The month of April may be the “cruelest month” in many ways, especially weather-wise, but it gives readers the opportunity to sample many different flavors of poetry
The purpose of National Poetry Month is to place poetry front and center in the minds of readers from school age to any age. The articles here at Poetry are ranging far and wide to provide readers with many different kinds of poems from Shakespeare’s sonnets to American poetaster Rod McKuen.
Readers will also sample the English Romantic movement’s founder William Wordsworth alongside American transcendentalists Whitman and Thoreau. There is even an article about one of the most notorious hoaxes ever perpetrated upon a poetry publication in Australia. Then there is the completely sensible nonsense poem “Jabberwocky” that actually tells a story with its supposed gibberish.
And then there is also an essay that suggests an answer to that age-old question, “What is Poetry?”
More articles for celebrating Poetry this April 2007:
Apr 13, 2007
- Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’
- Hailed as the most important nonsense poem in the English language, the poem, "Jabberwocky," serves to exemplify how language works and how it revitalizes itself.
Apr 12, 2007
- Rod McKuen
- Rod McKuen's musical and entertainment accomplishments are undermined by his claim to the title of poet; his so-called "poems" exemplify the work of a poetaster.
Apr 11, 2007
- The Vain Peaceful Noise
- Thoreau held a negative view of his contemporaries, disdaining what he observed as mercenary materialism, unlike an earlier period when bravery and freedom were valued.
Apr 10, 2007
- Shakespeare Sonnet 10
- In Sonnet 10, the speaker challenges the young man's sense of self, regarding his love and affection for others. The speaker exaggerates the lack as "murderous hate."
Apr 9, 2007
- Wordsworth’s ‘Ode to Duty’
- Since the 1960s, in Western culture, "duty" has been a dirty word. It smacks of kowtowing to authority, not being allowed to "do your own thing"; it cramps your style.
Apr 8, 2007
- What is Poetry?
- Readers know a poem when they see it, but poetry does more than exist as a form: poetry portrays and often dramatizes the experience of human emotional life.
Apr 7, 2007
- Whitman’s ‘I Hear America Singing’
- Walt Whitman's tribute to America's ordinary laborers dramatizes the good cheer of the day laborers of 19th century America but also tips its hat to night time partiers.
Apr 6, 2007
- The Ern Malley Caper
- The Ern Malley affair may be the most important literary hoax of the 20th century. It grew out of a hatred of and the desire to debunk the avant-garde style of modernism.
Apr 5, 2007
- Shakespeare Sonnet 8
- In Shakespeare's "Marriage Sonnet 8," the speaker for the first time evokes the joyful state of marriage itself, as he continues urging the young man to produce an heir.
