I am not sure how I get into these scrapes…wait hang on! I do…Thanks to all the “influential” blog-universe friends, I sign on to do stuff, about which I am completely unsure off. It’s a different matter, that most of the time, I end up LOVING the experience, but to begin with, it is kind of daunting. This time the influential friend is Cleo and she convinced me that one poem a week to celebrate Poetry Month Celebration is easily doable! Well, it does sound easy and I am half way into it as well, but I also have like a zillion books to read and a million blogs to write and trillion projects to execute at work and …ok! Deep Breaths! I am over my hysteria! To be absolutely honest, I am loving the poems (Thank You Cleo, if it was not for your encouragement, I would not tread alone on those literary waters) I am reading (blogs coming up soon) especially considering I don’t get along with Poetry too well; and it made sense that I participate in the questionnaire as well; I mean what is the sense of doing things halfway anyway??
The Poetry Month celebration has begun at The Edge of the Precipice, and Hamlette has posted questions to answer as part of the April reading event. Worth giving a shot….
What are some poems you like?
- Geetanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
- Goblin Market by Christina Rosetti
- Ode to the Nightingale by John Keats
- Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
What are some poems you dislike?
I really have not come across a poem that merits a “dislike”! There have been instances, where I have struggled with some of the works, and kind of given them up as a lost cause, but that is more from my inability to really connect with them rather than the work itself. Case to the point – The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser and To the Skylark by Shelly
Are there any poets whose work you especially enjoy? If so, who are they?
I loved my recent tryst with Christina Rossetti and I have always enjoyed Robert Browning. My most favorite is Rabindranath Tagore. He wrote in my native language – Bengali. What makes him stand out is the wide range of poems that he could wrote that encompass practically all human emotions with all the sensitivity and aestheticism and unmatched grandeur!
Do you write poetry?
No! Nix! Nada!
Have you ever memorized a poem?
Way back in school …The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge, The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Tennyson and some other other works by Robert Louis Stevenson. We had a class on Elocution through middle school and my teacher was convinced that learning and reciting a long poem would lead to brilliant oratory skills. I am yet to see the connection!
Do you prefer poetry that rhymes and had a strict meter, or free verse? Or do you like both?
I like both. I do enjoy rhymes a bit for than free verses, however there are just way too many bad rhymes, so I am kind of cautious, about my preference here!
Do you have any particular poetry movements you’re fond of? (Beat poets, Romanticism, Fireside poets, etc?)(If you haven’t got any idea what I’m talking about, that’s fine! You can check out this list for more info, if you want to.)
I love the Romanticism and the Fireside Poets! I also love the Oral tradition, that encompass some of our best loved epic poems from Mahabharata to The Illiad to Beowulf!
My plan is to read one poem per week . In the last two weeks I have already read and I plan to read two- three more….I will update this list as I figure it out.
- Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- A Light Exists in Spring by Emily Dickinson
Mockingbirds, Looking Glasses & Prejudices... 
For not liking poetry you certainly answered those questions well! Do you still remember any of the poems you had to memorize in school?
Charge of the Light Brigade…maybe because I find its meaning applied in so many ways in the Corporate world! 😉
Yes, yes, I know. I am the bane of your reading existence! 😉 Imagine how chaotic your life would be if we lived closer together. Perhaps it’s a good thing that I’m half-way ’round the world.
Half a league, half a league, half a league onward …… oh sorry! I got carried away by your reference for a moment. 😉 I memorized CotLB when I was too old for it to stick well in my brain. 😉
Can I make a very sad confession? When I read about how overwhelmed you are with reading and reviews and work, I felt glad. Do you know why? Because I am in the same boat! I have been going absolutely CRAZY in the last couple of weeks. I’m supposed to have finished my Ovid review and be well into my taxes. Not! Even today, I was to spend all of it on taxes and about ⅔ of the day is gone and I haven’t even walked into my office because so much else is going on. Aaargh! For some reason, I not only have to deal with my life, but live two others as well. You may not hear much from me until the end of April. Pray I make it until then. I saw an eagle yesterday and I imagined that he was Gwaihir and that he was going to take me away. Where? Well, I hadn’t gotten that far in my imaginings yet.
Well, enjoy your poetry! I have two poems read so I feel not too behind on this one. Thankfully!!
Awwww….Cleo! You are the one who makes my readings adventurous! I mean without you, I would never come out of the 19th century novels only zone! Thank Heavens you are around! Love COFTLB…you still seem to retain a lot!;) I completely understand your confession…its always good to know we are not alone in going mad! There is just soooooo much that needs to be done! BTW …you have been doing your taxes for almost a month now…what is happening? I would have lost it by now! Anyway…hang in there and I am sending all kinds of Oriental good wishes so you will get through all of this smoothly!! Take care and happy reading!
Re: taxes …… we are both self-employed and I do nothing all year to enter anything. So in April (although I swear every year I’m going to do it earlier) the taxes take a month of full-time-ish work and longer if I have computer problems which I have had. Sigh! And everybody wants everything from me, and it’s raining like a monsoon right now, and I have to do out in it and deliver catalogues, and get to an appointment on time and go out tonight and, and, and. …… Sniff …. 😦 … oh, and I want a dog …….. I’m so pathetic lately ….. 😉
You poor thing!!!! You need a dog and a big cup of tea and a big hug! I can provide all three virtually and in spirit! Thank God I am not self employed….the only good side of listening to others tell you how to do things better without actually having an iota of idea, is they also do the taxes!!!Don’t worry…this too shall pass!
I am visiting your blog from the Women’s Literature event from the Classics Club. But now I want to do this poetry thing over on my blog, too. So I will leave you with a link to The Age of Innocence if you would honor me with a visit. And then I am going to hop over to your link and attempt to answer all the questions about poetry. I, too, am attempting to find ways to celebrate poetry month. this one looks like fun. I am a pretty unsophisticated poetry reader so I am not sure I will have many good answers but I will try. This is my first visit to your blog and I am impressed. I’ll be back for sure.
Gosh! Thank you Anne so much for your kind words! I will for sure make a visit to your site! Yeah..I know the feeling…I am trying to get my arms around the poetry thing, slow and easy! Please do try the quiz…its fun and kind of makes your zero in on what we really like or don’t like in poetry! Lets give it a shot at reading some this month and we can exchange notes in the end of April! 🙂