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The 5 Most Famous Poems in the History of Literature

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When it comes to poetry and choosing the most famous poems in the history of literature, we might face the impossible task of bringing to an agreement thousands of critics and literature historians, together with millions of pages dedicated to the subject. However, listing the most famous poems as deemed by some of the most enlightened minds of the Society of Classical Poets after comparing them to the popularity rankings offered by the public, is not such a difficult endeavor. After a careful selection, thus, we were able to highlight five most famous poems in history. Keep in mind that we won’t categorize them into “short poems”, “love poems” or “English poems about life” sub-classes, but offer you a more general view on those poems we all should read, feel and live by.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

A love poem at a first glance, Sonnet 18 is, in fact, a testament of the author’s views on life, death, decay and passing of the human spirit. The ethereal realm of poetry and beauty has never been so subtly, yet eloquently, analyzed as it has been in this true masterpiece. A firm believer that poetry itself can grant eternal life to a person because poetry itself is eternal, Shakespeare seems to have encompassed in this short poem the quintessence of love, splendor, and artistic expression.

2. If by Rudyard Kipling

While we mostly know Kipling for The Jungle Book, the writer was a master of poetry and If proves this beyond a doubt. One of the most powerful statements of what means to be a good, strong and beautiful human, If is a poem we all should live by and take to our hearts in our attempt of becoming better people. The poem’s message keeps its validity throughout all generations, being a beacon of light, hope and powerful teachings for all mankind.

3. A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

All Edgar Allan Poe poems and stories have double and triple meanings. They are masterpieces of layered imagery, messages, feelings, spirituality, and beauty. A Dream Within a Dream, among others, is perhaps the best example that the author was a genius of mixing the pure beauty of poetry with an intrinsic and sometimes baffling psychological and philosophical web of concepts and meanings.

4. On His Blindness by John Milton

Short, but extremely powerful to this day, On His Blindness deals with one’s limitations in life, being inspired by Milton’s personal story of losing his eyesight. What makes this poem, however, a wonder of literature is the underlying message that one can transcend personal shortcomings and misery through understanding the powers of the divine and embracing the order and mystery of the universe. While emphasizing on a disability, Milton’s poem is in fact about the human spirit finding purpose and hope despite all obstacles.

5. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

If you remember the famous Dangerous Minds movie and the “Dylan – Dylan” competition, one might find interesting the fact that Bob Dylan was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. However, poetry experts and critics still believe that Dylan Thomas is probably one of the greatest poets that have ever lived and written, in all the world, in all the languages. As subjective as this opinion may be, one cannot deny that Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night is still one of the best, most haunting, most powerful and most meaningful of poems ever written. An elegy to his dying father, the poem stood the test of time and the numerous changes in cultural perspectives and tastes, being still considered a work of art. Using unusual words, like “spindrift” and creating complex emotions with the use of just words, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night still gives you shivers down your spine no matter your age or past life experiences.

What are your favorite most famous poems on this list or in the history of literature? Do you have others that speak to your heart?

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Farewell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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The much-loved writer and journalist Gabriel Garcia Marquez passed away a bit over a week ago, on the 17th of April, after struggling for a long time with the ravages of a degenerative disease. I must confess that I was rather disappointed with the media coverage of this story: a few minutes after his passing, and major news hubs such as Times and BBC were already publishing very lengthy articles about his life and activity. That can only mean one thing: they had the story already prepared and waiting for a go, since they knew he was in the hospital battling his illness. I have nothing against the immediate release of news such as this, but I would expect them to come in the form of a headline or just a few sentences announcing his passing. Therefore, I was a bit conflicted at first about publishing this piece, since I really didn’t want to add up to the long trail of people somehow profiting from his death or finding a good story in it. But since 10 days have passed from his departure, and since I genuinely was – and am – a huge admirer of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s works, I decided to proceed with this tribute piece. Hat’s off to you, father of magic realism.

Gabriel-Garcia-Marquez-580

This photograph of Gabriel Garcia Marquez was taken by Richard Avedon. He already had a chance to take a portrait of the writer in 1976, on a rainy day, but he was dissatisfied with the result. He waited for another opportunity and in 2004 it was presented to him again. This is the second photograph he took of Marquez, in Mexico City, the early spring of 2004. This one was deemed good enough by its author, and while I couldn’t find the one resulting from the first try, I think we can all agree that it’s indeed a fine portrait.

I won’t waste space with brief introductions of who Gabriel Garcia Marquez was or what he is most known for; if you’re here reading this article you probably know already. I will merely name a few of the reasons I enjoyed his works or point out a few less known-facts about him. For example, I always found it heart-warmingly nice of him to be a Shakira fan. I hate the often large gap between high culture and the so-called “low culture” (which is basically low culture) that comes along with elitist tendencies. Therefore, I loved how a Nobel prize-awarded writer advocates as a sincere fan of a commercially successful pop music star. It’s refreshing and puts a new light on Shakira’s music as well. Since it has come up, did you notice how delicate and airy her voice was on the soundtrack of Love in the Time of the Cholera movie adaptation? Perhaps their friendship and mutual respect played a part in how well Shakira sang for that movie.

Another lovely fact about Gabriel Garcia Marquez is that he said all inspiration for his literature’s stories came from real life and cases, and that if he hadn’t been a journalist first and foremost, he wouldn’t have been able to find the right stories to write about. In this respect, he reminds me of Dostoyevsky, who also took the inspiration for his novels from the papers and the news of the day – he studied the obituaries, the scandals, the trials, and made beautiful things out of that which others saw only as plain dirt.

And last, but not least, what really stuck with me permanently after reading Marquez was a sense of tender nostalgia for all things passed, even before they pass, as if you can see it in places you love even before they disappear. Some critics claimed the main theme of his writings was solitude, I’d say that Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote first and foremost about nostalgia. He lived a relatively long life, but I refuse to believe that he was ever old. “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams” (Gabriel Garcia Marquez).

3 Less Known Book Openings You Should Know

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In the world of literature and creative writing, one of the things that matter the most, according to some specialists, is the opening paragraph. It should be catchy, engaging, interesting, addictive and powerful enough to keep you hooked to the book and start your journey through the story. There is not one list of famous literary openings, but dozens, and while many agree that some lines are the best in history, others come up with even more and more examples, from classic literature to contemporary one.

However, there are some less known book openings you should know about and be able to say to whom they belong. This doesn’t have to do with you playing cool and educated and throwing a book quote randomly in a conversation, just to show how smart, educated and superior you are, but has everything to do with you being able to have a conversation about famous book openings and go beyond the classic “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” or “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.” These classics made history, indeed, but let’s take a look at others too. Here are 3 less known book openings you should know to whom they belong and how really famous they are for certain people.

1. The Favorite Game by Leonard Cohen

Of course you know famous musician Leonard Cohen wrote a bunch of novels and some poetry collections, right? And that The Favorite Game is a masterpiece easily comparable with J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, right? Well, this is how The Favorite Game begins and it is a beautiful introduction in the universe of innocence that Cohen has created.

“Breavman knows a girl named Shell whose ears were pierced so she could wear the long filigree earrings. The punctures festered and now she has a tiny scar in each earlobe. He discovered them behind her hair.

A bullet broke into the flesh of his father’s arm as he rose out of a trench. It comforts a man with coronary thrombosis to bear a wound taken in combat.

On the right temple Breavman has a scar which Krantz bestowed with a shovel. Trouble over a snowman. Krantz wanted to use clinkers as eyes. Breavman was and still is against the use of foreign materials in the decoration of snowmen. No woolen mufflers, hats, spectacles. In the same vein he does not approve of inserting carrots in the mouths of carved pumpkins or pinning on cucumber ears.

Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple.”

2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

This should be not be among the less known book openings you should know, because it is quite famous. Perhaps mostly among those who study literature and the mystery niche in detail, but this opening still stands the test of time when analyzed and is still given as example when teaching students and debutant authors on how they should start. It inspired other crime novelists after Chandler to carry on his legacy and it is still considered perfect as literary technique. It was Chandler’s debut novel, so imagine the skills the man had, if his opening paragraph is still one of the most powerful in mystery / thriller literature.

“It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.“

3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

We sure hoped you heard about her and read this book, and if you didn’t, you should give it a try. A book reviewer on Goodreads commented once that even if he read this book ten years ago, the opening paragraph is still fresh and powerful in his mind. The book is amazing and was described as such not only by the critics but the readers as well. You can almost taste, feel, see, hear and smell the universe Roy is creating from the first lines, and this is just the beginning.

“May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity air. Then they stun themselves against clear windowpanes and die, fatly baffled in the sun.

The nights are clear, but suffused with sloth and sullen expectation.”

Do you have your favorite book opening paragraphs that are considered less known and you believe they deserve to become famous? Share them with us!

The Four Biggest Shakespearian Jerks

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Plenty of people like to write about the worst Shakespearian villains, but what people don’t realize is that a jerk does not necessarily a villain make, and vice versa.  What follows are the top Shakesperian jerks, whether they are “heroes,” “villains,” or otherwise. [Read more…]

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