My Favourite Poems
These are the poems that have inspired my work but, more importantly, these are the poems that move me
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All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher — Lord Byron
Material possessions are not a cure for a melancholy heart. One for those who are given everything they want but are still unhappy. Quite possibly my favourite poem of all time.
Love And Death — Lord Byron
A poem about unrequited love, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about loving and giving love and to have someone not receive that love graciously. And then strongly, wrongly, vainly loving them still.
Prometheus — Lord Byron
“Thy Godlike crime was to be kind.”
The First Kiss Of Love — Lord Byron
A monument to the first flutter of butterflies in one’s stomach — the first sigh — the first heave of a bosom. This is why Byron is the best; he understands human emotion and passion better than anyone else. He even dedicates a stanza to dragging other poets.
Legend.
It is The Hour — Lord Byron
Another banger from the ‘Hebrew Melodies’ (1815).
“And in the Heaven that clear obscure
So softly dark, and darkly pure,
That follows the decline of day
As twilight melts beneath the moon away.”
Sudden Light — Dante Gabriel Rossetti
One of the best articulations about finding one’s soulmate. I love the way he sticks the fourth line of every stanza with a short, sharp sentence. A poem that says join me in this life and have the love that you and I had before again.
A Thunderstorm In Town — Thomas Hardy
A short poem that accomplishes so much so quickly. I can see exactly where he is and what he is feeling in the moment contained in this two stanza poem. I can hear the rain. I can sense the warmth and coziness of the carriage.
I can feel the regret of not having taken a longed-for kiss.
