Looking for accessible poetry collections
Thu, 2014-04-03 18:25
#1
Looking for accessible poetry collections
I am new to reading poetry and already am a big fan of Ted Kooser. Heard a lot about Billy Collins as being an accessible poet but read his 'ballistics' and didn't understand a word of it. Can anyone hear recommend any accessible poets and collections?
The word 'accessible' sends me to sleep, and I am already one of life's dormice. Doing early morning cleaning as a bread and butter job doesn't help; far too many of my afternoons and evenings are spent in the Land of Nod. However a good poetry collection which has a broad sweep of poems by a diverse selection of mainly modern poets is Staying Alive (ed. Neil Astley, Bloodaxe,first published 2002).
Two long poems written in English that gets to the point, which I highly recommend: Beowulf translated by Seumas Heaney and V by Tony Harrison. Also W.B Yeats (selected poems). Elsie
I didn't get why 'accessible' puts you to sleep but thanks for the recommendations all the same.
Why does the word 'accessible' put me to sleep, pom? Personal attitude pure and simple. 'Accessible' drives me far, far, away from any writer I have recently heard of and in fact makes it harder for me to want to read them.
Words like 'weird', hard to understand' or even 'a load of rubbish' send me in direction of the writer. I feel the writings may be interesting and they deserve a fresh opinion. Mine.
It would be boring if we were all the same.
Good luck with your poetry quest Elsie
'It would be very boring if we were all the same' - Point. Thanks.
Hi Pom, poetry can be a minefield until you find something that grabs you. The classics can feel quite inaccessible because of their language and some modern poetry feels as if it needs decomposing to process the first line. Know what you mean. Elsie's recommendation is a great all-round book. I'd also recommend you try any poetry by Jim Harrison or Mary Oliver if you like Kooser.
Some good titles are:
Being Alive : the sequel to Staying Alive by Neil Astley (Paperback - 28 Oct 2004)
Being Human by Neil Astley (Paperback - 25 Mar 2011)
Six Women Poets by Gillian Clarke, Grace Nichols, Fleur Adcock and Carol Rumens (13 Aug 1992)
Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times Matthew Sweeney (Editor), Jo Shapcott (Editor) (Sep 2004)
Ruth Padel's Looking at a Poem is also very helpful when you want to consider analysis.
Thanks Vera for taking the time to recommend these books.