Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#189887 03/12/2010 11:40 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Hi...haven't been around these parts in awhile. But in days of yore we used to get some pretty good poetry threads going from time to time where folks posted some of their favorite poems, or whatever happened to catch their fancy at the time as per emotional or seasonal relevance. So I had a hankerin' to kick one off again...and with hope lookin' towards Spring after too many blizzards I'd like to start it off with one of my all-time favorite works (note: Hyla is a breed of frog that inhabited the brook):

HYLA BROOK

by Robert Frost

BY June our brook’s run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh-bells in a ghost of snow)—
Or flourished and come up in jewel-weed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat—
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Hello,
We've had too many blizzards here too: 100 days of continual
snow, so I appreciated your poem contribution. Thanks.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #189891 03/13/2010 3:00 AM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
A Ceremonie in Glocester
Robert Herrick

Ile to thee a simnell bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering;
Si that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
From: Words on the window-pane
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Spring

SOFT-LITTERED is the new-year's lambing-fold
And in the hollowed haystack at its side
The shepherd lies o'nights now, wakeful-eyed
At the ewes' travailing call through dark and cold
The young rooks cheep 'mid the thick caw o'the old:
And near unpeopled stream-sides, on the ground,
By her spring-cry the moorhen's nest is found,
Where the drained flood-lands flaunt their marigold.

Chill are the gusts to which the pastures cower,
And chill the current where the young reeds stand
As green and close as the young wheat on land:
Yet there the cuckoo and the cuckoo-flower
Plight to the heart Spring's perfect imminent hour
Whose breath shall soothe you like your dear one's hand.

@Father Steve, I wish I understood the second line of your poem and simnell is a sort of fruitbread special for Easter?

BranShea #189950 03/15/2010 2:21 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
I took gost thout mothering to mean when you go looking for your mother...
In the above poem 'plight' is used as a verb?

Avy #189953 03/15/2010 2:56 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
as in (the idiomatic) plight (one's) troth.

tsuwm #189956 03/15/2010 4:02 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Originally Posted By: tsuwm
as in (the idiomatic) plight (one's) troth.

Tsorry tsu - I did not understand this. ETA: Okay now I do. I just looked up the dictionary.

Last edited by Avy; 03/15/2010 4:57 AM.
Avy #189959 03/15/2010 10:09 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
From OE plihtan, 'to imperil, compromise'.

Faldage #189960 03/15/2010 10:12 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Okay now I don't understand it all over again. The dictionary says plight as a verb means to pledge... and risk and danger. I think in poem it means pledge.

Last edited by Avy; 03/15/2010 10:16 AM.
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
I see it now I think, Father Steve.
Someone gives a simnell to another one to take it to a or maybe their mother. And asks for a half of the blessing she will give.

Never heard of Robert Herrick before, but I found some more in an anthology I have. Nice poem called: To Daffodils.

@Avvy. In the Rossetti poem plight means promise, not compromise.

Anyone else for poems related to lent/spring that are to your liking and might please others?

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Originally Posted By: Father Steve
A Ceremonie in Glocester
Robert Herrick

Ile to thee a simnell bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering;
Si that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.


Mothering Sunday

tsuwm #190005 03/17/2010 4:46 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Already -
by Piet Hein

We now approach the season
when hope, in spite of reason,
.. proclaims that Spring is on the way
.... and Winter almost past;
when expectations flower
with every passing shower,
.. and anxious hearts begin to say:
.... already! and: at last!


edited so it looks like the original spacing

Last edited by Zed; 03/17/2010 4:50 AM.
Zed #190014 03/17/2010 2:11 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 95
journeyman
journeyman
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 95
My wife and I write Love letters to each other everyday. Ocsionally I try to write them as poems.

May Day
by Myself 2008

Oh! How sweet
The smell
Of the clean spring air.
The scent of tulips
Pansies and forsythia
Is intoxicating,
Like the bouquet of
New spring wine.

Oh so filling
To my senses,
The rising sunlight
Shimmers on the morning dew
Making a thousand tiny rainbows dance
On top of the blades of new mown grass.
Oh how beautiful,
Oh how great,
Oh how wonderful,
This day, oh this day
So like the one, now many years past,
My lover, my lady, my joy
Entered my life
Changing it forever.

She is all the sweetness of springtime,
The sweetness of the new blooms;
The aroma of new life she is.
Her kisses so sweet,
Sweeter than wine,
Awe me.

kah454 #190017 03/17/2010 2:51 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
An Anti-Limerick
by W S Gilbert (attributed)

There was an old man of St. Bees,
Who was stung in the arm by a wasp;
When they asked, "Does it hurt?"
He replied, "No, it doesn't,
But I thought all the while 't was a Hornet."


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #190018 03/17/2010 3:09 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
laugh

tsuwm #190019 03/17/2010 5:25 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
heh


formerly known as etaoin...
zmjezhd #190020 03/17/2010 5:37 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
This here aint' limericks. That's Spartye's sin. This is big P poetry.

BranShea #190022 03/17/2010 5:57 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Here, this ain't no stinking limerick ...

Quote:
Todesfuge
by Paul Celan

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends
wir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachts
wir trinken und trinken
wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng
Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibt
der schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar Margarete
er schreibt es und tritt vor das Haus und es blitzen die Sterne er pfeift seine Rüden herbei
er pfeift seine Juden hervor läßt schaufeln ein Grab in der Erde
er befiehlt uns spielt auf nun zum Tanz

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich morgens und mittags wir trinken dich abends
wir trinken und trinken
Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibt
der schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar Margarete
Dein aschenes Haar Sulamith wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften da liegt man nicht eng

Er ruft stecht tiefer ins Erdreich ihr einen ihr andern singet und spielt
[Vortrag: Er ruft stecht tiefer ins Erdreich ihr einen ihr andern spielt weiter zum Tanz auf]
er greift nach dem Eisen im Gurt er schwingts seine Augen sind blau
stecht tiefer die Spaten ihr einen ihr andern spielt weiter zum Tanz auf

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich mittags und morgens wir trinken dich abends
wir trinken und trinken
ein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margarete
dein aschenes Haar Sulamith er spielt mit den Schlangen
Er ruft spielt süßer den Tod der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland
er ruft streicht dunkler die Geigen dann steigt ihr als Rauch in die Luft
dann habt ihr ein Grab in den Wolken da liegt man nicht eng

Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken dich nachts
wir trinken dich mittags der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland
wir trinken dich abends und morgens wir trinken und trinken
der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland sein Auge ist blau
er trifft dich mit bleierner Kugel er trifft dich genau
ein Mann wohnt im Haus dein goldenes Haar Margarete
er hetzt seine Rüden auf uns er schenkt uns ein Grab in der Luft
er spielt mit den Schlangen und träumet der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland

dein goldenes Haar Margarete
dein aschenes Haar Sulamith


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #190025 03/17/2010 6:44 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
This is Poetry.

BranShea #190026 03/17/2010 6:59 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Originally Posted By: BranShea
This is Poetry.


would Magritte agree?

ç:¬ )

Last edited by Buffalo Shrdlu; 03/17/2010 7:00 PM.

formerly known as etaoin...
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 95
journeyman
journeyman
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 95
No certainly not a limerick. I would like to get the translation of this. I'm not sure english would get all the imagery. This is very dark.

There is a lot to this poem.

kah454 #190030 03/17/2010 8:56 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
get the the translation of this

Try this; the site has some translations into other languages and commentary. Celan was one of the great 20th century poets. He was a German-speaking Romanian Jew.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #190031 03/18/2010 12:35 AM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
And in the spirit of the day:


THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

by William Butler Yeats


I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Last edited by WhitmanO'Neill; 03/18/2010 12:37 AM.
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
By Broad Potomac's Shore

by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)




By broad Potomac's shore, again old tongue,
(Still uttering, still ejaculating, canst never cease this babble?)
Again old heart so gay, again to you, your sense, the full flush
spring returning,
Again the freshness and the odors, again Virginia's summer sky,
pellucid blue and silver,
Again the forenoon purple of the hills,
Again the deathless grass, so noiseless soft and green,
Again the blood-red roses blooming.

Perfume this book of mine O blood-red roses!
Lave subtly with your waters every line Potomac!
Give me of you O spring, before I close, to put between its pages!
O forenoon purple of the hills, before I close, of you!
O deathless grass, of you!

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
By Broad Potomac's Shore

I have always loved how Whitman gave up strict meter and rhyme and went for something else in his poetry. His Leaves of Grass was roundly attacked by the supposed guardians of poetry and morality of the day. This shortly before our great social experiment, the Civil War.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Evergreen Yeats. Thanks for posting the lake. I can never read it too many times. He writes magic.
Nice poem Kah. Lucky wife. Lucky you.
ETA: I wonder why nine bean rows.

Avy #190035 03/18/2010 1:24 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
In the limerick, above the rhyming of lines 3 and 4 does not fit in with the scheme of lines 1, 2, and 5.

Avy #190036 03/18/2010 1:57 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Hence the title An Anti-Limerick.

Zed #190039 03/18/2010 6:03 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Be 'anti', but be consistent.

Avy #190040 03/18/2010 10:52 AM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 655
addict
addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 655
I think there's a dual element in the "anti-" of the title. Not just "opposed to" but also "the opposite of," as in "antipode." By superficially preserving the limerick structure but totally ignoring the 1-2-5 rhyming requirement, I think the Anti-Limerick meets both definitions, and does so very well. I like it (although I disagree with the man.)


"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
zmjezhd #190043 03/18/2010 12:45 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
get the the translation of this
Try this;
These are really good translations as far as I can follow.

Avy #190044 03/18/2010 12:49 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
In the limerick, above the rhyming of lines 3 and 4 does not fit in with the scheme of lines 1, 2, and 5.

Not quite sure I understand you. None of the lines in the poem rhyme: Bees, wasp, hurt, doesn't, or hornet. The number of syllables per line does vary a bit: 9 or 10 and 6 or 7.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
beck123 #190045 03/18/2010 1:40 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
e.e.cummings

a pretty a day
(and every fades)
is here and away
(but born are maids
to flower an hour
in all,all)

o eyes to flower
until so blithe
a doer a wooer
some limber and lithe
some very fine mower
a tall;tall

some jerry so very
(and nellie and fan)
some handsomest harry
(and sally and nan
they tremble and cower
so pale:pale)

for betty was born
to never say nay
but lucy could learn
and lily could pray
and fewer were shyer
than doll. .. doll

( flowers and pretty scenery?)

zmjezhd #190047 03/18/2010 2:29 PM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
@ Z: if the writer/poet has used bees, wasp, and hornet for a, he should have used hurt and stung (or something similar) for b. Alternatively, he could have kept doesn't and hurt as b, but then used totally unconnected words for a ---
IM(not so in this case)HO

Avy #190048 03/18/2010 2:39 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
that seems to me like over-analysis for what was surely intended as a joke, on what is already a joke poetry form. in fact, it reminds me of those folks who 'workshop' limericks in an attempt to perfect the form. 8-)
-joe (reactionary? who says I'm reactionary?) friday

tsuwm #190051 03/18/2010 3:02 PM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
I reacted not to the post, but the 'making fun of a form' sense of the limerick. Maybe I came on a bit too strong, but... Over analysis? Is the pot calling the saucepan names, I ask you? ":)" not a single person on this board can be accused of over analysis.

Avy #190052 03/18/2010 3:12 PM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
It is amazing how many people will find something to pick at.
I am really enjoying the poetry. Keep it up despite the
criticism.
Anhedonic comes to mind.

Last edited by LukeJavan8; 03/18/2010 3:15 PM. Reason: typo

----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #190054 03/18/2010 3:45 PM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
I'm sorry if my analysis bothered people. That was not my aim. Again apologies.

Avy #190055 03/18/2010 3:59 PM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
It does not bother me.
It shows interest and caring, and I actually sort of enjoyed
following your process. Don't apologize for what you post
on this site, others don't.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #190065 03/18/2010 10:02 PM
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 655
addict
addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 655
Originally Posted By: LukeJavan8
Anhedonic comes to mind.


I think I dated her in high school.


"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0