National Poetry Month was established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets.
It was designed to "increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States."
My mom instilled my love of poetry often quoting-- by memory-- from the sonnets of William Shakespeare and John Milton.
After majoring in English at Columbia University where I wrote my Masters Thesis on John Milton's extended poem, Samson Agonistes, I taught poetry and prose at Wisconsin State University, Essex County Community College and Montclair State University.
Epic poems and dramatic verse included in my survey of Western Literature included The Iliad, The Oresteia, The Aeneid, The Song of Roland, Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost. Biblical verse included The Psalms as well.
Why am I posting poems this month on my twitter page?
First, April is designated as National Poetry Month. So why not create a buzz for poetry?
A seven foot wall of a snow/ice mixture lines my
driveway just a few weeks ago in March, 2015
Next, this winter has been long, cruel and has been delaying the onset of spring. (Witness the photo above.) Spring is officially upon us almost three weeks as of this writing, but you would never know it.
We are enduring cloudy, rainy wintry days with temps barely rising into the 40's.
T.S. Eliot's opening lines from The Wasteland ring true:
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
So I thought it appropriate to select poems that herald the start of Spring starting with lines from William Wordsworth's Daffodils.
Here is a link to my twitter page to inhale the aroma of Spring from some outstanding poets and noteworthy authors like Albert Camus.
https://twitter.com/rj_schwartz
Enjoy, as I will likewise do - my posting poems several times weekly.
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