Shakespeare's Sonnets

May I suggest Robert Frost? He's fanatical about rigorously adhering to meter, cunningly so.. when you go back and count the iambs it's striking how few deviate. The way he encodes his lyricism is subtle and soothing, like a precise, subaudible metronome. If this appeals to you, then dip into Shakespeare's sonnets, and let yourself feel the rhythm as you read. It's so bloody good.

I got into it relatively recently, way after high school. I think I got my start mostly with Victorians like Christina Rosetti, maybe some of the Romantics. Far away enough in time to be interestingly different, but close enough that the language is comprehensible. And prior to all that modernist experimentation which moved poetry away from poetry as I understand it. (I don't denigrate that stuff but it isn't a good entry point.) Shakespeare's sonnets are a bit more accessible than his plays insofar as each one is a small, manageable, bite-sized chunk. Nonetheless, they do require fairly slow, relaxed attention in an edition with good notes to get the most out of them. (When I was reading them, I would read a couple very slowly over breakfast every day. I miss being able to do that!)

Poetry's always nice for familiarity and rereadability. Perhaps Shakespeare's Sonnets.