Talking Poetry (sort of)

It seems I like to get my homework done early...

Weekend Assignment #316: National Poetry Month


As April wraps up, let's not let it get away without celebrating National Poetry Month. For this assignment, please share with us something about poetry. Tell us about your favorite poet, or quote us a few lines of your favorite poem, or if poetry doesn't happen to be something you enjoy, tell us why!

Extra Credit: Write a Haiku!



I was thinking of writing something about the smart, snarky, tortured lady poets: Dorothy Parker, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton. But the truth is that I don’t much do poetry. I like character development.

I remember studying Beowulf in high school. That was pretty cool, but I imagine if Mr. David Mullaly taught quantum physics I would have thought it cool. Which is kind of how I ended up reading Paradise Lost a couple of months ago.

I purchased a copy many years ago, when I went through a phase I call, “I have finished my Bachelor’s Degree and no one is ever going to make me read a book again.” It was really a panic. That if I didn’t make myself read the things one is supposed to read, I will have missed something. And become a Jello-head.

Seriously, people.  I went through 13 years of public school and four years of college and didn’t manage to read To Kill a Freakin' Mockingbird until it was the pick for One Book, One Chicago.

I wanted to read Paradise Lost, but every time I picked it up, I would think about how much more fun it would be to read with a real teacher. You know, that knew stuff. Then I discovered Academic Earth. And it had an entire course on John Milton. So I finally read it. And the “sequel”. And some other 17th century English stuff about politics and virtue.

Here is what I wrote about the epic and here is what I wrote about the course.  Good times.