PREFACE
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as fast as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Poetry is language in its purest state: a literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. No ifs ands or buts about it, it had been the most used, prestigious and passionate of literary genres for ages. It was the one brilliantly used by Greek and Roman classics like Homer and Virgil, who were able to give light to the most unforgettable epic stories with the strictest metrics of their period, which are still considered to be among the most outstanding books in literary history.
As a matter of fact, poets usually feel a strong desire to deeply go into matters of their highest interest. It looks as if they are seeking all the time the most suitable way of communicating through the use of the most consummate literate genre.
Notwithstanding, they do make a considerable effort with all sorts of phonemes, alliterations, sounds, rhymes, stresses, voices, metric resources, syllables, homophones and plenty of other words so as to create a proper fictional world.
Poetry has got a long history, dating back to prehistoric times with hunting verses in Africa and to panegyric and elegiac court poetry of the primitive Nile and Niger empires. As illiteracy used to be extremely common in most tribes, peoples, and civilizations all over the world, something crucial and repetitive until about the second half of last century ought to be taken into account: Oral transmission has been historically one of the greatest source of wisdom.
The ancient most flourishing and noble cultures had been nourished with rather lengthy legendary romances that were recited by heart by their ancestors for ages, which used to be almost compulsorily transmitted from generation to generation. As a main feature, they usually mirrored the kind of society they were living in. In addition, they came up with a main idyllic robust unbeatable protagonist to become the greatest hero who
had ever treaded the earth, the one who could take the nation apart from all sorts of looming dangers, bloody attacks and other truly unpleasant misfortunes.
Needless to say there have been thousands of extraordinary poets along centuries in all types of forms and languages, who have written extremely popular compositions; some of which have become actual hymns, whose lyrics got widely spread and translated, and in this way memorised and recited by thousands of people in very distant territories.
As devote readers we were able to enjoy their beautifully composed verses. Moreover, it was pretty easy for us to learn properly from most of them since they showed indeed high skills in the use of language. Therefore, I would be keen on mentioning just a few of my favourite ones though who, by the way, belong to pretty different literatures. Moreover, I believed I should add a short feature of their style:
• Knowledge verses by Medieval Italian Dante Alighieri.
• Extreme sweetness and symbolism by French Charles Baudelaire.
• Romantic messages by German Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
• Musical elaborate lyricism by Austrian Rainer Rilke.
• Fatalistic nostalgia by Greek Constantine Kavafis.
• Innovator spiritual linguistic approach by American Walt Whitman.
• Bloody poetical description of warlike conflict by British Wilfred Owen.
• Love for native language and countryside by SardinianCatalan Francesc Manunta.
• Perfect use of language by Catalan Salvador Espriu.
• Insatiable imagination by North American Sylvia Plath.
• Humanistic spirit and human rights fight by Afro-American Langston Hughes.
• Strict rural life apology by Irish Seamus Heaney.
• Spiritual use of landscape by Italian Giuseppe Ungaretti.
• Feminist look at society by Catalan Maria-Mercè Marçal.
• Autobiographical sensitive verses to make individual existence universal by North American Louise Glück.
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