My Favourite Poets

I remember loving poetry as soon as I was introduced to the genre in elementary school. In the following years I was introduced to a variety of different poets, and while I loved some and only tolerated others, my love for poetry in itself has never wavered.

                    

Picking my favourite poets for this post was actually quite hard, for while I have read a lot of poetry I have rarely read a lot of poetry from a particular poet, and thus have a hard time deciding if I like the poet's writings enough for him to be a favourite of mine.

But I have tried to pick out a few that hopefully illustrate the kinds of poetry I have liked through the years!

Tove Ditlevsen
For those of you who don't know, Tove Ditlevsen was a Danish poet and writer who was mainly active in the 1950's. She was one of the very first poets I was introduced to, and a big reason that I came to love the genre so much.
Her poems are often characterised by a certain wistfulness and melancholy and many of them are written from the point of view of a young girl (possibly why I could relate to them so much).
My favourite poem of hers is called The Eternal Three (roughly translated) and is basically a story of a woman trapped between the two men in her life; the one she loves, and the one who loves her. (Lots of sadness, right? But it pretty much sums up her writing style)

                                 
Tom Kristensen
Another Danish poet (most of the poetry I've read is Danish after all). Tom Kristensen was writing in the 1920's and he is considered part of the expressionism movement. What I immediately liked about his poems were the constant rhythm and rhymes, which makes them a pleasure to read out loud. But they are also very descriptive and livid, and I just like them a lot.


Alfred Tennyson
Yes, now we have arrived at the English poets! I discovered them a bit later when I started reading a lot of English literature. I remember sometimes in period dramas they would cite passages of poems, and when I later looked it up online, Tennyson was the author of all the passages I enjoyed the most. So obviously he has earned a place on my list of favourites!

                    


William Shakespeare
Last but definitely not least! I couldn't even fathom having a list of poets without Shakespeare appearing. For a long time he was my only reference for true classic English poetry, and his name was spoken with reference. When I actually got around to reading some of his works I saw for myself the brilliance of his writings. There are many pretty lines of poetry hidden in some of his plays and many of the sonnets are true masterpieces (especially no 116 - my all time favourite).

                    


Now you know a bit of my poetry preferences, though just because a name isn't on this list doesn't mean I don't enjoy their poetry. It probably means I haven't read enough of that particular poet to properly judge if he should be among the favourites.


If you want to read more poetry related posts, Hamlette has been hosting a poetry celebration throughout this month, so be sure to pop over at her blog for the full list of entries.