New era Forum Favorite Author or Poet!

My favorite poet would be Walt Whitman, and my favorite piece by him would be, although cliche, 'Song of Myself'. I went to an arts high school and studied creative writing throughout. During our senior year, we read this passage in its entirety (approx. 80 pages?) and I've always loved it. I can't really recall word for word my favorite line in 'Leaves of Grass' as a whole because there is so much good ol' American poetry, but if I do recall correctly, it would have to be this: "Come, said my Soul, such verses for my Body, let us write, (for we are one)"
As for a favorite author, I, without a doubt, choose Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the "science fiction" aficionado. My reason being his relentless satire of humanity as a whole and his outstanding literary voice. Vonnegut's style and straightforwardness are what captured my attention, and I am so glad that my attention was catch-able. My favorite work of his is a toss up between "Bluebeard", "Hocus Pocus", "The Sirens of Titan", and "Player Piano". Any of them can take the cake, depending on what kind of mood I'm in. To me, the narrative characters created in "Bluebeard" and "Hocus Pocus" were brilliant, and his ability to live vicariously through his characters is a quality I wish I could possess as he has done seemingly effortlessly. The ideals behind "The Sirens of Titan" were another thing I fell in love with, and his understanding of astronomy gave these thoughts a strong base to stand upon. "Player Piano", I felt, was beautifully written, and again, the ideas planted by the novel, along with an oddly accurate view of the future, were sure signs that Kurt Vonnegut would become one of America's proudest novelists.
To these great writers, I take off the hat I am not wearing, and bow. If you haven't heard of them, or the works mentioned, do yourself a favor and check them out.
- OTBaka

Favorite poet? I don't really have one. Then again, song writing is poetry so I'd have to say Max Bemis. Just the way he writes his songs are rather genius. He gets his point across or his story out in a way that seems to flow natural with a vocabulary that isn't common in music today. It seems like most song writers now days always try to write something that sounds deep and intellectual when really the underlying message is about the one night stand they had last week. Max just says it how it is and it seems to me his personality comes out through his writing which give the songs flavor; makes them unique.Pontificating to each other
Forever competing for that one moment of self-aggrandizing glory 
In which you hog the intellectual spotlight 
Holding dominion over the entire shallow pointless conversation 
Oh, we're not worthy
When you walk by a group of quote-unquote normal people 
You chuckle to yourself patting yourself on the back as you scoff 
It's the same superiority complex 
Shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell 
And makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma 
You spend every moment of your waking life bitching about!"

In all honesty? Jacqueline Wilson. I'm 15 and shouldn't read kids books anymore and to be honest i don't particularly 'live by them' or anything but whern i was younger i went through som e really tough times and reading her books really took me away from whenever i was sad :L I've read one of her books over 100 times. Also; i once tried to email her. Just to let her know how much she meant to mel; i didn't even expect a reply but i got one! she emailed me and it made me admire her more. Since then i've recieved anther email from her. So when people laugh at me for liking Jacqueline Wilson i don't care and she will always be my favourite author/ Because:
a) she tells kids the truth. Not many authors do that, they do all loveydovey s**t or make everything have a happy ending. And quite frankly that's not always the case.

My favorite author is JRR Tolkien. I find it pretty rare the way he writes, and he makes his books so special and unique. I find so many ways his imagination and my own are close, and he is the author that inspires me the most with his greatest hit "The Lord of the Rings". One of my favorite lines in those books, which I love to say to people who feel down or who think that they can't do anything about the world is
" Even the smallest person can change the course of the future" (Galadriel--for those who want to know). I literally know these books by heart. Another quote I really like is

" I wish the ring had never some to me. I wish none of this had happened" (Frodo)
" So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." (Gandalf)

Other quotes :

" I will not say "do not weep", for not all tears are an evil." (Gandalf)

" I didn't think it would end this way" (Pippin)
" End ? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass...and then you see it" (Gandalf)
" What ? Gandalf ? ... See what ?" (Pippin)
" White shores...and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise" (Gandalf)
" Well, that isn't so bad" (Pippin--smiling)
" No...no is isn't" (Gandalf--smiling)

[Comment : I have to admit that I myself am not scared of dying. I'm more scared of the way I die...]

" It's so quiet" (Pippin)
" It's the deep breath before the plunge" (Gandalf)
" I don't want to be in a battle. But standing on the edge of one I can't escape is even worse" (Pippin)

[Comment : Tolkien was in the British army during World War I ]

"Hope is kindled" (Gandalf)
" I think there's more to this hobbit than meets the eye" (Gandalf)

" Men ? Men are weak" (Elrond)
" There's no strength left in the world of Men" (Elrond)

[Comment : sometimes I can't help but agree with Elrond. Our race can be so weak...I think Tolkien was trying to give a message there--moreover he was very inspired by the Bible in his writings. The Lord of the Rings can nearly be compared to it ! ]

" I swore to protect you" (Aragorn)
" Can you protect me from yourself ?" (Frodo) " Would you destroy it ?"
" I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor" (Aragorn)

" The world of men will fall and all will come to darkness, my city to ruins" (Boromir)
" I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor out people fail" (Aragorn)
" Our people, our people. I would have followed you, my brother...my captain...my king" (Boromir)
" Bet at peace, Son of Gondor" (Aragorn)

I hope you enjoyed reading these few quotes !!!

My favourite author is also Kurt Vonnegut, my favourite 3 being Sirens of Titan, Bluebeard and Hocus Pocus so I was rather pleased to see that he was also someone else's. 

Without a doubt it would be Sylvia Plath...I stumbled on the posthumous Crossingthe Water in the on-base library in Charleston South Carolina, my naval destroyerescort ship in dry-dock and me dying for a cool place to sit and read. My  realintentions were to watch the pretty Philippino librarians in their pencil skirts,with their red lipstick and black hair, walking in their high heeled shoes on thebuffed   library linolium. But, even at nineteen, I considered myself a poetof sorts, or someone who's manumit of other nineteen year old habits led meto write, albiet silly, cenquain five line, plot lost stanzas and kept them inthis lovely soft-flowered leather binder as a poet might do. S. Plath's  poetry literally knocked me backwards and I remember running as fastas I could back to the ship and back in my little, upper rack with the curtaintightly drawn an reading her every word and even memorizing some of herlines. I know it's crazy but her poetry has that same effect on me today,but there's no place to run to now and the curtains are always drawn...hder.

I have no favorite writer at all. I loved Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle, but he is not my favourite. To be honest, I love writing in a way that I cannot ever begin to explain. I want to read stuff that goes in with how I feel at the current moment, and so you might blow me away when I'm sad, and then someone else when I am happy. It all depends on the mood I have at the time. But if you were to force me, I would give 2. Andrew Davidson has a atyle just like mine, and then next I would have to say Tate Morgan. Oh yeah, and don't forget Joshua Deathdealer.

Narrowing down the field...

my fav author would be ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON and his work TREASURE ISLAND.

Edgar Allen Poe is hands down my favorite.  I don't think that needs much explanation. :)

I cannot say that I have a favorite author as I have such an eclectic taste; I am currently reading John Grisham, Clive Cussler, and all the psychology / counseling books required by my curriculum for my degree (Masters in Mental Health Counseling).  I also like Stephen King as Richard Bauchman (just re-read Thinner).  I like to read all types and authors so that I get a wide range of exposure.