[Orwn Acra]

Keats is probably the "better" poet, but I prefer Yeats. "The Song of Wandering Aengus" opened a little door in my brain that has not, and perhaps never can be, closed.

Betjeman or Larkin? Eliot or Auden? Tennyson or Carroll? Hopkins or Hardy?

I think the real questions is, who wrote the better poem?

[Gregory Dowling]

I essentially agree with Michael Cantor's take on the question. Other possible comparisons we might like to make:

Robert Frost or C.P. Snow
Elizabeth Bishop or Alexander Pope
Graham Greene or Thomas Browne
E.E. Cummings or Russell Goings
Rita Dove or Hart Crane
Wendell Berry or Mr Bean
Anthony Trollope or Richard Hooker
F.T. Prince or F.H. King
Robert Bridges or Ford Madox Ford

Feel free to add...

[Roger Slater]

Gregory, I like where you're heading with that. But I think we should concentrate on inter-disciplinary comparisons. Was Einstein a better physicist than Frost was a poet? Was Steve Jobs a greater visionary than Blake? Was Baryshnikov a better dancer than Ezra Pound was a Nazi propagandist? That kind of thing.

[W.F. Lantry]

[quote=Gregory Dowling;292821]
Wendell Berry or Mr Bean
/QUOTE]

Oddly enough, I dreamt the other night I met Wendell Berry. Kate introduced us. We spoke, for a long while, of gardens and gardening.


On the other hand, I've never had a dream conversation with Mr Bean.

Thanks,

Bill

[dean peterson]

Roger, while I think it's hard to argue with the popularity of Michael Keats -- his Batman series from a few years ago sprang immediately to mind -- I have to say I think Kathy Yeats is better, I mean, Misery alone is phenomenal, not to mention all her other fine work.

[Gail White]

Originally Posted by Orwn Acra

Keats is probably the "better" poet, but I prefer Yeats. "The Song of Wandering Aengus" opened a little door in my brain that has not, and perhaps never can be, closed.

Ah yes, the Song of Wandering Aengus. A young man once courted me by reciting that. It didn't get him very far.

[Ed Shacklee]

While comparing Keats and Yeats, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Beats.

Ed

[Simon Hunt]

Good point, Ed--and remember: Beowulf is king of the Geats.

[ChrisGeorge]

Originally Posted by Jesse Anger

Nice one, Roger. What does when have to do with which, Rachael? It's Yeats by a long measure of mummy cloth if you ask me.

Might I ask you to leave mummy out of this?

[marly youmans]

I've turned back to each many, many times, but I've turned to Yeats more often over the years. That said, I suddenly feel a craving to read Keats' odes.

Yeats vs. Keats, Marvell vs. Donne: it's rather like ranking flowers in an astonishing bouquet--numbering the streaks of the tulip--why would we do it? Would it be helpful to us in some odd way?