Recommendations – Page 27 – Interesting Literature

10 of the Best Poems for New Year

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Seeing in the New Year is a time-honoured tradition, so it should come as little surprise that many of the greatest poets have written about the New Year in their work. Below is our pick of ten of the best New Year poems, along with some information about each poem.

Anonymous, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’.

Ande þer þay dronken, and dalten, and demed eft nwe

To norne on þe same note on Nwe Ȝerez euen;

Bot þe knyȝt craued leue to kayre on þe morn,

For hit watz neȝ at þe terme þat he to schulde.

Þe lorde hym letted of þat, to lenge hym resteyed,

And sayde, ‘As I am trwe segge, I siker my trawþe

Þou schal cheue to þe grene chapel þy charres to make,

Leude, on Nw Ȝerez lyȝt, longe bifore pryme.

We’re kicking off this list of the best New Year poems with a long narrative poem from the fourteenth century, partly because it features the earliest known instance of the phrase ‘New Year’s Eve’ (as ‘nweȝerez euen’) and partly because

Six of the Best Matthew Arnold Poems

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Matthew Arnold (1822-88) is largely remembered for one great Victorian poem: ‘Dover Beach’. But he wrote a number of other classic poems beside this. What are the best half-dozen of Matthew Arnold’s poems? We offer our recommendations below. ‘Dover Beach’ is there, as are a few other more famous titles, but we also include a couple which, although not as celebrated as the others, are, we believe, among Arnold’s best poetry.

‘Below the surface-stream, shallow and light’.

This poem is almost like a fragment of blank verse, its five unrhymed iambic pentameter lines appearing to offer a brief insight into the speaker’s mind, though this thought isn’t taken anywhere or developed into some grand psychodrama or narrative. In a curious way, the poem reads like a Victorian precursor to the Imagist poetry of the early twentieth century. If you want a nice short introduction to Arnold’s poetry, this is the perfect place to start.

10 of the Best Poems about Drinks and Drinking

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

We like to think of Interesting Literature as a library, a vast virtual library full of literary treats and unexpected delights. But if it is, it is a library with a spacious bar and plenty of drinks on offer. Previously, we’ve considered some of the most curious synonyms for ‘drunk’ in the English language, so we thought it was about time we contemplated some of the best poems about drink in English literature.

10 of the Best Poems about Lost Love and Breaking Up

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Is it better to have loved and lost? The following classic poems suggest not. In the following post, we’ve gathered together ten of our favourite poems about lost love, about the sad side of being in love – ranging from the Renaissance to the modern day.

10 of the Best Poems about England and the English Countryside

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The English countryside is a perennial theme in English poetry, so choosing ten of the greatest poems about England’s green and pleasant land is not an easy task. But one must start somewhere, so here is our suggestion for ten of the best poems about the English countryside, from Shakespeare to Philip Larkin. What would make your list?

We’ve tried to avoid making this list a simple rundown of pastoral favourites, and to think more widely about what we mean by ‘England’ and ‘the English landscape’. We hope you find something of interest among our list.