Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "Pied Beauty" has always been a personal favorite. Maybe because it's a sonnet in disguise. Maybe because that crazy sprung rhythm keeps me on my toes when reading it. Maybe because it flies in the face of one of the "rules" hammered into beginning poets (i.e., be wary of adjectives).
A playful adaptation by R.S. Gwynn can be found on Kooser's American Life in Poetry site.
What I want to learn from this is how to write playfully, with humor and lightness, and to do so with grace and ease.
4 years ago