Poetry Through the Ages is an excellent site that offers clear and concise explanations of different poetic forms, a general history of poetry and a simple guide to reading and appreciating difficult poems.
“When a poem arises, it feels like the bosom of the poet lifts up and births the spoken or written moment. The point of origin lies at the furthest depths of the poet, often calling into play ancestral memories, divine or universal inspiration, and insights or truths that “magically” resonate with the reader.”
I Sing the Body Electric is a poem that celebrates the life of the body and its equal status with the soul. Walt Whitman is probably the greatest poet in the English language since William Shakespeare. Some might argue with this but there is no other poet who so muscularly tore the page to shreds with his wild, raging, soaring, lunatic language. I think Shakespeare would have liked and admired this man because it is only he who is a match for Shakespeare’s fearless destruction and rebuilding of language. I think that great poets always destroy before they create. To read Whitman’s massive lifelong work, Leaves of Grass, is to wake up and realize that poetry is like blood exploding through your body and spraying its meanings and music out all over the city. You cannot read Whitman and be the same as you were before reading him. He is a shock to the system.
He lived from 1819 to 1892 and is often called the father of free verse. His discovery of the loose free form of poetry is an astounding development that is still being worked out. The problem for today is that Whitman still has the hardest punch and could do terrible damage to most poets alive and writing today. It would not be a fair fight.
Here is the great I Sing the Body Electric, from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass book.
Our roll of poetry for National Poetry Month continues with an animated poem by Maurice Kilwein Guevara. His poem has two Spanish-speaking women planning to speak only English as they enter a Sears store. It’s funny on the surface but it’s also a serious look at how people try to avoid being themselves in order to convince others that they are not stereotypes to be feared.
Here’s another animated poem. This one is by Kwame Dawes who grew up in Jamaica and now lives in South Carolina. I like the way the poet is unafraid to show pleasure in the language of the poem. This seems to be a happy poet.
For National Poetry Month, here’s an Emily Dickinson poem rendered as a beautiful animation with a reading by actress Blair Brown. This is part of the Poetry Foundation’s series of videos known as Poetry Everywhere.
Here is the complete poem for you to read:
I started Early – Took my Dog –
And visited the Sea –
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me –
And Frigates – in the Upper Floor
Extended Hempen Hands –
Presuming Me to be a Mouse –
Aground – upon the Sands –
But no Man moved Me – till the Tide
Went past my simple Shoe –
And past my Apron – and my Belt
And past my Bodice – too –
And made as He would eat me up –
As wholly as a Dew
Upon a Dandelion’s Sleeve –
And then – I started – too –
And He – He followed – close behind –
I felt His Silver Heel
Upon my Ankle – Then my Shoes
Would overflow with Pearl –
Until We met the Solid Town –
No One He seemed to know
And bowing – with a Mighty look –
At me – The Sea withdrew –
Poetry Through the Ages is an excellent site that offers clear and concise explanations of different poetic forms, a general history of poetry and a simple guide to reading and appreciating difficult poems.
I Sing the Body Electric is a poem that celebrates the life of the body and its equal status with the soul. 
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