Saturday 1 March 2008

Favourite Poems

Paul Johnson in this week's Spectator magazine gives a list of his ten favourite short poems. Today in The Daily Telegraph Michael Henderson gives his, after ticking Johnson off over his choice of Yeats's "Innisfree" - "pigswill" says Henderson.
I rather like it. Indeed it is one of the few poems I do like by Yeats.
Others in their lists - well I like some of them and dislike others and, many, I have not read or even heard of.
Henderson cannot understand why Johnson has not chosen a Shakespeare sonnet. I can't understand it either. Henderson chooses "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment...." I think that would be my choice too, though "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day...." vies with it for first place.
Henderson chooses a Hardy but Johnson doesn't. My Hardy choice would be "Afterwards" and, like Johnson, my Shelley piece would be "Ozymandias".
Neither chooses Browning. Surely one of the great dramatic poems in the English language is "My Last Duchess", a real Hammer Horror of a poem.
Kipling is ignored which I think is a pity; in spite of his disliked imperialistic views he did write some wonderful short poems especially those about the ordinary serving soldier - "And it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy 'ow's your soul/ But it's thin red line of 'eroes when the drums begin to roll."

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