If you know me, you’d know that for awhile I studied literature in college (amongst many other majors before ultimately deciding on sociology). I found some of the most interesting reads during that time of growth.
I remember reading Dracula, and telling my instructor that it was too cliche and that I’d like to switch my study book. So, I changed it to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. That book introduced me to the revolutionary era of literature during the worlds industrialization phase.
The romantic period they (scholars) call it. It was during the time that books became novels and characters in the books showed feelings and thoughts of their own, instead of what the royalty in society would expect the characters to think.
It was a monstrous time in the eyes of the kingdom, but an exciting breakthrough in the eyes of the lower and middle class.
Before novels, we had poetry. Everything was written in a poetic format. The news was introduced through poetry. Messages between one another; poetry. Promises written in ink; poetry.
I try to imagine what a world full of poetry would be like, but it escapes me as I am so used to today’s forms of literature.
You may have noticed in many of my other blog posts that I’ve referenced poetry by K. Tolnoe (you’ll find her short poems at the end of most of my posts). The reason for that, is I connect so deeply with many of those one liners. It is difficult to explain but it’s almost like those single sentence or two sentence poems were written for me to discover. It has a grounding effect for me and resonates deep within.
I liked her poems so much, I supported her by buying her book, “The Wolf”. It didn’t take long for me to finish cover to cover and from time to time I revisit those pages.
I have found a sense of peace through poetry and I have learned that something I really like to do is take that poetry with me on backpacking trips and day-hikes. The reason for it? It explores thoughts and perspectives that are not my own.
I want to share some of my favorite nature poems with you here, on HykLyt. Hopefully, you’ll find a small part of yourself that you didn’t know you had.
William Wordsworth; The Most Famous Nature Poet
K. Tolnoe; My Favorite Poet
Disclaimer: There is a typo in the poem. Kamilla is from Denmark and the language barrier may be the culprit.
Walt Whitman; The America Poet
Sara Teasdale; Wartime Poet
Tupac Shakur; Legendary Hip-Hop Artist
This post was written by Evan.
HykLyt 