Because I feel the need to do something with poetry that is not my paper.

[brinshannara]

I have decided to create a meme in the same vein as the TV show character/book thingymado.

a. Post a list of 5 first lines to poems you enjoy.
b. Have your friends list guess which poem and author the line comes from.
c. When guessed, tell us why you like that poem.

1) S'io'credesse che mia risposta fosse
2) The art of losing isn't hard to master;
3) In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
4) Whose woods these are I think I know. (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost, guessed by slammerkinbabe.)
5) EVERYBODY

(I should ban moireach from this, but what the hell, I figure I'll let her show off. ;))

Comments

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

4. - Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening". Several of the others sound familiar, but I can't quite place them.

[brinshannara]

You're right, of course. I've loved that poem since it was introduced to me at age 11. We spent our English period that cold, dark, snowy December day sitting in a circle on the floor, with a candle lit. Our teacher read us the poem from the illustrated publication of it and then we each memorized a line, and went around and around the circle until we all knew each line. And it was just so perfect with the snow falling gently outside. :)

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

It's my dad's favorite poem - something of a distinction, as he's dyslexic and thus doesn't spend a whole lot of time with poetry. We had an illustrated edition of it - it's actually sitting on a bookshelf just a few feet away from me now, dogeared and battered and very much loved. The illustrations are lovely, capturing the mood of the poem perfectly - I just tried to scan one, actually, but the book is oversized and it wouldn't fit on the scanner. :( so sad. I mean, I'm sure they're not technically brilliant illustrations, but to my kid's eye they were wonderful. Maybe this is easier - http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0525467343/ref=sib_rdr_fc/102-0784253-8820130?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S001#reader-page

[brinshannara]

It looks like a different edition of the same book I'm talking about:

Here.

Beautiful, beautiful illustrations. All white and black and grey with the little speck of colour. <happy sigh>

Thank you for reminding me why I took poetry. :)

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, the edition you linked to is the edition that I have; the new one looks slightly different, but I couldn't get a good picture of the old one. :)

[brinshannara]

:) It's the same edition my English teacher in Grade 6 read to us and passed around the circle during that class. When I saw it at Amazon several years later, I bought it. It might be one of my most treasured books here. :)

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Also, I think 5 is Backstreet Boys' "Rock Your Body". ;)

[brinshannara]

Most. Definitely. Not. ;)