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The Top 24 Books of Poetry on Goodreads
Every month is a good month to appreciate poetry, but in April it's an official thing. Founded in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world.
What better way to participate than by reading a sonnet or a verse, a haiku or a limerick? We rounded up the most popular works of poetry on Goodreads, as determined by readers. These books have all been added to Goodreads members’ shelves more than 50,000 times and have earned at least a four-star average rating. (Note: We've only included one book for each author—sorry, Shel Silverstein and William Shakespeare).
Among these beloved titles, you'll find classics by Pablo Neruda, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Frost, as well as an ancient Greek epic poem and a collection from an award-winning "Instapoet."
Take a look at the books below and then add your own recommendations in the comments! Find out more about National Poetry Month here.
What better way to participate than by reading a sonnet or a verse, a haiku or a limerick? We rounded up the most popular works of poetry on Goodreads, as determined by readers. These books have all been added to Goodreads members’ shelves more than 50,000 times and have earned at least a four-star average rating. (Note: We've only included one book for each author—sorry, Shel Silverstein and William Shakespeare).
Among these beloved titles, you'll find classics by Pablo Neruda, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Frost, as well as an ancient Greek epic poem and a collection from an award-winning "Instapoet."
Take a look at the books below and then add your own recommendations in the comments! Find out more about National Poetry Month here.
Who's your favorite poet? Tell us in the comments!
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Check out more recent articles:
The Most Read Books on Goodreads Right Now
The Best Romance Books of April
Catch Up Now: These Big Series All Have Books Coming Out Next Month
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Tatiana
(last edited Apr 22, 2019 09:26AM)
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Apr 22, 2019 09:26AM
You included two works by Sylvia Plath, btw.
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I love Poe, and I also love Shel Silverstein.
He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven by W. B. Yeats Desert Places by Robert Frost
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the MindGary Snyder, Turtle Island
Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America
An Irishman Airman Foresees His Death, W B Yeats.I love the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Dream WorkScar Tissue: Poems
The Offense of Love: Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris, and Tristia 2
Brown: Poems
The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan
New Poets of Native Nations
Bestiary: Poems
I'd recommend some by Fröding, too. He's Sweden's best poet, if you ask me.
The New Life (Dante, translated by D. G. Rossetti)The House of Life
Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles: Idea, Fidesa and Chloris
Orlando Furioso (this is long)
The Hound of Heaven
Last, not least, a great, neglected poem:
The castle of indolence: an allegorical poem. Written in imitation of Spenser
... It was a Fountain of Nepenthe rare:
Whence, as Dan HOMER sings, huge Pleasaunce grew,
And sweet Oblivion of vile earthly Care;
Fair gladsome waking Thoughts, and joyous Dreams more fair.
XXVIII.
This Rite perform'd, All inly pleas'd and still,
Withouten Tromp, was Proclamation made.
" Ye Sons of INDOLENCE, do what you will;
" And wander where you list, through Hall or Glade:
" Be no Man's Pleasure for another's staid;
" Let Each as likes him best his Hours employ,
" And curs'd be he who minds his Neighbour's Trade!
" Here dwells kind Ease and unreproving Joy:
" He little merits Bliss who Others can annoy.
Rilke! Book of Hours is particularly beautiful.
Would be great to have a modern/contemporary list
Shakespeare, Frost, Eliot, Yeats, and Dickinson are included so this list is definitely sound and solid with merit. I am surprised though that 'The Complete Poems' by John Keats is not in the top 24. That would round it out nicely for me.
Alicia wrote: "Would be great to have a modern/contemporary list"I agree. It is predictable that the giants of poetry would dominate these places, but where are the new voices?
https://bookriot.com/2018/12/31/best-...
Alicia wrote: "Would be great to have a modern/contemporary list"Agreed! Or have a list like this where it's separated into the different types of poetry. I like both Shakespeare's sonnets and modern stuff like Saul Williams, but those require very different mindsets.
I'll read Yeats, Poe, and Baudelaire and I'll add Dame Edith Sitwell, my favorite poet.
Inside Out & Back Again looks interesting.
I'll add: The City in Which I Love You by Li-Young Lee
P.S. I read Milk & Honey and I cried! It was great!
YESSS Sylvia Plath and Charles Baudelaire deserved to be on that list! Two of my favourites 😍✊
I can recommend the following poetry books:Anxiety
The Ipswich Bus
Mirror on the World: Poetic Reflections
Echoes From a Cobbled Street: Stories and Poems from the North West
Weaving Wyrd: The Poetry and Thoughts of Elle Mort
Lyacos's Poena Damni trilogy is among the best works produced in the new millennium and should be part of the list here. Highly recommended!
My favorite poem is THE RAVEN by Edgar A. Poe. I memorized it in high school and I can still remember the first verse and part of the second (I am now 86). I think that the musical rhythm of the words is so wonderful. I still like to go back occasionally and reread it.by Anita.
