Start with the poems of manageable size, and take the time to read them aloud, and appreciate how they feel in your mouth, as well as how they sound. There's something so luxurious about parts of "To Autumn," for instance. And it helps you notice the ways he plays with variations on the meter, which is much harder to perceive reading in your head.
this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Poetry
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A community to celebrate published and OC works of poetry.
Welcome to !poetry
Guidelines & Community Rules
In addition to the general rules of lemmy.world:
Published Poetry
1a: Poetry posts should include the title and the author, when the author is known.
O.C. Poetry
2a: Sharing original poetry is encouraged, but it must be preceded by the tag "[OC]."
2b: If an [OC] post is requesting feedback, it should also follow with the "[FB]" tag. It would look like the following example:
[OC] [FB] Nothing Gold Can Stay
Feedback
All feedback should be given in good faith.
3a: All [FB] requests should be met with comments constructive in nature. It is okay to dislike parts of a poem, but make sure to explain why you feel that way.
3b: Feedback does not need to be extraordinary in nature. Simply expressing how a work makes you feel is often enough.
3c: Use the honor system. When you receive good feedback, return it in kind to another author. Everyone appreciates knowing their work is being read and appreciated.
As this community develops, these guidelines may be adjusted.
Formatting Help
Work in progress
To create a line break, use two spaces at the end of a line.
To create empty space, type .
Use four of these at the beginning of a line to create a standard indent.
UPDATE:
Some methods of access do not format markdown correctly. I am currently testing various apps and web interfaces to see what does and does not retain formatting.
In the interim, it is encouraged to post text poetry as you normally would, but to include a link at the beginning or end of the post with access to a website or image that retains the formatting as intended.
Other Poetry Communities
Poetry lovers unite! In the style of the fediverse, multiple poetry communities have arisen, and will continue to rise. I will try to keep a list here of communities across instances that are worth checking out!
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i think you can either just dive in or find a guide from a compendium of poets that includes keats.
the best poems of the english language by harold bloom has a nice but short section on keats, for example. it includes a short biography by bloom and about a dozen of keats' poems. and bloom is a joy for me as a guide through english literature.
Ah, that sounds like an excellent idea, thanks!
Sounds maybe a little like George Saunders' book A Swim In A Pond In The Rain, which does a similar thing for Russian short stories, and is a beautiful read, 'cause you can feel his love for the form.
La belle dame sans merci hath thee in thrall!