Our Poems
2016
In November we looked at two lovely English rural poems, ideal for the time of year.
Elegy written in a country churchyard by Thomas Grey and The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith.
Our chosen poet for October was John Betjeman
In September we read poems by Philip Larkin and other British poets of the 20th century
War poems was the topic for August
When we met on July 4th our subject was American Poets. We listened to poems by Ogden Nash, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wendell Berry, Shel Silverstein, Louisa M Alcott, Jack Prelutsky, Edgar Allan Poe and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
For June four of us considered Gardens and Flowers. Amongst others we heard poems by Wordsworth, Herrick, Kipling, Marvell, Graves, Shakespeare, Yeats, and Townsend Warner. Also excerpts from the King James Bible.
Poets with a surname beginning with A (Including Anon) was our chosen topic for April
In March we read poems about water (Oceans, Streams, Rivers, Rain, Waterfalls, Lakes)
In February our topic was Mythological Stories and Creatures. We read a wide selection including excepts from Shakespeare (Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth). Others were:
Excepts from the Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
The Song of Wandering Aengus by W.B.Yeats.
Our first meeting of the New year was in January when we considered poems about Winter. Three members brought along their own compositions.
Some of the poems read included
Winter my Secret by Christina Rossetti
Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Snow-Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
New Year's Poem by Margaret Avison (1918-2007)
London Snow by Robert Bridges
Snow in the Suburbs by Thomas Hardy
The Winter Palace by Philip Larkin
Lines for Winter by Mark Strand
Sheep in Winter by John Clare
Winter-Time by Robert Louis Stevenson
Winter Song by Wilfred Owen
Winter (from Love's Labour's Lost) by William Shakespeare
2015
Our December topic was Hearth and Home. A few we read were;
No Thanks by Dennis O'Driscoll (1954-2012)
Posting Letters by Gregory Harrison
The Piano by DH Lawrence
On the Disadvantages of Central Heating by Amy Campbel
In November we read and heard an eclectic mix of poems about Foreign Places, Travel and Travellers including
After Waterloo (from Don Juan) by Byron read by Tyrone Power
In Paris with You by James Fenton
One Day in Italy by Mike Orlock
Just in Case by Charlotte Mitchell
Sarajevo 1951 by Lawrence Durrell
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Mad Dogs and Englishman by Noel Coward
The Yellow bird sings in their tree and makes my heart dance with gladness by Rabindranath Tagore
Cargoes by John Masefield
To the Nile by John Keats
Sohrab and Rustum (extract) by Matthew Arnold
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
Greek Orthodox by John Betjeman
The Vagabond by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ayers Rock by Pam Ayres
Robert Frost was the subject for October's meeting.After learning a little of his life, some of the poems we heard were
My November Guest
Mending Wall
Desert Places
The Sound of the Trees
The Runaway
"Out, Out-"
The Smile
After a break in August we enjoyed a "potluck" of poems in September
Did I Turn off my Tongs? (Pam Ayres)
Meg Merrilies (John Keats)
Under Milk Wood- extract (Dylan Thomas)
In July we looked mainly at contemporary poets (born after 1945). Among the poems we read were:
In Mrs Tilscher's Class (Carol Ann Duffy)
Another Unfortunate Choice (Wendy Cope)
This be the Worst (Adrian Mitchell)
Night Shift (Simon Armitage)
Bagpipe Muzak, Glasgow 1990 (Liz Lochhead)
The Cupboard (Christopher Reid)
We also heard some Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath's poems.
In June we cooked at the extensive work of T.S. Eliot, including Journey of the Magi and Macavity: the Mystery Cat
In March we discussed the life and works of David Herbert Richards (D.H.) Lawrence.(1885-1930) We were surprised at the volume and variety of his artistic output (including 800 poems). Some that we read included Piano, Bavarian Gentians and the Song of a Man Who Has Come Through.
Our chosen poet for February was Thomas Hardy.
2014
December: Our theme was Food
Robert Herrick
A.A. Milne
Ogden Nash
November 11 of us met to discuss 0ur theme about making the most of time (carpe diem) and enjoying life.
October: Ballads
W S GILBERT
Etiquette
BILLY BENNETT
She was poor but she was honest
W W GIBSON:
Stone
W SCOTT: Lochinvar
OGDEN NASH
Custard the dragon
TENNYSON
The Holy Grail
SIDNEY LAVIER
Trees and the master
PAM AYRES:
The ballad of Bill Spink's bedstead
The sailor and the mermaid (own composition)
I Wish (a folk ballad )
July: A free choice
CAROLE ANN DUFFY
The Christmas Truce
ALAN SEEGAR (1888-1916)
I have a Rendevous with Death
PHILIP LARKIN
Talking in Bed
DYLAN THOMAS
Do not go Gentle into that Goodnight
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
extract from Ulysees
EDNA ST VINCENT MILLAY
Dirge with Music
JOHN BETJEMAN
The Costa Blanca
DESHA RANDLES
Body Language
W.H. DAVIES
June: All things pertaining to Summer- holidays, flowers, sun...
Mar and Apr : We considered the poems of some of our Poet Laureates.
Feb : In contrast to the depressing weather we chose poems/verses that make us smile.
OGDEN NASH
A Drink With Something In It
HILAIRE BELLOC
Charles Augustus Fortesque
PAM AYRES
Will I have to be Sexy at Sixty
Jan : We started with a New Year Poem, before looking at poems about the sea (coast,seaside,boats etc).
MINNIE LOUISE HASKINS (1875-1957)
The Gate of the Year
MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822-1888)
Dover Beach
EDWARD SHANKS (1892-1953)
Boats at Night
The Other Little Boats,July 1588
LEWIS CARROLL (1832-1898)
The Walrus and the Carpenter
ARTHUR L. HENDRIKS (1922-1992)
The Fringe of the Sea
PAM AYRES
Seaside
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
Break, Break, Break
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)
The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM (1784-1842)
A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea
JAMES JOYCE (1882-1941)
On the Beach at Fontana
FRANCES CORNFORD (1886-1960)
Pre-Existence
JOHN MASEFIELD (1878-1967)
Sea Fever
ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843)
Inchcape Rock
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
By the Sea
SYLVIA PLATH
A Winter Ship
2013
Dec : We read a selection of seasonal poems.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
When Icicles Hang by the Wall
THOMAS HARDY
The Darkling Thrush
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
In the Bleak Mid Winter
JOHN CLARE (1793-1864)
Schoolboys in Winter
MAUREEN HAZLEHURST
TED HUGHES
Snow and Snow
JOHN BETJEMAN
Christmas
EDWARD THOMAS
Snow
WALTER DE LA MARE (1873-1958)
Snow
ROBERT FROST
Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter
SHEL SILVERSTEIN (1930-1999)
Snowball
LAURIE LEE (1914-1997)
Christmas Landscape
WENDY COPE
A Christmas Poem
Another Christmas Poem
U.A. FANTHORPE
What the Donkey Saw
Nov : Our theme was poems about (or for) children and poems that feature animals.
Oct : We learnt about the group of poets who used to meet in Dymock before the first world war.
JOHN DRINKWATER (1882-1937)
Moonlit Apples
WILFRED WILSON GIBSON (1878-1962)
The Golden Room
Home
EDWARD THOMAS
Rain
The Owl
The Mill-Pond
Adlestrop
ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)
The Road Not Taken
My November Guest
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Desert Places
Sep : This month group members brought along a selection of poems to share with the group.
SEAMUS HEANEY (1939-2013)
Blackberry-Picking
JOHN BETJEMAN
Diary of a Church Mouse
Harvest Hymn
PAM AYRES
Neglected Valentine
JOYCE GRENFELL (1910-1979)
Old Time Dancing-Stately as a Galleon
W.B. YEATS (1865-1939)
Down by the Salley Gardens
ANON
Dust if You Must
I Will Go to the Hills Again
ALLAN AHLBERG (1938-)
Please Mrs Butler
CHRIS HOSKINS
When I go to that Silent Place Seeking Solitude
ALUN LEWIS (1915-1944)
All Day it has Rained.
GEOFFREY WINTHROP YOUNG (1876-1958)
High Hills
July : We looked at Poems about Friends and Family this month. Although we recognised that many poems are about nature, love, war and other subjects with intense emotions, between us we came up with a variety of poems to enjoy.
EMILY DICKINSON
Sister
ELIZABETH JENNINGS (1926-2001)
PHILIP LARKIN (1922-1985)
This be the Verse
JACKIE KAY (1961-)
Divorce
C.DAY-LEWIS (1904-1972)
Walking Away
VERNON SCANNELL
Grannie
WENDY COPE
Loss
ROGER MCGOUGH (1937-)
Bear Hugs
June : Our theme this month was War. Several were the poems of the first World War
RUPERT BROOKE (1887-1915)
The Soldier
WILFRED OWEN (1893-1918)
Dulce et Decorum Est
Strange Meeting
Anthem to Doomed Youth
JOHN MCCRAE (1872-1918)
In Flanders Field
Other poems we read were:
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892)
Charge of the Light Brigade
DOROTHY PARKER (1893-1967)
Penelope
JOHN BETJEMAN (1906-1984)
In Westminster Abbey
HENRY REED (1914-1986)
Naming of Parts
JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE Jr.(1922-1941)
High Flight
MARK SLAUGHTER (1957-)
Soldier's Ghost
CODY HELDAK (1991-)
War is
May : We looked at amusing poems- too many to list but including ones by Ogden Nash and Hilaire Belloc. Quite a few seemed to be about getting older!- Is it that funny, we wondered.
March : We looked at Female Poets
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
May
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY (1892-1950)
First Fig
KAYE STARBIRD (1916-)
Abigail
ANNE SEXTON (1928-1974)
45 Mercy Street
MAYA ANGELOU (1928-)
Still I Rise
U.A. (Ursula Askham) FANTHORPE (1929-2009)
As well as the Bible and Shakespeare...?
JENNY JOSEPH (1932-)
Warning
SYLVIA PLATH (1932-1963)
Spinster
Black Rook in Rainy Weather
WENDY COPE(1945-)
Bloody Men
PAM AYRES (1947-)
Once I was a looker, so was my spouse
CAROL ANN DUFFY (1955-)
Survivor
CAROLINE ALLEN
Richard
January and February : We looked at the Romantic Poets
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827):
Infant Sorrow
Infant Joy
The Little Black Boy
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850):
To a Butterfly
Upon Westminster Bridge
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1832):
Kubla Khan
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822):
Ozymandias
Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats
Love's Philosophy
JOHN KEATS (1795-1821):
Sharing Eve's Apple
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Remember
2012
December : We looked at Poems relating to Christmas
Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863)
Yuletide in a Younger World by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
The Oxen by Thomas Hardy
Christmas Lights by Cowtown Stacey
The Savior must have been a Docile Gentleman by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Christmas Greetings (adapted from a poem) by Helen Steiner Rice (1900-1981)
Christmas Everywhere by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
November :
Frog Autumn by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
From June to December by Wendy Cope (1945-)
The Life that I Have by Leo Marks (1920-2001)
On first looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats (1795-1821)
A Wish by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)