous said...

For the person who asked for Seamus Heaney recommendations: my very favourites are "Perch," "Punishment," and "Mid-term Break." I just checked and they are all online.

I love Yeats, too (The Song of Wandering Aengus might just be my my favourite poem ever, if there is such a thing) and the other modernists (Eliot and Auden in particular -- I love "As I Walked Out One Evening" by Auden and could read it every day). And e.e. cummings though he is such a divisive poet and maybe many people here are going to hate me for saying I love him.

I love Eavan Boland too, and Paul Muldoon most of the time. And contemporary American poets: Sharon Olds, and Nancy Willard, who is a contemporary poet possibly not so well-known in the UK, but god I love her work. And Jack Gilbert, especially this poem:

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Jack-Gilbert/7071

Poetry when it's good is just so very, very good, isn't it? But when it's bad it's a million times worse than bad fiction. It makes me literally cringe, even when I'm all alone. It deeply embarrasses me in a way fiction never does, no matter how bad.

-- Preeta

Anonymous said...

Ack I am retarded. The Jack Gilbert poem is called "The Forgotten Dialect of The Heart" -- I don't think my link worked.

-- Preeta

Logophile said...

Orchidus, Preeta's recommendations are fanastic if you fancy diving into any new poets.

Preets, I love being reminded of poems I love and poets I really should read (rather shamefully I've never read e.e. cummings!)

Marilyn K, I've read very good things about Odd Thomas. Koontz's isn't an author I've read yet.