The Seekers

I began my poetry journey before the internet existed, so I was drawn to the classical poets, as their works were the easiest found. The first poem that caught my attention was the forward of a book we read in the ninth or tenth grade by John Gunther, “Death Be Not Proud”. The book didn’t make much of an impression on me (other than being sad), but because our teacher made us memorize it, the poem of the same title in the book’s forward stuck with me. It struck me first because it was the first poetic writing I had experienced that didn’t rhyme, and then because it was at an age when I was waking up to the realization of my mortality, and the poem was the first time I could ever recall being led into someone else’s thoughts on death. It made me curious as to what similar works were out there. It also inspired me to start writing down some of my own thoughts.

Of course, once my interest was piqued so that I started looking, I inevitably stumbled upon Shakespeare. It was “on” at that point, as there is none better, although the “Big Three” romantics give it a go... Shelley, Byron, and Keats.

My personal endgame in poetry came with Tennyson. Tennyson was everything I was looking for; flowing language, visually descriptive, thoughtful, and not quite so flowery.

I find some form of magic in every line.

A sample, Tennyson’s take on carpe diem, from Ulysses:

I am part of all that I have met,

yet all experience is an arch

wherethru gleams that untraveled world

whose margin fades forever, and forever, as I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

to rust unburnished, not to shine with use...

as though to breath were life.

Tennyson speaks to me like no other. Like him, I find that the more I live and learn, the more I realize that there is so much more to live and learn, yet the time to get it done is always diminishing.

One tip I will give. When I have truly enjoyed any poem it was usually in the twenty-fifth, out-loud reading. Like wine the good one’s are best when savored.

Good luck on your journey... I hope you find your muse.