When given the choice between poetry and prose, I tend to go for a novel. Having said that, I'm still too fickle to pick one poem I like most of all, so here are a few I love.
Ulysses by Tennyson. I was instantly taken by this poem the first time I read it in a high school English class. Ulysses is tired of being in Ithaca and wants another adventure and I love the voice Tennyson gives Ulysses: "How dull it is to pause, to make an end,/ To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!" Wonderful call to action.
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. From high school through times in college I had this poem up on my wall. I just love the nonsense verse and I can't help but hear the opening and closing lines in the Cheshire Cat's voice.
Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare and this is my favorite of all of his sonnets. It's the opening lines that get me: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments. Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds;" If I were to get a tattoo, it would most likely be from this poem. So I suppose that means this is my favorite poem.
What's your favorite poem?
