I was reading John Green's blog this weekend and there was this post in particular that stuck out to me. He was talking about how certain lines of poetry had a lure to them that had him whispering them to himself. Anyway...it's interesting and it made me think about lines that really spoke to me. It seems that whenever I read F. Scott Fitzgerald, I come across a line here or there--quite ordinary: just a line explaining or describing something--and I'm slightly stunned by the eloquence and beauty of his words. I think I'm going a bit overboard here, but I honestly find that even insignificant descriptions of the setting can really hit me. All of the sudden, I really realize how lovely words can be. Here's some poetry by Auden that I love...

"I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night." -W. H. Auden's "September 1st 1939"

"O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart." - W. H. Auden's "As I Walked Out One Evening"

Basically, I love all of "As I Walked Out One Evening". It's whimsical and it's fascinating...to me at least. This summer I tried to write my own poem in this style, and it died. I am HORRIBLE at rhyme. I have more appreciation for this now... :)