Sunday, April 26, 2009

Old vs. New (poetry)

The question has been posed do I prefer "old" poetry (before 1950).

Well, the answer to the question lies in what is being termed "poetry".

For most of what is studied or discussed, I prefer "old" poetry. Some of my favorite poets include Euripides, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. With all of these poets it is more their take on the absurdities of human behavior that draws me to their work.

Which brings me to my all-time favorite poet, OgdenNash, who himself was a master of the absurd. Of course, it can be argued that Dr. Seuss writes in a similar vein, so he is on my list as well.

Now, with that being said, should we include lyric as poetry, I would say that there are songs which speak to me across the eras. There is often a timelessness that can be found and applied to current points in our lives, no matter when the piece was written.

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