What do you think is the best poem ever written?

Answer 1

For me, it's the poem Lord Byron wrote when he lost his dog, Boatswain:
INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT
OF A NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.
A Memorial to Boatswain
by
Lord Byron
Newstead Abbey, November 30, 1808.



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Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG
Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead, Nov 18th, 1808.

When some proud son of man returns to earth,

Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,

The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe,

And storied urns record who rest below:

When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,

Not what he was, but what he should have been:

But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,

The first to welcome, foremost to defend,

Whose honest heart is still his master's own,

Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,

Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,

Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:

While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,

And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,

Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,

Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,

Degraded mass of animated dust!

Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,

Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!

By nature vile, ennobled but by name,

Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.

Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn,

Pass on --- it honours none you wish to mourn:

To mark a friend's remains these stones arise;

I never knew but one, --- and here he lies.

Answer 2

I just love Goethe's "Kennst du das Land" (Mignons Lied). It has some of the most beautiful lines in all literature about longing, and is a paeon to Italy. The translation loses out:

Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn,
Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen glühn,
Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht,
Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht?
Kennst du es wohl?
Dahin! dahin
Möcht ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn.

Translation:
Do you know the land where lemon blossom grows,
Where among dark leaves the golden orange glows,
A soft breeze blows from the heavenly blue sky,
And the myrtle & laurel trees still stand high?
This land you know?
To there! to there;
Oh, my beloved, to there with you I'd go.

By the way (above), "Ode to a Nightingale" is by John Keats.

Answer 3

I agree with Shifani. The Raven. By Poe.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner comes close, too.

If you ever want to scare the shivers out of yourself, Read "the Raven" out loud every night before you go to sleep. It'll give you the heebie jeebies.

Answer 4

The Raven, by Sir Edgar Allen Poe.

Answer 5

Ithaka by Constantine P. Cavafy

Answer 6

I don't know if it's the best poem ever written, but my favorite poem is "Venus Transiens" by Amy Lowell.

Answer 7

It's sweet to dance to violins
when love and life are fair
to dance to flutes to dance to lutes
is delicate and rare
but it is not with nimble feet to dance upon the air.
-oscar wilde-

Answer 8

"The Barefoot Boy" by John G. Whittier, in 1855

Answer 9

Ode to Nightangale written by William Wordsworth. He was a poet of nature.

Answer 10

JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
Dylan Thomas

DIRGE WITHOUT MUSIC
Edna St.Vincent Millay