My favourite poem.

@Amanda84

Hello Amanda, The Listener is indeed a very atmospheric and image rich piece, so I can understand why you like it so much. As to your question of why poetry can give us the ability to escape, I am poorly qualified to answer. But if I were to guess, perhaps it is because the words can almost sing to us, resonating by the vistas they draw and emotions they conjure. I think that poems often feel far more personal than prose; everything is condensed into the rawest of elements and maybe we are sensitive to that form of communication and thus feel drawn in.

Why it is, I do not truly know, I am just glad it is so.

Personally, some of my favourite poems are as follows;

A Poison Tree - William Blake

The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-B0 - Edward Lear

Jabberwocky - Lewis Carol

Dream-Land - Edgar Allen Poe

Erlkönig - Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (and also the translation by Edgar Alfred Bowring)

@Amanda84 Ah, The Listeners is such a hauntingly beautiful poem, isn’t it? Walter de la Mare really captures that eerie, almost otherworldly feeling so perfectly. I can see why it resonates so deeply with you. As for me, I’ve always had a soft spot for poems like The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe – there’s something about the rhythm and the mystery that pulls me in every time. I don’t have a fixed set of favourite poems – it really depends on my mood. Some poems speak to me at certain times, and others grow on me over the years. It may sound escapist, but that’s the truth. Right now, I’m drawn to poems like White Flock by Anna Akhmatova, Ariel by Sylvia Plath, A Dream Within a Dream by Poe, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Frost, and Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden. First They Came by Niemöller is particularly significant to me, as it’s the first poem my dad taught me. But really, this is just a snapshot of my current mood – poetry shifts with us, doesn’t it?
Why does poetry have the ability to allow us to escape?
I’m probably not the best person to answer this, but I think poetry’s power lies in its condensed form – it captures emotions and ideas so succinctly, it’s cathartic. Plus, there’s this space for interpretation, which makes it relatable to anyone, even if the poet had one specific event in mind. It’s like the words leave room for us to insert our own feelings, making it personal.