poetry in English

[Veva]

Hi, I am very much into poetry and I would like to start reading original texts by British and American writers. The problem is, that I am not a native speaker and my English is not so good .... maybe you could suggest any poets who are not so difficult to read .... thanx a lot...:)

[Kafka's Crow]

English Romantic Poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats and Shelley) can reward anybody with even a little interest in poetry. Start with Keats for lovely and extremely emotionally charged lyrical poems. Read smaller poems first. When I read Keats, a life-time ago (1987 to be precise), I was only 17 years old, a non-native speaker with a slightly above-average linguistic acquirement but massive enthusiasm and absolutely unshakable resolution to read Keats. There was no other option. I found his vocabulary archaic and references to Greek mythology very interesting. I bought a notebook and wrote down every word and unfamiliar phrase and reference. I got hold of our huge big dictionary and looked up every single of these unfamiliar entries.

I must admit that before completing my school I was already familiar with Wordsworth's 'Lucy Poems' and Daffodils and The Solitary Reaper, Tennyson's Sweet and Low and Charge of the Light Brigade, Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and Leigh Hunt's Abou ben Adhem. My brother's best friend's elder sister was doing an MA in Eng. Lit and I used to browse through her books. I was already familiar with the 'Romantic Movement' and the concepts of imagination, nature and simplicity of the rustic life. Try to familiarise yourself with these poems. Be an enthusiast. Nothing overcomes hurdles like enthusiasm.

[barbara0207]

I think that's very good advice that Kafka's Crow has given. But if you should lack the time to work with the poems the way KC did, I recommend buying or borrowing annotated editions. They have been made for older students and give you so much help that reading the poems should be pure fun. You will find these books in the English language educational section of your library. If available, stick to editions with English annotations only. So you needn't switch from one language to the other.

[Veva]

thanx for your advice, I've tried reading the romantic poetry in my mother tongue {which is Slovak} and I find it beautiful, so I will definitely try it in English as well... as for the annotated versions of poetry books, I have to tell u that there is no possibility like that in the place where I live...:bawling: