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Learn from the poetic wisdom of the ages at Oldpoetry. Join the discussion or apply to be an editor today. Enjoy, Emulate, Admire.→ Learn more
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Charles Bukowski•Robert Burns•Lord George Gordon Byron•Carlos Drummond de Andrade•Khalil Gibran•John Keats•Jack Kerouac•Rudyard Kipling•Henry Lawson•Dorothea Mackellar•Jose Marti•A.A. Milne•Pablo Neruda••Oldpoetry••Nizar Qabbani•Taigu Ryokan•Anne Sexton•Cicely Fox Smith•James Stephens•Rabindranath Tagore→ Browse all authors, → Browse popular poetry
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Childrens, Eastern, Erotica, Humour, Love, Lyrics, Mythology, Nature, Other, Philosophy, Sad, Society, Sonnet, Spiritual, Tribute, WarPoems of the day
- A Poet To His Baby Son by James Weldon Johnson 48 lines, 2 comments
- Despairless! Hopeless! Quietly I Wait by Thomas Runciman 14 lines, 2 comments
- Book Contents: The Animals Noah Forgot:Banjo Paterson by 24 lines, 3 comments
- The Last Of His Tribe by Henry Kendall 40 lines, 3 comments
Essays
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Cargoes, and the poetry of romantic and economic Man by KevinDunn, from I-Like-RhymesJohn Masefield’s “Cargoes” is a very fine poem, packing an enormous amount of imagery and atmosphere into just 87 words. It is clear, vivid and immediate, and has been deservedly enshrined as a classic and repeatedly anthologized:
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This week 63 members visited, read
980 poems, and made
61
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Oldpoetry has 84930 poems total by 5699 authors. 27624 comments.
Oldpoetry has 84930 poems total by 5699 authors. 27624 comments.
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on The House of Times Past by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, 2 hours agoIn a previous poem Drummond used the past to portray pleasure. Here he uses it for the opposite. I think it's only inconsistent if we believe our emotions are inflexible.
No, if we are looking to go home again, the building is condemned, but if we are just looking for nostalgia, the windows may be still unboarded and we can see inside. The former is a desire to re-live a life, the latter to re-live a moment. -
on Flesh That Is Shamed by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, 2 hours agoI see is as a loss of innocence, that what once the flesh did without compunction, the Devil gives a stain, a knowledge of guilt. What could be worse than pure innocence being shown that all it had done, with no thought to sin, was shameful. Leads to a lot of questions...the nature of guilt, pleasure, and the essence of moral values.
I wonder if this is at all inspired by the Faust legend? -
on The Great Pain of Things That Will Happen by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, 3 hours agoI guess time can do that for some. Maybe I just haven't reached that age yet, or am not enlightened enough...for pain remains pain and old photos (memories) just bring that pain back. But the voice in this poem sees it different, and maybe that is the thing, that this pain was one that time could ease...or rather, metamorphose.
Another Drummond gem.
Yemassee
2 hours ago
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