... and another thing....
I can listen to music and be physically affected by it. Visibly, physically. I get goosebumps on my arms and legs and the hairs stand on end. Sibelius's Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite, Dire Straits "Wild Theme - Local Hero" and many, many more. I used to tell the kids when they were little that this happenend when the angels of the music kissed your soul. (I'm listening to Local Hero now and I've got a goose-bump boner).
Thing is - this never happens with the spoken word. Ever, by any poet.
Does anyone else get physically affected by music but not poetry, by both or by poetry but not music?
Compare and contrast.

i get affected by music physically yeah.. its wierd when i listen to poems on youtube, i dont physically feel anything, but more mentally feel things..

if its like an upbeat poem, if you know what i mean i sometimes feel it, but otherwise not really...

Yes it does happen much more with music. But it can happen with poetry. I can recall goosebumps from reading Keats 'When I have Fears that I may cease to be', and I'm sure it's happened other times too.

I genuinely can't believe I am hearing/reading this from poets. How are you interested enough in poetry to write it, if it does not affect you in this way?

I get this feeling much more from poetry than I ever do from music. It is one of the major draws of poetry for me and possibly the number 1 factor that brings me to write.

Longfellow
Rossetti
Macneice
Motion
Auden
Larkin
Blake
Whitman
Owen
Houseman
Betjeman
Mcgough
Hardy
S Smith
Yeats
etc

How can much of the above not stir such feelings?

It's certain lines from certain poems, bring on various emotions for me, if we are talking about the sort of reaction one cannot legislate for, the left-field goosebumpy stuff. Some are associated with particular memories - my mother quoting Masefield's Sea Fever opening lines for one example; always with that far-away, man-she-should-have-married look in her eye that could stand as her autobiography.
Music does it for me too, not least certain classical pieces, lots of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Faurés Dolly Suite (Listen With Mother theme from the 50s), and the second movement, Adagio Cantabilé from Beethoven's Pathétique, Piano Sonata number 8. Must get some paper tissues.

I can't say that get quite as affected as John, when I listen to music, but almost.
I have never had 1 (one) goosebump when reading or listening to a poem.
I wonder if the great artists (poets; novelists; painters or musicians) had to have goosebumps before they became involved with their particular art form.

music no, rare poetry yes. As a child reading WW1 poems when WW1 was just yesterday and not history did not just give me goosebumps, they altered my whole life path.

Yes - I'm with you on that one Nick. I find that music can make me feel really euphoric, especially if I'm at a concert - I feel glad to be alive and could easily hug my unknown neighbour. It doesn't work with sad stuff though. For sad stuff I have to hear the written word.
Sometimes lines of poems do make your hair stand on end - they just get to you emotionally and the poems of Wilfred Owen are a prime example.
'And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds'
Simple words that just encapsulate the utter anguish any parent must feel at losing a child.

There is a poet that performs at WOL Wigan who has the same effect on me. She performs her stuff well and it is so raw and real that you are just living it with her.

I'm glad that poetry can have this effect - after all, it must be what we are all striving for really - to have some effect with our words, with our being...

I don't really disagree with Nick. I have read poems that have made me sit up and think, and affected the way may look at life, but it didn't give me goosebumps or lift a hair on my neck.
But recently I have taken to listening to Elbow's 'Build a Rocket Boys', and the first track 'The River' is reprised later on the album in a very different style. I think the first rendition is terrific, but the reprised version has a physical effect on me.
Why? Same song; same music; shorter, but still the same words
Does anyone else have a similar affliction?

As a matter of interest, the next issue of the poetry magazine Magma is inviting submissions on the theme of music as a universal language
http://magmapoetry.com/call-for-submissions-magma-53-music-the-universal-language/

Reading aloud a Dylan Thomas poem, all by myself late at night in an empty house...and the tears started pouring down my cheeks. It was hearing the words as well as seeing them - the beauty of the sound as well as the images. I was totally shocked. As many have commented, almost certainly a reaction to 'music'.

Julian, you are halfway to a poem about your mother in your comment above. 'always with that far-away, man-she-should-have-married look in her eye' I can picture that. who gives me goosebumps? Wilfred Owen, yes. Gerard Manley Hopkins 'glory be to god for dappled things' Matthew Arnold 'Dover Beach.' All my models when young were male.

I get physically affected by music, poetry, literature, amongst bloody loads of other things. I'll say it again - the only reason I got into poetry was after being hugely emotionally moved by one of Rachel's performances. Wanted to cry but didn't, so sat there with a swollen throat and shiny eyes instead.

I can start crying sometimes just through starting to sing certain songs...and they don't even have to be sad songs. I just get proper choked up.

Same as me Laura, though as a bloke I of course hide tha Ooops.

I best go and drrrink some lager and put up a shelf :)

Chris, you made me laugh out loud! excellent comment.
I listened to some of Desert Island discs today and they played Nimrod and it grabbed me. Like Chris, I need to put up more shelves perhaps.

i m not moved in the same way by poetry as music. music has a direct physical sensation for me. poetry however engages me intellectualy and if my mind is stimulated like that its a deep feeling that is present from within. dont know if that makes sense, but thats how it gets me. lighter/fun poetry is a laugh, we all know how that feels, its great x

interesting topic.

thanks again laura. wouldnt bother writing if i thought it didnt move anyone :)
your poetry continues to impress. keep thinking of the metal one. i might put it up at uni in the metal workshop :)

Re Chris & Julian's comments - God, me too - can women put up shelves do you think? :) J

I'm just so hooked on a piece of music (World Citizen) and love it so much but want to cry. And I'm even too old for it to be PMT!

Some of the poetry in Bloodaxe's "Being Alive" series really move me and make me think,laugh,cry. The classic poets also deeply affect and influence me such as Larkin and Betjeman possibly because they were my first introduction to Poetry.
Write out loud events have deepened my love of poetry,and,sometimes I feel like I couldn't be any happier while sitting there listening to moving,funny,challenging,heartbreaking stuff.
Musically,I am moved by the likes of Kate Bush,Florence and the Machine,Tori Amos,Goldfrapp,Arcade Fire,Bowie,The Jam,and classic soul singers.Music and Poetry are what get me through,and in most of my musical choices there is an element of poetry in the lyrics of certain artists.

florence lyrics inspired me to write a poem called cradle. it was first thing id written in a lot of years. shes great , i like your whole list ;)arcade fire?

Arcade Fire? An indie rock band from Canada.You should check out their latest,"The Suburbs",or their first album,"Funeral".Brilliant band,with creative lyrics and a unique sound.Gonna have a look to see if Cradle is on your page Rachel.

Longfellow - feelings of boredom
Rossetti - feelings of boredom
Macneice - occassional flickers of interest
Motion - boredom
Auden - occassional flickers of interest
Larkin - boredom
Blake - now we're talking...
Whitman - now we're talking
Owen - if it wasn't for his early death & 1st world war, it would be boredom
Houseman - boredom
Betjeman - boredom & slight irritation
Mcgough - slight smile but otherwise boredom
Hardy - yawn
S Smith - now we're talking
Yeats - some flicker of interest

I'm not impressed.

Steven - maybe you should try Florence and the Machine! :)

Ann - I tried Florence when I was younger.

Steven Mmmm

Why does the prior post not surprise me :). Your poetry taste is somewhat 'off piste' shall we say lol. The point is that those poets do it for me and do so for many, many others in reference to the subject matter.

Do you have your own list of poets that move you in the way mentioned? If you do, you might wish to share?
(not for argument sake- simply to share it).

If you don't get goose bumps and have a powerful emotional connection to poems, I'll shake my head at you like I have at so many others lol.

Off-piste eh?

Let me see now:

Frank O'Hara
Lorca
Appollinaire
Mina Loy
Nicholas Moore
Jack Spicer
James Schuyler
Shakespeare
Alice Notley
Barbara Guest
Robert Shepherd
John Ashbery
Carol Watts
John Donne
Coleridge
Wallace Stevens
Rae Armantrout
Michael Palmer

in no particular order. Plenty of others too, often experimental writers who surprise with a fine excess and take you in directions you didn't know you wanted to go in.

Music and the word are often vitalpartners in emotion, though each canstand alone. I think of Sinatra'sphrasing of the lyric to a virtually unaccompanied "Where or When" -or the final thrilling bars to George Lloyd's huge 11th Symphony- to know that much!(If you don't know Lloyd's music,you are in for a treat...one of thecountry's great "unknown" 20th century composers whose many works are on CD now).And some years ago, there was awonderful BBC documentary combining poetry & music to great effect- called "The Queen's Realm". Some excerpts were available on Youtubeand if they are still there, do check them out. Sadly, for some strange reason, this fine programme is not available on DVD...lord knows why not!