Poetry and the Masses

[milo]

I must get back into Browning -- I know I should really like him but I had this professor at uni who went on and on and on and I think he died in advance just to avoid having to listen to her dissecting his poems. I used "Porphyria's Lover" in class last year because I have students who like gory stuff, and being strangled with your own hair fits into that nicely. Plus, there are those wonderfully allegorical layers.

I have much and more adore for both Milton and Yeats, despite (or perhaps because of) their being out of favour with that irritating portion of contemporary academia. For some reason, thinking of "The Second Coming" always takes me to Shelley's "Ozymandias", and I don't know if Bill and Percy would be happy to share that bed, but then they have no say in it really.

But for tricks and nifty things with meter, I still recommend Larkin. He was so good with it that it often looks like he paid it no mind at all, until you really start to read it aloud and appreciate the wonderful sonics.

Larkin does indeed have a nice touch Leanne, and you're right: I enjoy his works for other reason, but never even noticed that--thanks for pointing it out, I'll have to add him to my study.

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I must get back into Browning -- I know I should really like him but I had this professor at uni who went on and on and on and I think he died in advance just to avoid having to listen to her dissecting his poems. I used "Porphyria's Lover" in class last year because I have students who like gory stuff, and being strangled with your own hair fits into that nicely. Plus, there are those wonderfully allegorical layers.

I have much and more adore for both Milton and Yeats, despite (or perhaps because of) their being out of favour with that irritating portion of contemporary academia. For some reason, thinking of "The Second Coming" always takes me to Shelley's "Ozymandias", and I don't know if Bill and Percy would be happy to share that bed, but then they have no say in it really.

But for tricks and nifty things with meter, I still recommend Larkin. He was so good with it that it often looks like he paid it no mind at all, until you really start to read it aloud and appreciate the wonderful sonics.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173004

of course the sentences are so fucking long that I run out of breath but it is probably my favourite. I did an audio somewhere.

Long sentences are an understatement: some are ten to twelve plus lines, and one longer than a sonnet! It is a great poem though. No audio at "Poetry". Is your audio here in the downloadable section?

Looks like I never sent billy the browning links. I think I only completed 4 or 5 before I moved and I wanted at least 9 or 10.