October 29, Selected Poems

The following link has copies of the poems to be discussed at the October 29 meeting.
LINK TO POEMS
Meeting time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Plaza Branch Library, Small Meeting Room
Address: 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64112

A collection of poems by the following authors has been selected for our reading and reflection this month. Group members are asked to read the 40 poems in the packet, select 2 to 5 poems from the list and be prepared to share them with the group.

  •Sir Philip Sidney
  •John Donne
  •George Herbert
  •Thomas Gray
  •William Wordsworth
  •Percy Shelly
  •John Keats
  •Alfred Lord Tennyson
  •Robert Browning

The following is an explanation by Stephen about how the poem selections were made:

1. Poetry is best read in its own language, so I have included only English poems.
2. I've tried to keep the poems short -- less than 300 lines.
3. After having so much Whitman, I felt as though we might best be served by only British authors.
4. In the book club we don't normally go beyond 1950, but I, being even more reactionary than that, have included no poets born after 1880 in my small collection.
5. I've included brief bios with the poems, so as to give some context, though poetry is often read best "out of context" at first, so as not to give the reader pre-imposed first impressions.  (Bios are not posted on-line with the poems. It is suggested that you search the web for bios.)
6. I've excluded Milton and Shakespeare from this list, though they are poets, because they are regulars among our monthly readings.
7. There are no female poets in my collection, not because there are no great female British poets (Elizabeth Barrett Browning immediately comes to mind as excellent), but because there weren't representative poems from those 1-2 women that fit the length I had established with the other poets.

Please read through the packet and be prepared to discuss 2-5 poems that particularly struck you. I will try to keep the discussion moving and hope to seriously discuss 5 poems in our time together.
There are just under 40 poems in your packet.