What is Poetry?

• According to your poems, what is the relationship between the poet and the poem?
• According to your poems, what is the relationship between the poem and the audience of the poem?
• According to you, what is the rationale for discussing and teaching poetry?

1. John Keats (1795 - 1821),
   "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" -- See the Wikipedia Page on the Mermaid Tavern, and remember that if Ben Jonson was there, there's a good chance Shakespeare was, too.
2. Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886),
   "There is no Frigate like a Book"
3. A. E. Housman (1859–1936),
   "Terence, this is stupid stuff"
4. Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972),
   "Poetry"
5. Archibald Macleish (1892 - 1982),
   "Ars Poetica"
6. Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973),
   "The Poet's Obligation"
7. Dylan Thomas (1914 -1953),
   "In my craft or sullen art"
8. Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. 1919),
   "Constantly risking absurdity"
9. Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974),
   "An Obsessive Combination of Ontological Inscape,
   Trickery and Love"
10. Adrienne Rich (1929 - 2012),
    Poetry: I
11. Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998),
    "The Thought Fox"
12. Ishmael Reed (b. 1938),
    "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem"
13. Ed Bruce (b. 1939) [made famous by Waylon Jennings, covered by Willie Nelson]
    "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys" -- NOTE: Ed's wife, Patsy Bruce, may deserve most of the credit for this song.
14. Billy Collins (b. 1941),
    "Introduction to Poetry"
15. Tess Gallagher (b. 1943),
    "I Stop Writing the Poem"