Books on Poetry or Pagan Poetry?

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[Valkyriia]

I know this probably doesn't go here, but I'd like everyone's input.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

I'm going to be filling in a hard-bound bok of shadows, my first hard -bound. My other has been a 3-ring binder I've dubbed The Great Big Book of Everything.

I'm asking this because I'd like to put a poem or two on the first page. On the inside of the cover I have a sticker by Nene Thomas. It's a fairy sitting on a crescent moon.

If anyone would like to share poems that's great too. I would also love to find a poem about the moon.

Any help is welcome!

[LyricFox]

I know this probably doesn't go here, but I'd like everyone's input.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

What you might want to look into are poems from the ancient civilizations. There's a lot of extant material about the gods of some cultures and, depending on your pantheon, they may speak to you. Also, don't discount poems that are about symbols that are meaningful to you but aren't by a neo-pagan author. There are reams and reams of poetry available that could fit the symbolism you're looking for.

[tigerlily717]

I know this probably doesn't go here, but I'd like everyone's input.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

I'm going to be filling in a hard-bound bok of shadows, my first hard -bound. My other has been a 3-ring binder I've dubbed The Great Big Book of Everything.

I'm asking this because I'd like to put a poem or two on the first page. On the inside of the cover I have a sticker by Nene Thomas. It's a fairy sitting on a crescent moon.

If anyone would like to share poems that's great too. I would also love to find a poem about the moon.

Any help is welcome!

My book of shadows contains this blessing spell: (I don't remember the writer)

Book of Shadows, chronicles of past,
may this knowledge everlast.
Hold these secrets tried and true
that which I have written within you.
Powers of earth, hold right, not wrong,
Powers of air, hold the knowledge long,
Powers of fire, hold the secret strong,
Powers of water, sing it's song.
Book of Shadows, hold truth for me,
as I guard this knowledge, so must it be.

[Valkyriia]

My book of shadows contains this blessing spell: (I don't remember the writer)

Book of Shadows, chronicles of past,
may this knowledge everlast.
Hold these secrets tried and true
that which I have written within you.
Powers of earth, hold right, not wrong,
Powers of air, hold the knowledge long,
Powers of fire, hold the secret strong,
Powers of water, sing it's song.
Book of Shadows, hold truth for me,
as I guard this knowledge, so must it be.

That's really pretty tigerlily717.

Thanks for the head's up LyricFox. I've searched my library for poetry about the moon. I haven't found any about pagan poetry. I've also checked out a book on Irish poetry.

[Mystic_Novice]

My book of shadows contains this blessing spell: (I don't remember the writer)

Book of Shadows, chronicles of past,
may this knowledge everlast.
Hold these secrets tried and true
that which I have written within you.
Powers of earth, hold right, not wrong,
Powers of air, hold the knowledge long,
Powers of fire, hold the secret strong,
Powers of water, sing it's song.
Book of Shadows, hold truth for me,
as I guard this knowledge, so must it be.

That is truly lovely, tigerlily . I hope you don't mind if I use that for my book. It seems just right!

[katkat42]

I'm asking this because I'd like to put a poem or two on the first page. On the inside of the cover I have a sticker by Nene Thomas. It's a fairy sitting on a crescent moon.

For that, I might look into the Romantic-era poets.  They wrote a tremendous amount about the beauty of Mother Nature, and many of them were pantheists and/or animists and such, or at least wrote from that perspective.  "I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree" and so forth.  Just another possible lead...

[catja6]

I know this probably doesn't go here, but I'd like everyone's input.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

Check out the work of the Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne:

http://swinburnearchive.indiana.edu/swinburne/www/swinburne/

This guy was AWESOME -- crazy, perverse, translator of Baudelaire, major forerunner of the Decadent and Aesthetic movements (Wilde, Beardsley, Dowson, etc.).  Hutton says that it's impossible to overestimate his aesthetic influence on the revival of paganism in the 19th century.  He valorized ancient paganisms as far more passionate, powerful, life-affirming, and exciting than Christianity ("What ailed us, O gods, to desert you/For creeds that refuse and restrain?"), and wrote tons of poems especially concerned with ancient Greece and Rome.  "Poems and Ballads" is his most famous collection, which caused a HUGE scandal when it came out.  Check out "Dolores" (an ode to a bitch-goddess, an unholy combo of Venus, Atarte, ishtar, and a few others), "Anactoria" (concerning Sappho), "At Eleusis," and others.

[tigerlily717]

That is truly lovely, tigerlily . I hope you don't mind if I use that for my book. It seems just right!

Please do.  Share the wealth, as I always say.

[tigerlily717]

Check out the work of the Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne:

http://swinburnearchive.indiana.edu/swinburne/www/swinburne/

This guy was AWESOME -- crazy, perverse, translator of Baudelaire, major forerunner of the Decadent and Aesthetic movements (Wilde, Beardsley, Dowson, etc.).  Hutton says that it's impossible to overestimate his aesthetic influence on the revival of paganism in the 19th century.  He valorized ancient paganisms as far more passionate, powerful, life-affirming, and exciting than Christianity ("What ailed us, O gods, to desert you/For creeds that refuse and restrain?"), and wrote tons of poems especially concerned with ancient Greece and Rome.  "Poems and Ballads" is his most famous collection, which caused a HUGE scandal when it came out.  Check out "Dolores" (an ode to a bitch-goddess, an unholy combo of Venus, Atarte, ishtar, and a few others), "Anactoria" (concerning Sappho), "At Eleusis," and others.

(I should have posted this one first!  I love poetry.)  There is a rewritten version of his original poem called "Hertha" that is simply striking.  Just as in my original post, if it wasn't him, then I don't know who rewrote this one.  However I found it to be better than the original in it's brevity and simplistic beauty.  I cannot stress enough how this one poem has affected me.  It is of utmost importance in my life, for it ever so closely explains my own personal belief in who or what GOD is.  (forgive the excessive commas, I add these to keep rhythm for the first time reader)  In my book of shadows this poem is coined:


'based upon a longer poem entitled "Hertha" by A. C. Swinburne'. 


I am that which began,
out of me the years roll,
out of me, gods and man,
they are part, I am whole.
Gods change, and man, and the form of all,
I am the constant, I am the soul.

Before ever land was,
before ever the sea,
or soft hair of grass,
or fair limb of tree,
or yet the dear flesh colored fruit of my branches,
I was, and your soul was with me.

First life on my sources,
first drifted and swam,
out of me are the forces,
that save it or damn.
Out of me came woman,
out of me came man.
Before ever God was,
I am what I am.

Oh, my children,
too dutiful to gods not of me.
Was I not enough beautiful?
Was it hard to be free?
For behold I am with thee,
am in thee, and of thee, and never apart,
I flow through thy life with each beat of thy heart.

For I am mother, not maker.
Thou wert born and not made.
No mud pie creator, fashioned thee out of clay.
And though my children forsake me,
allured or afraid,
making prayers to the gods they have fashioned,
I turn not away.

I am here in the stars,
and the sea, and the earth,
in the work of your hands,
in the play of your mirth.
I have no need of sacrifice,
I desire no prayer.
Just be as you are
       and my heart leaps within me,
               beholding my children so fair.

[Áine]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

Hmm.  I know Emily Dickenson has some "Romantic/Nature" poems that may fit.

Other poets I like: Walt Whitman, Dylan Thomas, Edna St. Vincent Millay, John Ashbury 9not necessarily pagan, but I admire their work and you may get something from them).  Maybe you could try W.B. Yeats or maybe something from the Poetic Edda (taking note of your username).  And there's always the idea of you making your own poetry, if so inclined.  Writing your own stuff makes things more personal and powerful. 

Amazon search for pagan poetry here Just ignore the Bjork cds

[Star]

Just ignore the Bjork cds

Which was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.  I'm such a dork.  LOL

[Mea]

'based upon a longer poem entitled "Hertha" by A. C. Swinburne'. 

   Absolutely Beautiful !

 Mea...in awe...

[Valkyriia]

'based upon a longer poem entitled "Hertha" by A. C. Swinburne'. 

OMG! That is very pretty! Thanks tigerlily717.

[Valkyriia]

Hmm.  I know Emily Dickenson has some "Romantic/Nature" poems that may fit.

Other poets I like: Walt Whitman, Dylan Thomas, Edna St. Vincent Millay, John Ashbury 9not necessarily pagan, but I admire their work and you may get something from them).  Maybe you could try W.B. Yeats or maybe something from the Poetic Edda (taking note of your username).  And there's always the idea of you making your own poetry, if so inclined.  Writing your own stuff makes things more personal and powerful. 

Amazon search for pagan poetry here Just ignore the Bjork cds

I'll check my library and see what I can find there. Thanks for the suggestions Áine.

[Malkin]

I know this probably doesn't go here, but I'd like everyone's input.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggesdtions for books on poetry or pagan poetry?

This looks like a chance to plug a friend's book! I know a fellow from Neos Alexandria who recently wrote a book of poems dedicated to a wide variety of pantheons (The Phillupic Hymns: https://www.createspace.com/3353281). I've yet to get a copy myself, but I've always known him to be silver-tongued (and witty, to boot!)

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