Reading Poetry in the Season of Mid-Winter

Winter, with its shorter days, chilled temperatures, and extended nights, provides an excellent opportunity to catch up on the reading of poetry. After dinner, settle down in your favorite reading chair and prepare to spend a rewarding evening with your books. Take this opportunity to review the great poets of the past, as well as those of the present. If you should feel the need to supplement your poetry library, we recommend the inclusive and readily available Norton series of poetry anthologies produced by W. W. Norton, Inc., New York, New York, as well as The Oxford Anthology of English Literature, Oxford University Press. Volumes from these series can be purchased or ordered from your favorite bookseller. They are also available online through services such as Amazon.com, where you frequently can obtain ìgently-usedî volumes for a fraction of the original cost.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, a great read would be Thomas Wyatt (1503—1542). One of the first sonnet writers in the English language, Wyatt wrote elegant love sonnets (such as Whoso List to Hunt) that still resonate with readers today. William Wordsworth (1770—1850), though best known for his thoughtful nature poetry, wrote some of the greatest love poetry in the language in his “Lucy” poems. The tragically short-lived John Keats (1795—1821) also wrote love poetry that is remarkably timely today. Keats’ The Eve of Saint Agnes is a wonderful and exciting love story. And, in discussing great love poems, we certainly cannot overlook The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot (1888-1965). Your reading, of course, will not be limited to poems about love. You will, no doubt, read poetry on a variety of subjects as you explore the various volumes in your library.

Make sure you have paper and pen available while you read. You have probably already discovered that many excellent poetry ideas can be suggested or ìtriggeredî by reading the work of other poets. Don’t hesitate to interrupt your writing to jot down notes and/or ideas that may prove useful to you later in the making of your own poems. Remember that poetry can be thought of as a kind of on-flowing conversation among all the poets who have written. When you read deeply and write carefully, you have joined the conversation. You have become a part of that powerful, moving river of words.

Cold Mornings

On the cold mornings, Mother’s voice
tweaked the air; our limbs leaped,

unlimbered from memory. We greeted
the long icicles draping the eaves,

shadowing the frosted panes. We
would think ahead to our distant

school far beyond drifting snow
and ice clogging the walkways

and the streets. We lingered at
the reluctant stove as long as

we dared, and yet we all knew,
even in our frigid despair,

the ordeals of Mother.

by Laverne Frith

“Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind…”

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more;
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
“Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)