getting classic on yo' ass (aka fave classic poems)

[fizzygirl]

I love modern stuff, but some of the older poetry that we used to explore in literature classes just seem so romantic, even if we don't talk this way now. This one is one of my faves. A few years back the group London Suede did a song that incorporated part of this and so it always sticks in my head :D
She walks in Beauty ~Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
What are your "old" favorites?? Anyone quoting Shelley, Byron or Keats gets big kisses from me in advance

 

[Furnace]

here's a Keats poem I found recently that I like...
Faery Song 1 - John Keats
Shed no tears!
O shed no tears!
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more!
O weep no more!
Young buds sleep in the root's white core.

 

[Dakeva]

Humanity - e e cummings
Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard
Humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you're flush pride keeps
you from the pawn shops and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house
Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down
on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity
i hate you
Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas (a bit too obvious of a selection)
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Time long Past - Percy Shelley (for Brooke )
Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,
Was Time long past.
There were sweet dreams in the night
Of Time long past:
And, was it sadness or delight,
Each day a shadow onward cast
Which made us wish it yet might last--
That Time long past.
There is regret, almost remorse,
For Time long past.
'Tis like a child's belovèd corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance, cast
From Time long past.
[ 06 February 2002: Message edited by: Dakeva ]

 

[spinkle]

This is one of my all-time favorites--like Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle... (Thanks, Dakeva! "Great" precludes "obvious" everytime, anyways ), it's a villanelle, a form that I find it *incredibly* hard to write in...though not as difficult as a sestina, which is a *serious* pain in the ass. If anyone can find and post a *good* sestina, I'll be damn impressed
The Waking -- Theodore Roethke
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I cannot go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

 

[Spencer]

two roads diverged in a...
j/k/ I hate that poem.

 

[cloud 9]

ok am i just stupid or did i not know dakeva was an admin. anyway i like that and all though i cant put up any old favorites of mine i can say i like the ones on this page.

 

[cloud 9]

ok scratch the above, heres one. hope this doesnt show up twice.
Lady Mary Wroth
In this strange labyrinth, how shall i turn?
Ways are on all sides, while the way i miss
If to the right hand, there in love i burn
Let me go forward, therein danger is
If to the left, suspicion hinders bliss
Let me turn back, shame cries i ought return
Nor faint, though crosses with my fortunes kiss
Stand still is harder, although sure to mourn
Thus let me take the right- or left-hand way
Go forward or stand still or back retire
I must these doubts endure without allay
Or help, but travel find for my best hire
Yet that which most my troubled sense doth move-
Is to leave all, and take the thread of Love.