Anyone pretty Familiar with Poets??

Question

Yes, I have sadly yet inevitably procrastinated on my summer Literature homework. But I'm not going to blow it off- I just need help selecting a poetry book. For those who are familiar with a lot of poets, which one out of this list typically has shorter, easier to understand poetry? If there's a good book of theirs you have in mind (has to be on the shorter side though), I would love any suggestions!

Maya Angelou

William Blake

Emily Dickinson

Robert Frost

Pat Mora

Naomi Shihab Nye

Anne Sexton

W.H. Auden

Gwendolyn Brooks

John Donne

Louise Glick

Toni Morrison

Octavio Paz

Kevin Stein

Jimmy Santiago Baca

ee cummings

T.S. Eliot

Joy Harjo

Pablo Neruda

Adrienne Rich

Walt Whitman

Answer 1

W.H. Auden--pick up a collected edition.

T.S. Eliot created modern form in "The Four Quartets" and shouldn't be missed, but you may need a lot more time to study the work.

Robert Frost is also incredible; again, a collected edition.

Answer 2

Louise Gluck "The Wild Iris" isn't long and it should be easy to understand.

Joy Harjo "She Had Some Horses" would also be a good choice.

There are a lot of other good poets there, but I would go with those two.

Answer 3

Frost's poetry is syntactically accessible and I would purchase the collected poems of Frost and begin reading.  Read some of the longer poems though, particularly "Death of the Hired Man" and "The Star-Splitter" along with all of his familiar standards:"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Mending Wall", etc.  I love Eliot, Whitman, Blake, and Dickinson, but they are all more difficult than Frost and what Emily Dickinson gains in concision she loses in the psychic energy required to unravel her dense language and volcanic punctuation.  I don't see Wallace Stevens on this list, but he was also wonderful.  Best...

Answer 4

Dickinson's poems tend to be on the short side. However, I would highly recommend reading all or most of these poets eventually.  

Answer 5

Hmmm...  You might want to go with Emily Dickinson who wrote short poems and poems that  all people of all levels can enjoy.  Sadly, you are missing some awesome poems by going at your homework this way.  How about making a goal to read a poem by each of these poets in the next school year.  Maya Angelou writes very heartfelt poems.  ee cummings is a one of a kind poet...he sort of does for poetry what graffiti does for art (and in a really good way).  Good luck with whatever you choose to do!