This is the final in the three part series relating to The Relevance Theory and Poetry. The following two examples of poems speak volumes. There is hope for us yet – yes, I dare to include all of us in this sweeping statement. Some poems I have read here on PoetrySoup, defies definition, because of their ability to enchant, and made accessible by the poet giving us a glimpse into his/her thoughts when the poem was penned. I might have forgotten the actual words of the poems (unless I refer to them in my list of "fav" poems), but the impression which they had left me with, will remain with me. Thank you.
HAPPY QUILLS!
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
***
And the cry rang out all round the town,
Good heaven! The Tay Bridge has blown down.
Written in 1890 by one William Topaz McGonagall (who wrote about 200 poems), generally recognized as the worst poet in the English language.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost needs no introduction. This poem was voted in 1998 by the Americans as their nation’s top favourite poem.
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