We asked our Facebook followers for their poetry recommendations for people who’ve never read poetry. Something that would ignite an interest in the musicality of poems and make people want to read more.
We had a lot of poets recommended but not so many specific book titles so where no title has been mentioned I’ve added their votes to the most popular title by that poet.
Standing head and shoulders above the rest is Shel Silverstein’s Where The Sidewalk Ends.
Pablo Neruda comes in second with the most votes for his poetry going to his Twenty Love Poems.
Ahhhh the wonderful T.S. Elliot is next with Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats US
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats UK
Poe received numerous mentions but no titles, so we’ve added all his mentions together and given you The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.
The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe US
The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe UK
Robert Frost also received a number of votes but again, no single book title was voted for. So we’ve chosen quite simply, Robert Frost’s Poems.
Walt Whitman is at number six with 14 of you suggesting his Leaves of Grass.
My personal favourite next, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes; I’d sit and read these to my niece and I still think it was me who enjoyed those moments the most.
Another Children’s poet is next with Dr Seuss and another favourite of mine. A friend’s daughter read Oh The Places You’ll Go out at her sister’s wedding. It was utterly wonderful.
And finally a joint tenth place for Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath and if that doesn’t give you an idea of the variety of suggestions we received, nothing will.
The next ten poets, in the order of nomination are:
Falling Up -Shel Silverstein
The Best of – Ogden Nash
Spilling Ink – Darrielle Cresswell
The World’s Wife – Carol Ann Duffy
Don Juan – Lord Byron
Good Poems – Garrison Keillor
Serious Concerns – Wendy Cope
A Light in the Attic – Shel Silverstein
3am Heartbreak Material – Marisa Crane
The Complete Poems of – Keats
Have these choices and the little snippets accompanying them whetted your appetite for poetry? We here at For Reading Addicts hope so, poetry is such a beautiful and often haunting method of writing and we should all try reading it at least once.
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A. E. Houseman’s wonderful poems.