“Life Is To Short To Live Without Poetry, So Come On Darling And Show It Me”
~ Frank Turner~
Alight, you probably are getting tired of my constant reference to Frank Turner, But has made the biggest impact on my life and the Quote fits perfectly!!!
So Poetry? Well to be honest I used to hate it with a passion. I think it developed when I realised I couldn’t write poetry. I was twelve and well what twelve-year-old wants to write poetry? I didn’t. Anyway after much hatred of Poetry I finally found the key that would hold my love of poetry.
Sylvia Plath; I don’t know what it was about her writing. The anguish and the anger and sadness that echoed through her choice of words? Or the way the words sat in time?
I don’t know the pinpoint but from the first few lines of Daddy ~ that was it. I was hooked. After I read Daddy, I quickly moved on to read all the poems inside Ariel. I simply had to know who Ted Hughes was so I went and bought his book Birthday Letters. And to me it was like the sky opened up and I felt like I understood that there was something more than just words.
I envy the students who are taught about it during the HSC. How lucky they are!
After doing a lot of reasearch I finally watched the movie about the two. I found it very hard to watch but I am glad that I did. The only observation that I will make is that I belive she was a troubled soul. I wouldn’t pass blame to anyone in this situation.
Back to the poetry.
What brought this topic to mind is that I was going through some of my old things and books and found all my old poetry books from A levels, Seamus Heaney and Owen Sheers. I remember all the resentment I had for those books before I found I loved them so dearly after reading Plath. It made me think of Plath’s poems and how I would say them allowed as I walked to school with one of my friends. All of those poems locked into my brain forever. I couldn’t help myself doing it as I walked from the station to work. They were like rivers and streams that I couldn’t stop. Sam, Daddy, Red. All the words wanting to be spoken. It was a feeling I hadn’t had for a long time.
My favorite Poems :
Plath:
Daddy
Lady Lazarus
Hughes:
Your Paris
Red
Heaney:
Blackberry Picker
Bogland ~ALl of his poems to do with the peat bogs take my interest more than anything~
Death of a Naturalist
Follower
Mid Term Break
~What I found amusing is that ALL of Heaney’s poems I used to resent and now they are some of my favorites that spring off my tongue without any thought~
~Poetry, How I Have Missed You~
I wish I could pinpoint the moment when I stopped saying them at dinner parties and for fun. They just ceased to exist in my life for a long time being replaced with copious amounts of alcohol. I suppressed by the loud music which drowned them out. Instead of continuing and furthering my love of literature, I stepped on it in my haste to grow up and party.
What I am most looking forward to in a few weeks after my exams, is to sit down with a good book and read. To me reading is so nourishing for your soul.
When someone tells me that they hate reading I cant help but wonder, Is it the style of writing, the culture you are apart of ~ sex drugs and rock and roll~ that is preventing you from enjoying it? Or is it the lack of understanding?
To me I know why I resented books and literature for a long time.
Maybe it was the same reason that they don’t like it too?
We Dont Like Things We Dont Understand.
~So take some time to help yourself understand, you may be surprised.~