#5OnMyTBR | 5 Poetry Books on my TBR list

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook and you can learn more about it here or in the post announcing it. It occurs every Monday when we post about 5 books on our TBR.

This week the topic is Poetry. Though, I do not actually have any poetry books on my TBR, I picked 5 from my favorite poets.

#1 Maya Angelou

I was so moved to hear Maya Angelou read Still I Rise. The way she reads her own works is almost magical – causing me to feel the words as well as hear them.

#2 Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken remains my favorite poem of all-time. It was the first poem to really speak to me. It’s the story of my life:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

#3 Shakespeare

I studied Shakespeare for multiple semesters and I was struck by how timeless his sonnets and plays are. Something written in the 1500’s is as relevant today as it was back then.

Sonnet 27: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul’s imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo, thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

#4 Robert Burns

Did you know Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne in the 1700’s? –the same Auld Lang Syne that we sing on New Year’s Eve to say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

(Chorus)
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne...

-There are 4 more stanza’s to the poem. Above is the Scots version but it was also translated to English.

#5 John Donne

Anyone that can use the bite of a flea as a metaphor for love should be on this list – don’t you agree?

The Flea

BY JOHN DONNE

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,   
How little that which thou deniest me is;   
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;   
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,
    Yet this enjoys before it woo,
    And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
    And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Who are some of your favorite poets?