Comments on: White Goddess, Green Eyes

By: J. Alfred Prufrock

J. Alfred Prufrock — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 03:30:00 +0000

Borges and Hardy feature in just about any anthology of poetry.

Kipling’s “If” is, by many estimates, the most “recited” and reprinted poem in the world (though I don’t like it much, the Barrack-Room Ballads are generally better.)

Better known for their prose than their poetry? Well, Carroll, yes … “you grow old, Father William”.

Gah.

J.A.P.

By: Aishwarya

Aishwarya — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:15:00 +0000

Yep, I remember reading that and agreeing with you. I love both Borges’s short stories and his poems, but the short stories have meant a lot more to me. Still, I stand by my statement that his prose writing is poetry.

By: Swathi

Swathi — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 03:04:00 +0000

would love to see Poe in the list

By: Falstaff

Falstaff — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 23:25:00 +0000

All: Thanks.

Aishwarya: . Did you happen to catch the discussion on Borges’ prose / poetry on Chandrahas’ blog:

http://middlestage.blogspot.com/2006/04/alberto-manguel-with-borges.html

Cat: Agree with you on Borges and on Kipling. Personally, I like Graves
prose better than his poetry, which is why I guess I tend to think of him as a prose writer. Ah, well.

Sony Pony: Lewis Carroll – poetry? really? Interesting.

And yes, Kipling did write poetry. Go here and scroll down.

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index_poet_K.html

They have some 26 poems by Kipling. Personally, I think they’re overdoing it, but each to his own.

By: Sony Pony

Sony Pony — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:07:00 +0000

My two-paisa worth (after inflation):
I know next to little-bit about poetry, so this will be like a word-association sort of thing:)

1. Robert Graves- poetry
2. Jorge Luis Borges- prose
3. Thomas Hardy-who?
4. Rudyard Kipling-Kipling wrote poetry?
5. Lewis Carroll-poetry

By: Cheshire Cat

Cheshire Cat — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 17:52:00 +0000

I’d say Borges and Kipling are the ones who did their best work in prose, but all except Graves are better known for their prose than for their poetry.

By: Aishwarya

Aishwarya — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 14:09:00 +0000

I would classify all of them except Borges as primarily prose writers, but that’s partly because compared to the amount of prose I read I have hardly read any poetry.

[Borges's prose IS poetry. ]