Sir Gawain and the Green Knight trans. by Marie Borroff
A very old story of the Arthurian knight Gawain and his confrontation with an ancient Celtic God. A wonderful story and very funny. There's a Tokien translation out there and its easier to find but its not as good. It was also a huge influence on Tolkien.
I'm also rather partial to the Shakespeare sonnet that begins "My lover's eyes are nothing like the sun"
That love is suffering is easy to see, for before the love becomes equally balanced on both sides there is no torment greater, since the lover is always in fear that his love may not gain its desire and that he is wasting his efforts.
Andreas Cappelanus, The Art of Courtly Love
I am currently digging e.e. cummings's, "since feeling is first."
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
I had it on my wall all through university and a few weeks ago this guy came to give a motivational speech at our workplace and part of it included the poem and I took delight in writing it down on my notebook before it could get to each of the lines. Still love it.
ooo these are all good ones. Jabberwock was like a childhood lullaby/nostalgia/memories. And I did a reading/memorization for "If" for class- that one is pretty neat. "Do not Go Gentle..." is a classic/must-read. And really, anything by E.E. Cummings is great (though my fav of his will always be pretty how town)
Absolute favorite poem is really, really hard to choose just one. I'm partial to Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" as just the poem that really captured my imagination/taught me/inspired/influenced in me things.
Be happy, my friend; and if you obey me in this one request, remain satisfied that nothing on earth will have the power to interrupt my tranquility. — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
