Tom: I am the ignorant one here, which is why I need to ask all these questions. I wrote my first verse in June, so I am quite the newbie. I have an academic / cerebral approach to things, which is why you find me tossing all these concepts around.
Favourites ... well, have I read enough to proclaim any true favourites? In general, I go for content first and take the form as an extra bonus. The form is best when it stands selflessly in the background and promotes the content. IMHO.
I truly like Borges, especially after I found Bob's translation. Aside from him, I like a lot from Goethe and the few poems I have seen by Nietzsche. I have a friend who knows most of Blake by heart, and so many of his poems have become dear to me. I haven't read much by Frost, but like what I have seen. The same goes for Bob Mezey on this board, btw.
I respect a lot of others without necessarily liking them. Dante, for instance. I read his Inferno, but failed to relate to the culture and political intrigues. Milton's Paradise Lost is a frustrating-good book. I quit halfway through, though I thought many speeches there were very well made. I guess I sided with the losing faction there. I generally get frustrated by long poetic pieces, though there are obvious exceptions. (I even decided to quit the Odyssey and the Iliad halfway through.)
But I am from Norway, and relate to the local poetry here as well. I have enjoyed reading Jan-Erik Vold, a very, very experimental poet. Bjørneboe is very good - and also an interesting political rebel. Halldis Moren Vesaas - the little I have read of her - has a very appealing voice. Åse-Marie Næsse, whose poems a this Blake-interested friend of mine is trying to translate, also has some interesting ones. And of course André Bjerke, who read poems on the TV when I was a kid. (I know I should say "Wildenwey", but I haven't read any of his after high school.)
Aside from that, others too. But just like in English poetry, there's a lot of Norwegian poetry that should never have seen the light of day.
But finally: Let's not forget Håvamål, our national treasure.
No better burden on your back
than the memory of many men's wit
(freely translated by yours truly)
---
Svein Olav
.. another life
[This message has been edited by Solan (edited September 10, 2001).]
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