Feature Writer: 
Poetry fascinates readers for many reasons, from its unique language use to the varied subjects that poets have dramatized down through the centuries.
The Ancients, including Homer and Vergil, captivated audiences with their ability to spin a memorable yarn. Ancient Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, were so easily memorized that it was centuries before anyone wrote them down.
From the Ancients to Middle Eastern and Western Eurpoean bards to early Americans like Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman to the most contemporary poets such as recent poets laureate, Louise Glück, Ted Kooser, and currently Charles Simic the journey through poetry remains a colorful and enticing one.
Thank you for visiting. I welcome questions, comments, and/or suggestions.
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In: American Poetry
Walt Whitman's sprawling eight-line poem showcases the poet's freewheeling style while dramatizing the wildly romantic world view portrayed in almost all of his poems. more...
In: British Poetry
In Shakespeare Sonnet 53, the speaker explores the nature of the Divine, as he has examined the nature of his own soul and its relationship to his poetic ability. more...
In: British Poetry
The speaker in Graves' "Not Dead" is remembering a friend who has died, but the purpose in this remembering is to resurrect the friend. more...
Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen'
In: British Poetry
Laurence Binyon's speaker celebrates the transcendence of the soldiers who have fought so bravely and died for freedom. more...
Dickinson's 'Each Life Converges'
In: American Poetry
The speaker of Emily Dickinson's mystic poem offers a refreshing look at the soul's journey from the astral plane to the physical plane. It also alludes to reincarnation. more...
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Ted Kooser, U. S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, features the best poetry to keep us updated on “American Life.”
Kooser introduces the poem with the following comment: “Though at the time it may not occur to us to call it "mentoring," there's likely to be a good deal of that sort of thing going on, wanted or unwanted, whenever a young person works for someone older. Richard Hoffman of Massachusetts does a good job of portraying one of those teaching moments in this poem.”
A sampling from the poem:
"The trouble with intellectuals," Manny, my boss,
once told me, "is that they don't know nothing
till they can explain it to themselves. A guy like that,"
he said, "he gets to middle age--and by the way,
he gets there late . . .
To read the entire poem, please visit Column 162 at American Life in Poetry.
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In: British Poetry
In: Canadian Poetry
By: Caitlin Ward
In: World Poetry
By: Caitlin Ward
Ono no Komachi, Legendary Poet
In: World Poetry
By: Helen McCarthy
Emily Dickinson: Religious Exile?
In: American Poetry
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