Aish's Blog Spot

Favourite Poems

Favourite Poems

1. Ozymandias of Egypt
To date, am yet to meet a person who has a little interest in poetry and has read Ozymandias, and remains unimpressed by it. The tone is stark, just like the desert it is set in. And Shelley’s very vivid descriptions of the statue of Ozymandias are nothing short of awesome. You can actually see the statue in front of your eyes.



I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

2. WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be – John Keats
Keats is absolutely my favorite poet ever! And its tough picking up just one of his poems! Amongst the most famous of the romantics, Keats was renowned for his focus on beauty of language, imagery & rhyme. His Odes are excellent.
This is one of his lesser known poems, but one that I found very moving. Keats was barely 25 when he died of consumption (and a broken-hear?).

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high pil`d books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And feel that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.


3. Stopping by the woods on a Snowy evening – Robert Frost
Given popular appeal by Jawaharlal Nehru, who was particularly fond of the last para –

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

4. Home They Brought the Warrior Dead

I had this poem in my English syllabus when I was in Class Eight, I think. I really like it then. Now, I find it slightly melodramatic/maudlin. Slightly long – it can be accessed at: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem2178.html

5. The Tiger – William Blake
This is an amazing poem – http://www.bartleby.com/101/489.html

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?


6. Abou Ben Adhem – Leigh Hunt
A nice (can't call it excellent) poem by a rather mediocre poet. Hunt was the contemporary and good friend of Keats, but falls way shot of the brilliance of the latter. Methinks he owes his claim to fame merely on this one poem. http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/153.html


More to come- started writing this while in office- and cant recollect all of the poems that I really like & enjoy – should be updating this soon enough.

posted by Aish @ 3:02 PM