# What is your favorite poem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401 "2004-05-21T18:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/1 "2004-05-21T18:37:57Z")
My favorite poem is _[The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock](http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html)_ by T.S. Eliot. I have always like it since the first time I read it, but I have never known why Anyway… what is your favorite poem?? ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/2 "2004-05-21T18:52:35Z")
My favorite poem is probably [The Lady of Shalott](http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/TENNLADY.HTML) by Tennyson. It’s got an amazing flow to it, its one of those poems that you just have to read out loud, even if you’re by yourself. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/3 "2004-05-21T19:00:55Z")
Dante’s Inferno. Hey, I like Epics. If you mean more traditional poems, then EA Poe’s, “The Raven”. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/4 "2004-05-21T19:14:02Z")
While I certainly appreciate and enjoy “serious” poetry, my heart has always belonged to the more light-hearted verse out there. My vote’s for Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/5 "2004-05-21T19:17:04Z")
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service. Was it funny … or not? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/6 "2004-05-21T19:18:42Z")
Like **HPL** , I like epics – **Iliad, Odyssey** , the shortest of the ones I like is **the Rime of the Ancient Mariner**. Of shorter poems, I like Shelley’s **Ozymandias**. The altered meaning in the last line is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/7 "2004-05-21T19:55:44Z")
By Unknown: Her feet went into the air Her face turned crimson red She felt both dark and damp And she wished that she were dead The moral to my story Is never sit down abrupt Always look behind you For the seat may still be up ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/8 "2004-05-21T19:56:30Z")
I’m not a huge reader of poetry, but, like **LVgeogeek** , I’m quite fond of Eliot. _The Wasteland_ and _Four Quartets_ have always amazed me. There’s a contemporary poet named Sherman Alexie who wrote an incredibly beautiful poem called _Tiny Treaties_. His stuff is all in print currently, I believe. It’s not the dense, allusive stuff of Eliot – it’s a bit more accessible, but no less an artistic achievement. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/9 "2004-05-21T20:00:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Of shorter poems, I like Shelley’s **Ozymandias**. The altered meaning in the last line is priceless. What altered meaning of the last line? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/10 "2004-05-21T20:04:00Z")
_Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour_, by Wallace Stevens. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/11 "2004-05-21T20:06:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > > Of shorter poems, I like Shelley’s Ozymandias. The altered meaning in the last line is priceless. > What altered meaning of the last line? Actually, lines 10 and 11 in this copy. Read the note for line 10: [http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1904.html](http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1904.html) ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/12 "2004-05-21T20:10:24Z")
I think the last line of Ozymandias is ironic… But, I like ‘Jesse James’ by Richard Brautigan a lot . I think that’s the title anyway. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/13 "2004-05-21T20:13:13Z")
Yeah, I was thinking of those lines as the last line too. “look on my works, and despair!” ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/14 "2004-05-21T20:18:14Z")
[“Lapis Lazuli,”](http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1522/) by Yeats. Narrowly beats out “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Stevens, as well as a few other candidates, but for today, Yeats. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/15 "2004-05-21T20:33:14Z")
> [@raz](#): > > My favorite poem is probably [The Lady of Shalott](http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/TENNLADY.HTML) by Tennyson. I like it too, despite Fr. Deboiser tellng his English class that it contained “what is universally agreed to be the worst line in English poetry”: “Tirra lirra,” by the river Sang Sir Lancelot. Thanks for the link! Here is my favorite, [Ulysses](http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/ULYSSES.HTML) I can hear them fighting in the lines: And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. So, sue me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/16 "2004-05-21T20:42:35Z")
[The Jumblies by Edward Lear](http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html) ---
**Author:** ![Studioworks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Studioworks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Studioworks)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/17 "2004-05-21T21:03:10Z")
The Man Who Knew by Robert Service, sorry no link, errors on page, but look here: [http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/service/man\_who\_knew.html](http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/service/man_who_knew.html) It reminds me not to get too judgemental when I am reading/looking at something. Most of the time I’m far too easy to declair something crap. ---
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/18 "2004-05-21T21:07:15Z")
**raz** , I hadn’t read The Lady of Shallott since high-school oh, um, probably like 10 years :o , thanks for the link 🙂 **zev** I like the lighthearted poems as well And even though they are a bit juvenille, I still like the Shel Silverstein poems too. My husband really likes Ulysses’ Oddessy ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/19 "2004-05-21T21:16:56Z")
Personally, I tend to favor my own performance poetry, however I enjoy this one by [Marc Smith](http://www.slampapi.com/new_site/poems/sandburg_to_smith.htm) and this one by [Scott Woods](http://www.blackair.coolfreepages.com/POEM_QueenTakesBlackKnight.htm) and the incomparable [Regie Gibson](http://www.regiegibson.com/poetry.html). The classics are the classics, and as such, the truth of their excellence is generally above reproach, but I prefer the more urbane poetry, with the grit of life roughing up the words a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/77aa72/32.png) [@Heart\_On\_My\_Sleeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_On_My_Sleeve)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401/20 "2004-05-21T21:44:04Z")
I love Walt Whitman…one of my favorites: [http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman/13182](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman/13182) Also this one: [http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman/13183](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman/13183) Admittedly, I’m not well-versed in poetry, only wish I was. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-poem/246401.md?page=2)