Talk:English poetry

Prose
I saw the post below regarding Ann Bradstreet's inclusion. My vote for an inclusion would be A.E. Housman. I know he is hard to classify (late Victorian or Edwardian), but someone like Hart Crane is mentioned. This is just a suggestion. I know the article cannot list every poet of the English language, but Housman's works are much alluded too and anthologized. Thank you. 18:30, 18 Nov 2012 (EST)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.142.235.68 (talk)


 * Agreed, and he is also missing from other literature articles. I'd suggest a brief mention in the Victorian period but a longer comment for the 20th century. Rwood128 (talk) 12:47, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

I have attempted to turn the article into continuous prose and add as many poets as I could reasonably fit in. It's still far from perfect and needs a lot more. However, it's over 5,000 words now and I'm done. Bmills 13:55, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC) ---

This article does not follow the guidelines regarding capitalization as written in Manual of Style (headings). I'd edit it, but I'm not sure which words (for example "Renaissance" or phrases like "Late Middle Ages" might be naturally capitalized). Maybe someone familiar with this could change the section headings to the Wkipedia standard (first word capitalized, and then no other unnecessary capitalization). Bevo 05:14, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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What is the evidence for this closing sentence: "As of 2004, it appears that a still thriving literature is faced with an ever-decreasing audience." I manage a thriving, non-commercial, unpromoted English-language poetry anthology (www.daypoems.net) that serves 2,500-3,000 distinct hosts daily, and that is one of thousands of poetry venues on the World Wide Web. To me it suggests that a lot of people are still reading poetry, just not in books from major publishers. It also suggests that we have no idea whether the audience for poetry is declining--there are no readership figures available.

Mind you, I'm not sure enough of my ground to do an edit on a well-done major article like this one, but I do think the issue should be thought about and an edit considered by the principal contributors. TimBovee 21 Feb 2004

Hi this is haricharan hrere

Where in all of this history does Anne Bradstreet fit? Was she the first female poet to be published in England when Rev. Woodbridge had her poem printed and circulated in London (1650)? She may very well be the first. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.233.131.6 (talk) 08:00, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Where is English Poetry Now ?
What is the position of Englsih poetry in contemporary times ? What does the reader who reads poetry expects to read ? If we see poetry in New Yorker etc we see it is not something that would appeal to the taste of Shelley, Byron or Tennyson would they be living today ? Why it is that no one writes like they did, or even like Eliot did write ? Is it so that even if today someone could write like Shelley did, no one would read it - the people having grown up too much for the kind of taste they had a hundred years ago ? Jon Ascton   (talk)  08:56, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Does contemporary development of human psyche present any serious hurdle in enjoyment of poetry ? Or is it only an illusion that poetry as it is on its way to extiction

England or Britain?
At the beginning this seems to be an article mainly about poets from England but later Welsh and Scottish poets are included. Does the opening preamble need to be changed to indicate that this article is about the poetry of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland before 1922? The article could on the other hand be expanded to include all poets who have written in English? Rwood128 (talk) 17:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The preamble states: "This article focuses on poetry written in English by poets born or spending a significant part of their lives in England". However, in the actual article the focus is on poets from Britain, not just England. Shouldn't the preamble in fact read something like: ?

On further thought this article confuses the words English and British. The description English poetry is ambiguous, as it can mean poetry from England, or poetry written in the English from anywhere. At the moment, confusingly, it seems to mean poetry, in English, from the United Kingdom.

The article English literature includes literature from all parts of the English-speaking world. Should this article do the same? or should the title be changed to English poetry of the United Kingdom? There is an article titled Theatre of the United Kingdom. See also the article British literature. Rwood128 (talk) 01:22, 6 November 2013 (UTC)


 * At the very least the preamble needs rewriting but the title should also be amended. Rwood128 (talk) 01:32, 6 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I see your point, and in theory agree with you, but the logistics of rescoping the article or renaming it is quite a sticky wicket and make the implementation of the changes something I wouldn't fuck with a stolen penis touch with a ten-foot pole.--ColonelHenry (talk) 02:00, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Would the following revision be acceptable?
 * This article focuses on British poetry, that is poetry written in English by poets from the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (and Ireland before 1922). However, though the whole of Ireland was politically part of the United Kingdom between January 1801 and December 1922, it is controversial to describe Irish literature as British. For some this includes works by authors from Northern Ireland. The article does not include poetry in English from other countries where poetry in the English language is written. The earliest surviving English poetry, written in Anglo-Saxon, the direct predecessor of modern English, may have been composed as early as the 7th century.

Rwood128 (talk) 12:07, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

John Barbour
Is there a reason no mention has been made of John Barbour (14th Century Scottish poet)? He was slightly earlier than Chaucer, and arguably a bigger influence than Chaucer on Dunbar et al. Also the divisions are largely based on English courts – but if Scottish poetry is being included as well, then the Golden Age of Scottish poetry (during which Scots produced some of the best poetry in the entire island) needs to be given its own sections with reign title(s) as it was court poetry. Also, perhaps a brief note about the political upheaval in Scotland (Mary Stuart in exile followed by the union of the crowns followed by the reformation) put a halt to Scottish court poetry right at a time when court poetry in much of Europe (including England) was reaching its zenith. Perhaps also a note about how much notable poetry might have been lost (certainly a lot from the Scottish court and Scotland in general; England's court was better at keeping records and preserving manuscripts, but still some of their great writers may have vanished from history). - R160K (talk) 05:24, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

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