I'm pretty well read in literature, compared to the average

You should pick a poet, and then read them. After that, you should read some works from another poet. Continue this process until you've read the works of many poets.

>>8692747
Begin with Moutanabi then Abou Ala' al Maari

May I recommend the Lays of Ancient Rome, Macaulay?

>>8692747
no
poetry in 2016 it's just cringe man

>>8692747
BLAKE
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I always recommend Ezra Pound.
The Prophet by Gibran.
Also read some stuff by local poets in your city. The relevance might help to keep you interested.

I, like many others, got into it with Eliot (although that was only after becoming obsessed with Joyce), but I was a teenager at the time and I think the early Eliot to be a very adolescent-friendly poet, and so he may not turn you on so much if you're older--which is not to say that the early Eliot is not absolutely immense and worth reading for all stages of life, but I think that he may not be the best "hook" poet for someone of a more mature mindset.

But it really depends on what you're looking for. If you would like something to serve as a transition between prose and poetry, I would recommend versified translations of epics and other narrative poems, as well as Walt Whitman. I think a good introduction to lyric poetry might be Yeats: he had a long and remarkably varied career, and can appeal to almost all ages and sensibilities. In him are effectively several poets that got realized at different phases of his life. Nor, of course, is Yeats any mere introduction. His poems are extremely complex, especially when one starts getting into the weeds with his mystical ideas, but on the surface they are also extremely pleasing--even to the point of shock if you have little experience with lyric--and on the formal side he both makes good use of traditional forms and breaks their molds. He is essentially a poet of variety, and his sensibility and diction is I think relatable enough.

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Can't people use the wiki anymore? Or even google? Christ. Aren't you a tiny bit willing in your curiosity?

Anyway. Have fun on the "Eliot/Yeats/Milton" path. You will match its bland perfectly.

>>8693674

This Song Is A Mess But So Am I?

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>>8693707
Indeed. Cropped album covers do the 4chan trick deliciously, I find.
Here, have another.

>>8692747
read some rimbaud

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Please bother to read the sticky.

http://4chanlit.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Reading/Literature_by_type

>>8694274
I papier mâché'd a collection of Rimbaud's poetry into a fleshlight, and since losing my virginity to it (His poetry is so alive, I consider this losing my virginity) my verse has improved significantly.