What is this poetry stuff anyway?

Time for a confession: I know next to nothing about poetry. However, I am that rare person who actually buys poetry books. Occasionally. And sometimes I even read them. There's definitely something in poetry, and I wish I had time to read and study it more.

As it happens, one or two people have recently told me that poetry is "not their kind of thing". This seems a shame. Some people seem to get something - a lot - out of it. Why is that? What does poetry do that other art forms don't? And why have others been put off poetry? Was it a bad experience at school? Or have they simply not been exposed to enough of it?

Let's see. This blog is an attempt to set up a sort of reader's circle. I don't really have any firm ideas about how poetry appreciation might be taught. The best I can think of is to post a few poems I like and start discussing them.

I'll use this posting as the main blog portal. Use the Comments to make general points or to suggest poems. I'll also update to link to postings for specific poems.

Let's start with:

Comeclose and Sleepnow by Roger McGough
Prayer Before Birth by Louis MacNeice
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience by William Blake
Somersault by Hugh McDiarmid
Postscript to 'The Spirit Level' by Seamus Heaney

(Note: The copyright situation concerning poetry is a litle confusing. Copying a whole poem may not count as 'fair use' - hence my using this blog instead of another possible forum. If any publishers/poets want to object, I shall happily remove any infringements).