Scan barcode
A review by beth_books_123
Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them by Anthony Holden
4.0
Poetry is meant to be felt - 4*
I never used to appreciate poetry. My state education unfortunately sucked most of my love and enjoyment for poetry as I was taught (and perhaps trained) to focus on the literary elements: the metaphors, the imagery and the context of the poem. Although these elements may be important, I never thought it was, I only learnt to read poems looking for extended metaphors and alliteration. I forgot what emotion and feelings meant in a poem; I forget the true beauty of poetry.
Flash forward to the age of fourteen and the first time I read Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. Luckily, I did not study this poem and I am so thankful that I didn't. Otherwise I would have been working out the rhyme scheme rather than actually reading the words and understand Owens' words. I had previously read The Soldier by Robert Brooke and despite my patriotism (long live the queen etc.), this poem made me hate the propaganda forced on young men during WW1. Then I read Dulce Et Decorum Est which portrayed the brutalities of war and finally portrayed a picture that represented the true war. For this I was grateful but also very emotional because this scene portrayed probably wasn't the first and last horrific scene of the great war.
This book highlights the connections and emotions men have felt to poetry. However, don't be afraid women, we can cry too. The beauty of this book is the contributors foreword before each poem and how this affected them. Some of them the forewords made me choked up before I had even read the poem because poems can be uplifting of heartbreaking - for me there's no in-between.
So introducing my favourite poems in this anthology. The poems that moved me:
- Love after Love by Derek Walcott
This one made me cry. Not just because of its contributor (Tom Hiddleston - who I admire greatly) but because of the simplicity of the poem. You are enough and in a world where I probably doubt myself so many times during important periods in my life, this poem reminds you (and me) that you're enough.
-Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen - my first connection in poetry, one that I will never ever forget.If you haven't read it, please do, it is such an eye opener to the real life of the war.
-Remember by Christina Rossetti
Ithaka by Constantine P. Cavafy
A fantastic must-read.
I never used to appreciate poetry. My state education unfortunately sucked most of my love and enjoyment for poetry as I was taught (and perhaps trained) to focus on the literary elements: the metaphors, the imagery and the context of the poem. Although these elements may be important, I never thought it was, I only learnt to read poems looking for extended metaphors and alliteration. I forgot what emotion and feelings meant in a poem; I forget the true beauty of poetry.
Flash forward to the age of fourteen and the first time I read Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. Luckily, I did not study this poem and I am so thankful that I didn't. Otherwise I would have been working out the rhyme scheme rather than actually reading the words and understand Owens' words. I had previously read The Soldier by Robert Brooke and despite my patriotism (long live the queen etc.), this poem made me hate the propaganda forced on young men during WW1. Then I read Dulce Et Decorum Est which portrayed the brutalities of war and finally portrayed a picture that represented the true war. For this I was grateful but also very emotional because this scene portrayed probably wasn't the first and last horrific scene of the great war.
This book highlights the connections and emotions men have felt to poetry. However, don't be afraid women, we can cry too. The beauty of this book is the contributors foreword before each poem and how this affected them. Some of them the forewords made me choked up before I had even read the poem because poems can be uplifting of heartbreaking - for me there's no in-between.
So introducing my favourite poems in this anthology. The poems that moved me:
- Love after Love by Derek Walcott
This one made me cry. Not just because of its contributor (Tom Hiddleston - who I admire greatly) but because of the simplicity of the poem. You are enough and in a world where I probably doubt myself so many times during important periods in my life, this poem reminds you (and me) that you're enough.
-Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen - my first connection in poetry, one that I will never ever forget.If you haven't read it, please do, it is such an eye opener to the real life of the war.
-Remember by Christina Rossetti
Ithaka by Constantine P. Cavafy
A fantastic must-read.