Linda Sue Grimes's Blog
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In addition to articles about poetry, I also write about politics and spirituality. The following are links to some of my politics and spirituality articles here on Suite101:
Politics
Cheney Counters Emanuel on Afghanistan Strategy: Is the Current Procrastination Based on Politics?
Vice-President Dick Cheney disputes White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's claim of having to start from scratch on Afghan War strategy.
Rep. Phil Gingrey on Health Care: Victim of Media Spin
A 45-second clip from a speech attempts to paint Rep. Gingrey as a crass buffoon amused by the suffering of his fellow Americans. Context forms a very different picture.
Spirituality
Spiritual Marriage: The Purpose of Marriage
What is the true purpose of marriage? Is happiness the most important reason to marry? Or to avoid loneliness? How can a marriage become a spiritual marriage?
Our Changing, Turbulent World: A World in Transition
Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings offer a scientific method for outsmarting changes that keep us nervous, frustrated, and dissatisfied in this turbulent, changing world.
I also have resumed writing for the Republican Party site at BellaOnline.com.
Thank you for visiting.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser’s Commentary
About the poem, Kooser comments: “This week’s poem is by a high school student, Michelle Bennett, who lives in Tukwila, Washington, and here she is taking a look at what comes next, Western Washington University in Bellingham, with everything new about it, including opportunity.
The Poem
Depending upon the reader’s own experience, this poem will ring happy or sad, melancholy or uplifting:
The first four lines of the poem:
You find yourself in a narrow bed you’ve never slept in,
on a tree-lined grassy field you’ve never walked upon,
on a cold toilet seat you have not sat on,
in a place you now call your home, your learning, your future
To read the rest of this verse, Column 234 .
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006,
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006,
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “I don't often mention literary forms, but of this lovely poem by Cecilia Woloch I want to suggest that the form, a villanelle, which uses a pattern of repetition, adds to the enchantment I feel in reading it. It has a kind of layering, like memory itself. Woloch lives and teaches in southern
The Poem
This poem has a disturbing, condescending tone, and says more about the speaker of the poem than it does about the subject, the speaker’s mother. It is a typical atheist/agnostic, postmodernist appraisal, easily forgotten, if ever read in the first place. I'm afraid Kooser's assessment of this poem is too kind and utterly simplistic.
The first two tercets of "My Mother's Pillow:
My mother sleeps with the Bible open on her pillow;
she reads herself to sleep and wakens startled.
She listens for her heart: each breath is shallow.
For years her hands were quick with thread and needle.
She used to sew all night when we were little;
now she sleeps with the Bible on her pillow
To read the rest of this verse, Column 228 .
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In 1976, I entered Ball State University graduate school to pursue a M.A. in English. I was primarily interested in poetry writing, so I enrolled in a poetry writing workshop. We would hand in our poetic efforts, and the prof would make mimeograph copies to hand out to the class. We would read and react to the anonymous works during the workshop meetings.
One of the works that I found most memorable is titled, "The Woman Speaks Poetry." I had a copy of the original mimeographed sheet for a number of years but somehow eventually lost it. I had read it so many times, however, that I memorized most of it. The following is my rendering from memory:
THE WOMAN SPEAKS POETRY
What you say turns with the back roads
Through cornfields that plant the horizon
And wonders along the Mississinawa
Crossing over through covered bridges
Beneath sycamores where the air is cool
And still as crawfish
In the slow, green water of the river
Each word a milkweed in October
The sentence branches into asters
And clings to the cuff of my ear like cockleburs
Beneath the skins of grapes
My tongue looks for you.
Because this is merely a rendering from memory, there are, no doubt, many inaccuracies. I have left off all punctuation, because I cannot remember how or even if it was used.
If the poet who wrote this piece would just happen to see this blog entry, I would be delighted to have a corrected copy of this delightful piece.
Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
James Weldon Johnson's poem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," became the Negro National Anthem, and it was entered into the Congressional Record in 1990 as “The African American National Hymn.” With a theme not unlike that of the "Star Spangled Banner," the poem celebrates the struggle of a people for the freedom to which every human being is entitled as a birthright.
For an analysis and commentary about this poem/anthem, please see "June Poet - James Weldon Johnson: Analysis of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing'"
"Listen, Lord: A Prayer"
Born June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnson has served as my June poet-of-the-month for 2008 and 2009. His works are extraordinary; his lyric alone is musical and filled with devotional qualities. His metaphors are fresh and enliven the conversation that the devotee has with the Lord.
For an analysis of his poem/prayer, "Listen, Lord: A Prayer," please visit "Poet for June - James Weldon Johnson: "Listen, Lord: A Prayer." This article received the Editor's Choice Award.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
On May 12, 2009, in the East room, the White House supposedly hosted a poetry event—“an evening of poetry, music and the spoken word.” Introducing the affair, President Barack Obama announced, "We're here tonight not just to enjoy the works of these artists, but also to highlight the importance of the arts in our life and in our nation.” The president dabbled in some poetry writing in college. His poetic efforts include “Pop” and “Underground.” While failing to rise to the level of poetry, Obama’s efforts do rise above doggerel to the versification level.
And then First Lady Michelle Obama told the selected audience, "enjoy, have fun, and be loose.” She also added that she intends to make the White House "a place where all voices can be heard." Well, maybe not really “all voices.” According to the New York Times’ Mike Hale, “All of the performers were either of color or married to Michael Chabon or Michael Chabon himself.”
The forty-five minute event featured nine performers, of which only three fit, albeit uncomfortably, in the category of “poetry”—Chicago poetry slam champion Mayda del Valle, Joshua Brandon Bennett, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, all of whose works represent hip-hop versifying. The remaining performances featured two jazz musicians, an actor, a novelist, an essayist, and a hip-hop musician.
Jamaica Orosio’s rap inspired, verse, no doubt, reminded the Obamas of sitting in church listening to their pastor for twenty years as the good reverend Jeremiah “God damn America” Wright pummeled the image of the country that the Obamas now serve as First Family.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Paramahansa Yogananda’s poetry complements his teachings by dramatizing the plight of the devotee who has chosen to journey to the realization of his/her spiritual self.
The following articles offer commentaries on three of the great yogi’s poems from his seminal work, Songs of the Soul. Each of these three articles has received the Editor’s Choice Award.
Yogananda's "The Human Mind": Cities of Thoughts
January Poet - Paramahansa Yogananda: "The Screen of Life"
Yogananda’s "Vanishing Bubbles": Mayic Evanescence
I am in the process of composing a commentary for each poem in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Songs of the Soul. I have completed about forty commentaries, all of which have appeared here in Poetry at Suite. For a list of all the commentaries thus far completed, please visit Other Yogananda Articles.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Elizabeth Alexander, after being chosen by then President-Elect Obama, joined the ranks of the few: Robert Frost read at John F. Kennedy’s swearing in; Maya Angelou read at
One might expect the poem offered to celebrate the first inauguration of an American of African descent to be remarkable, memorable, and profound. While Elizabeth Alexander’s poem is pleasant, it offers no true insight into the human condition. It primarily features a catalogue of ordinary daily possibilities that point nowhere beyond themselves.
The piece sounds prosaic, and on the page appears as lines broken to look like a poem. This form is typical for Alexander; most of her poems read like prose masquerading as poetry. It is sad that a truly substantive work of poetry did not grace this important event.
For an analysis of the poem, please visit Alexander's “Praise Song for the Day”.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006,
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “Memories have a way of attaching themselves to objects, to details, to physical tasks, and here, George Bilgere, an
The Poem
The first four lines:
I can see her in the kitchen,
Cooking up, for the hundredth time,
A little something from her
Limited Midwestern repertoire.
To read the rest of this verse, please visit Column 205 .
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Now comes our new president, Barack Obama, who has two poems floating around the Internet. For an analysis of his effort, titled simply “Pop” please visit "Obama's Pop: President as Versifier."
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
On January 9, 2009, Governor Rod Blagojevich, during one of his rambling diatribes, added a flourishing touch to his rhetoric by quoting a snippet from British poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, “Ulysses.”
The governor quoted the last stanza consisting of the following six lines:
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
For an analysis of the poem, please visit “Alfred, Lord Tennyson's ‘Ulysses’”: Life After Adventure.”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
After being photographed with a book by Caribbean versifier Derek Walcott under his arm, President-elect Barack Obama has finally chosen his inaugural poet, and the next president of the USA has nixed the 1992 Nobel laureate in favor of a Yale professor.
According to the Washington Post, “The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced today that Elizabeth Alexander, a prize-winning poet at Yale University who grew up in Washington, will read at the swearing in next month of President-elect Barack Obama.”
For a sample of Alexander’s style, please see my article, “Alexander's ‘Blues’: Sloth Without Music,” which analyzes one of her poems.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
A Poem for Thanksgiving: By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Wilcox’s poem reminds us of the rut we can get into living our busy lives. It shows how we fail to notice all the wonderful things in life that we should treasure—even those that cause sorrow, we should be grateful for: “But he who has the faith and strength / To thank his God for sorrow / Has found a joy without alloy / To gladden every morrow.”
Here is the first stanza of “Thanksgiving”:
We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.
To read the rest of the poem, please visit “Thanksgiving.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The following articles are the most recent feature articles for Poetry. Two of them have earned the Editor’s Choice Award:
Gwynn's Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins
R. S. Gwynn's poem conflates the Snow White fable, the seven deadly sins, biblical allusion, and a stereotype of Catholic sensibility to dramatize an unholy marriage.
Yogananda's "'Tis All Unknown"
The speaker in Yogananda's "'Tis All Unknown" likens the dawning of day to the unfolding of rosebud petals, hinting at the beauty of the opening of human consciousness.
Sonnet 87 begins a sequence in which the speaker/poet addresses his Muse, again bemoaning the fact that she sometimes seems to abandon him.
In Sylvia Plath's "Mirror," the speaker is a mirror that becomes a lake to report the aging process of a woman. This piece is one of the best poems of the 20th century.
Editor’s Choice Award: Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors" portrays a unique vision of a character obsessed with body image, specifically, the character is preoccupied with her pregnant body.
Sir Philip Sidney's "Sonnet 79"
"Astrophil" comes from the Greek for "star" and "love"; therefore, the lover in this sonnet sequence is a "starlover"; "Stella," his love object, is Latin for "star."
Former poet laureate Rita Dove offers a unique three-pronged expression of the mind and vision of an adolescent girl in her "Adolescence" poems.
Editor’s Choice Award: The theme dramatized in Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush" is the contrast between the joyous notes of a bird and the despair of the human listener.
Thank you for visiting.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
If poets were held to anything near the standard of physicians, far less doggerel would be polluting the world. I have written such an oath using the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath. Here is a sampling, the first two parts of the Oath:
- I will respect and study the significant artistic achievements of those poets who precede me, and I will humbly share my knowledge with those who seek my advice. I will dedicate myself to my craft using all my talent while avoiding those two evils of effusiveness of self-indulgence and pontification of degradation and nihilism.
- I will remember that there is science to poetry as well as art, and that spirituality, peace, and love always trump metaphors and similes. I will not bring shame to my art by pretending to knowledge I do not have, and I will not cut off the legs of colleagues that I may appear taller.
For the other five please see To Aspiring Poets: A Hippocratic Oath
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Historically, the Republican Party ihas been the party of civil rights. The GOP first championed abolition of slavery and then the rights of emancipated slaves after the civil war, and it also advocated for women's suffrage.
Conversely, the Democrat Party fought bitterly against both rights for slaves and their descendents and against rights for women, including the right to vote.
For more, please see "Women and the Republican Party"
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
We clean our tools
meticulously, as if currying horses:
the little nervous sash brush
to be combed and primped
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In October 2007, Suite101.com initiated an award to recognize the work of Suite writers; it is called the Editor’s Choice Award. Section editors select one article per section each week and place a check mark on the article. The identifying check mark remains with article wherever it is listed.
Poetry Earns its Fourth Award
In August, the Poetry site at Suite101.com received its fourth Editor’s Choice Award for “Simic's 'The Partial Explanation'.“
The following articles have also been fortunate enough to be recognized by the Editor’s Choice Award:
Jul 26, 2008 “Walt Whitman's 'Passage to India'“
Feb 20, 2008 “Jamison's 'The Negro Soldiers'”
Oct 15, 2007 “October Poet: Sylvia Plath”
*****
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Stephen Schwartz, in the Weekly Standard, offers a useful overview of the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. Schwartz writes, "Readers in the United States seem destined to have Neruda thrust upon them every few years, much as the cicadas return to whine and roar up and down the East Coast."
Neruda was a plagiarist who lifted from Rabindranath Tagore. Schwartz accurately describes the flawed poets this way: "Pablo Neruda was a bad writer and a bad man. His main public is located not in the Spanish-speaking nations but in the Anglo-European countries, and his reputation derives almost entirely from the iconic place he once occupied in politics--which is to say, he's 'the greatest poet of the twentieth century' because he was a Stalinist at exactly the right moment, and not because of his poetry, which is doggerel."
Please see "July Poet - Pablo Neruda: 'To be men! That is the Stalinist law!'" for an analysis of one of his poems that is never held up for adulation.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “I don't often talk about poetic forms in this column, thinking that most of my readers aren't interested in how the clock works and would rather be given the time. But the following poem by Veronica Patterson of Colorado has a subtitle referring to a form, the senryu, and I thought it might be helpful to mention that the senryu is a Japanese form similar to haiku but dealing with people rather than nature. There; enough said. Now you can forget the form and enjoy the poem, which is a beautiful sketch of a marriage.”
The Poem
The following is the first of the senryu sequence:
when I come late to bed
I move your leg flung over my side--
that warm gate
Please visit American Life in Poetry for the rest of this verse Column 172 .
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “Among young people, tattoos are all the rage and, someday, dermatologists will grow rich as kings removing them from a lot of middle-aged people who have grown embarrassed by their colorful skins. I really like this poem by Sharmila Voorakkara of Ohio.”
The Poem
The first five lines:
Because she broke your heart, Shannon's a badge—
a seven-letter skidmark that scars up
across your chest, a flare of indelible script.
Between Death or Glory, and Mama, she rages,
scales the trellis of your rib cage
To read the rest: Column 167.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
While writing, I feel engaged in a purpose that is beyond myself. On the other hand, I have always felt that the real reason I write is to find out about myself, that is, to find out what I think and to organize my thinking, and theoretically it should not matter if a larger purpose be present, especially the larger purpose of eventually communicating with other people.
Writing as a Spiritual Act
The act of writing becomes a spiritual act when the writer is engaged in self-discovery for clarity of thought and purpose. Communication is ultimately the goal of any writing.
Without clarity, honesty, and integrity, writing serves no purpose. The spirituality of a clear, well-wrought poem is one of life’s true pleasures; the joy of understanding and recognition offers depth and breadth to the spiritual search.
Clarity is essential in all writing, if the transcendent voice is to be well displayed. Writers, especially poets, must always strive for the discourse that speaks in as clear a voice as possible, since spiritual things can be communicated only through metaphor and symbol.
Clarity in PoetryClarity is especially crucial in poetry. It is true that poetry does require a special reading, but real, skillfully crafted poems are worth the extra care one takes to comprehend the heartfelt experiences portrayed by practiced poets.
The field of modern writing, especially modern poetry, is littered with weeds of confusion, apathy, inaccuracy, and even fraud. The reader must seek out clarity with vigilance, constantly asking himself, “is this poem clearly communicating or merely obfuscating?” It is wise to avoid to latter as a waste of time and effort.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: “Post-traumatic stress disorder is a new name for "shell shock," a term once applied only to military veterans. Here the poet Marvin Bell describes a group of these emotionally damaged soldiers, gathered together for breakfast. I'd guess that just about everybody who reads this column has known one or two men like these.”
The Poem
Bell’s poem reads like prose broken into poetic-looking lines, one of the major traits of modern poets who are more dabblers than craftsmen.
The first five lines:
His army jacket bore the white rectangle
of one who has torn off his name. He sat mute
at the round table where the trip-wire veterans
ate breakfast. They were foxhole buddies
who went stateside without leaving the war.
To read the rest of this verse, Column 146 .
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The following articles demonstrate the wide variety of moods of the “Nun of Amherst”:
Dickinson's “The Only News I Know”
Poem number 827 in Johnson's The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson offers a glimpse of the poet's satisfying daily existence.
Dickinson’s Spiritual Intoxication
The poem "I taste a liquor never brewed" portrays the speaker's spiritual intoxication through an extended metaphor likening her soul drunkenness to alcohol inebriation.
Dickinson was a keen observer of her environment, dramatizing her reactions in poems. Her sense of melancholy informs her observations of light on winter afternoons.
Emily Dickinson, in her poem of cosmic drama, portrays Death as a gentleman carriage driver, for whom she ceases her leisure as well as her work.
This poem is one of Dickinson's many fun poems loaded with clever plays on words, making a keen observation that serves to remind the reader of images stored in memory.
Emily Dickinson's life resembled that of a monastic. She lived a quiet life of contemplation, and she filled her poems with flowers, birds, divinity, and immortality.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser comments and introduces the poem: “Texas poet R. S. Gwynn is a master of the light touch. Here he picks up on Gerard Manley Hopkins' sonnet "Pied Beauty," which many of you will remember from school, and offers us a picnic instead of a sermon. I hope you enjoy the feast!”
The Poem
Hopkins' "Pied Beauty" is not a traditional sonnet, but a special sonnet form that Hopkins invented and named the "curtal sonnet." It is a shortened version the original Italian sonnet.
Before reading Gwynn’s take-off of Father Hopkins’ poem, please read the original, “Pied Beauty.”
The first four lines from Gwynn’s “Fried Beauty”:
Glory be to God for breaded things—
Catfish, steak finger, pork chop, chicken thigh,
Sliced green tomatoes, pots full to the brim
With french fries, fritters, life-float onion rings
For the rest of this verse, see Column 166 at American Life in Poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
About the poem, the former poet laureate writes: “Sometimes I think that people are at their happiest when they're engaged in activities close to the work of the earliest humans: telling stories around a fire, taking care of children, hunting, making clothes. Here an Iowan, Ann Struthers, speaks of one of those original tasks, digging in the dirt.”
The Poem
A sampling, the first five lines:
Today I planted the sand cherry with red leaves—
and hope that I can go on digging in this yard,
pruning the grape vine, twisting the silver lace
on its trellis, the one that bloomed
just before the frost flowered over all the garden.
For the rest of the poem, American Life in Poetry: Column 171 .
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The following articles discuss poems that offer a variety of moods and subjects:
Frost's speaker in "The Oven Bird" explores the same mystery that presents itself in the little eight-line poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
In this poem, Dickinson personifies summer as a woman who struggles to overcome the coldness of late spring.
John Greenleaf Whittier's "The Barefoot Boy" is reminiscent of Dylan Thomas' "Fern Hill"; both dramatize memories of boyhood. Whittier offers a special nod to summer.
“Riley’s 'The Old Swimmin’-Hole': Nostalgia and Summer”
Nostalgia and summer seem to be soul mates. James Whitcomb Riley's "The Old Swimmin'-Hole" is a delightful example of a man recalling his boyhood in summer.
“Amy Lowell’s ‘Penumbra’: An After Death Presence”
Unlike the nostalgic looking back into the past of Whittier and Riley, Amy Lowell's poem, "Penumbra," looks into the future after the speaker's death.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: "In ‘The Moose,’ a poem much too long to print here, the late Elizabeth Bishop was able to show a community being created from a group of strangers on a bus who come in contact with a moose on the highway. They watch it together and become one. Here Robert Bly of Minnesota assembles a similar community, around an eclipse. Notice how the experience happens to ‘we,’ the group, not just to ‘me,’ the poet.”
The Poem
This poem is an American (or innovative) sonnet. It has no traditional rime scheme nor meter. It is essentially prose in sonnet form; nevertheless, it proffers three quatrains and a couplet as it tries to imitate the Elizabethan sonnet stanzaic form. Shakespeare, however, will get no competition from this versifier.
Here is the first quatrain of “Seeing the Eclipse in Maine”:
It started about noon. On top of Mount Batte,
We were all exclaiming. Someone had a cardboard
And a pin, and we all cried out when the sun
Appeared in tiny form on the notebook cover.
Please visit American Life in Poetry for the rest of this verse Column 165.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
On 17 July 2008, James Billington, Librarian of Congress, announced the appointment of California poet, Kay Ryan, to the U. S. Poet Laureateship for the coming year. She will begin her duties in September.
From the Library of Congress Web site: “Ryan was born in 1945 in San Jose, Calif., and grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. Her father was an oil well driller and sometime-prospector. She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1971, Ryan has lived in Marin County.”
For more about Kay Ryan, please see “Kay Ryan: New Poet Laureate.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
My articles here at Suite Poetry are written with the student in mind as well as general readers who are seeking some direction in appreciating poems. So any article here is a potential helper for those frustrated students.
In addition to my Suite articles, I maintain a Web site titled Classic Poetry: for students who hate poetry!, which is aimed deliberately at the target on the poetry dummy’s head.
You might want to start by reading my article, “How to Read a Poem,” and then you might take my 8-lesson course in “Understanding Poetry.”
I hope you find my sites helpful, and I wish you all the best in your study of poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
What is a Snark?
Probably a portmanteau for “snake” and “shark.” Here’s how Carroll explains the concept: “ . . . take the two words ‘fuming’ and ‘furious.’ Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards ‘fuming,’ you will say ‘fuming-furious’; if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards ‘furious,’ you will say ‘furious-fuming’; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious.’”
Actually, I would say, ‘fumrious.” Placing the “r” before the “u,” makes it more difficult to establish the two words that are being conflated. It is easier to pronounce if you make it “frumious.” But then maybe Carroll wanted to make it more difficult.
The Poem
The poem is long with a Preface and eight “fits.” It has a skillfully composed rime scheme and meter and narrates a perfectly sensible tale is a perfectly nonsensical manner. In other words, this is Carroll at his nonsensical best. It has been studied and critiqued unmercifully by scholars, critics, and other people with too much time on their hands.
The following lines serve as a choral repetition for the poem:
They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.
To read Carroll’s poem, which is accompanied by the drawings of Henry Holiday, please see ”The Hunting of the Snark.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
When jazz singer, Rene Marie, was invited to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the state of the city address in Denver on July 1, 2008, she accepted the invitation, agreeing to sing the national anthem. But she did not sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”; instead, she sang James Weldon Johnson’s 1899 poem/hymn titled “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Also, instead singing the Johnson hymn with its original melody, which was very beautifully written by his brother, she put the hymn’s words to the melody of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is an outstanding, inspiring poem. It is sad that a jazz singer has chosen to denigrate the hymn, along with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” by her duplicity.
For an analysis of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” please see: “June Poet - James Weldon Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing ”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
When Pablo Neruda, the Chilean Nobel Laureate, published his first collection of verse, titled Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, he put his borrowings of the Bengali Poet Rabindranath Tagore on display.
While many of the poems demonstrate their debt to Tagore’s poems, Neruda’s number 16 is a total rip-off of Tagore’s #30 from The Gardener. In his memoirs, Neruda claims that he had told his friend, Joaquin Cifuentes Sepveda, that he had considered putting a disclaimer with the poem, saying that it was a “paraphrase,” but Sepveda discouraged him, saying Neruda would be accused of plagiarism. Sepveda’s advice was flawed.
After Neruda’s “paraphrase” was discovered to be perilously close to the Tagore poem, in the next edition the poem carried the explanation, “This poem is a paraphrase of the 30th poem in Rabindranath Tagore's The Gardener.” While this disclaimer might give the act legal cover, it in no way diminishes the fact that Neruda plagiarized Tagore.
Pablo Neruda is July’s featured poet: July Poet – Pablo Neruda: ‘To be men! That is the Stalinist law!’
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry
While serving as the U. S. Poet Laureate 2004 to 2006, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser launched his series of weekly columns called American Life in Poetry. These columns are offered free to newspapers to dramatize the value and just plain fun of poetry and to demonstrate how poetry enhances life in America.
Kooser’s Commentary
Kooser introduces the poem: "None of us can fix the past. Mistakes we've made can burden us for many years, delivering their pain to the present as if they had happened just yesterday. In the following poem we join with Ruth Stone in revisiting a hurried decision, and we empathize with the intense regret of being unable to take that decision back, or any other decision, for that matter.”
The Poem
Is the speaker of the poem perhaps a bit of drama queen? Here are the first four line of “Another Feeling”:
Once you saw a drove of young pigs
crossing the highway. One of them
pulling his body by the front feet,
the hind legs dragging flat.
To read the entire poem, please visit American Life in Poetry Column 4.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The identity of the writer of the plays and sonnets attributed to “William Shakespeare” has long been debated; the most likely candidate appears to be Edward De Vere.
Part of the quandary is that a chap named William Shakespeare and De Vere were contemporaries. William Shakespeare, an actor, lived from April 26, 1564, until April 23, 1616; De Vere from April 12, 1550 until June 24, 1604. The main challenge to William’s actually having written the works attributed to him is that he lacked both the education and experience to account for the learning and depth of understanding portrayed in the sonnets and dramatized in the plays, while the opposite is true for De Vere.
Episodes from the plays have been found to be part of De Vere’s life experience. The truth may never be fully known, and scholars and critics continue to argue on either side. Here is an analysis of a De Vere sonnet, “De Vere’s Love Poem.”
I have analyzed all 154 of the Shakespeare sonnets.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About Sam Green’s poem, Kooser writes: “I've lived all my life on the plains, where no body of water is more than a few feet deep, and even at that shallow depth I'm afraid of it. Here Sam Green, who lives on an island north of Seattle, takes us down into some really deep, dark water.”
For a sample of the opening stanza of “Night Dive”:
Down here, no light but what we carry with us.
Everywhere we point our hands we scrawl
color: bulging eyes, spines, teeth or clinging tentacles.
At negative buoyancy, when heavy hands
seem to grasp & pull us down, we let them,
To read the rest of Green’s poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 170.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Mahabharata is thought to be the longest epic poem ever written. The Bhagavad Gita is an important part of that extended epic, and the Gita is often extolled as the “Hindu Bible.”
With Paramahansa Yogananda’s two-volume set of the translation of the Gita titled God Talks to Arjuna, the world experienced for the first time a detailed explication of the poetry of the Gita.
Then in 2007, Self-Realization Fellowship issued Paramahansa Yogananda’s The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita. This important condensation serves as a useful summary and introduction to Yogananda’s classic work titled God Talks to Arjuna.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
People love apocalyptic declamations that seem profound and prophetic. Whenever there is a crisis in the world (and the world is never without a crisis!), folks like to point to a well-known poem and say yes that describes how things are today.
An example of this phenomenon can be seen in the many articles and books written with titles of lines from this Yeats poem. If you google “Things fall apart”+”New York Times,” you’ll get close to 40,000 sites.
W. B. Yeats was a great poet and a deep thinker. He constructed a work that he called A Vision, which, in fact, is nothing more than his own statement on poetics. It is a dense work but fundamentally flawed.
Yeats often misconstrued concepts to the point of turning them on their head—a topic about which I began writing with my doctoral dissertation and which I will continue to address.
However, I am focusing here only on one technical issue with the poem. This issue is a minor one in comparison to the philosophy on which it is based, but still, it is important that the reader is aware of this problem: the conflation of the bearer and the born in the last two lines of the poem: “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Because, to my knowledge, the absurdity of these lines has never been discussed, I have written two articles explaining the problem:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Structured in thirteen unrimed couplets, the poem dramatizes the uniqueness that each child contributes to the household. The following are the first four:
1
Of course you invited them in: faces painted
like trick-or-treaters, carrying pointy spears.
2
The youngest clutched his goat, the tallest
her stack of bowls, and you had rooms to spare.
3
They fill the house with song and drums;
they show you the dance for morning, the dance
4
for evening, the dance for mowing the lawn.
They yank the dust covers off your heart.
The line, “They yank the dust covers off your heart,” fairly springs off the page. Sandra Beasley is a poet whose career is worth following.
To read the rest of the poem, as well as to hear it read, please visit, “The Native are Restless.”
NB: I have placed numbers between the couplets to separate them on the blog page.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The widely used and very successful poetry textbook written by Laurence Perrine is Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. Professor Perrine died before the book reached its ninth edition; his successor, Professor Thomas Arp, renamed the text Perrine’s Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. The text is now in its twelfth edition and continues to be selected for its clarity and depth in poetry instruction. Laurence Perrine used the spelling “rime” throughout his influential textbook; he was interested in accuracy.
Origin of the Term “Rhyme”
The term “rime” in Old English was “hrim”; in Middle English, it had become “rime” and remained so until the 19th century, when English printers misguidedly started spelling it “rhyme.” The error was encouraged by Samuel Johnson, who mistook the term as a derivative of the Greek “rhythmos.”
Shakespeare and Coleridge
In the Shakespeare sonnets, the spelling is always “rime”; the sonnets were written two centuries before the error. The famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
Rime, Not Rhyme
I prefer the spelling “rime” for two reasons: I am not comfortable perpetuating an error. And a rule of poetry, indeed all writing, requires brevity in language use: never use a long word, when a short one will do, and never use two words when one will do. The spelling, “rime,” is one letter fewer than the bulky, erroneous “rhyme.”
It is unfortunate that an error has taken hold of a perfectly good word and changed it for so many generations of readers, writers, printers, publishers, and editors. Today the forms “rime” and “rhyme” are considered interchangeable by many editors, while most prefer and even insist on “rhyme.” Some readers even believe that the term “rime” is actually incorrect except when referring to a type of ice.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser comments on the poem as he introduces it: “A poem need not go on at great length to accomplish the work of conveying something meaningful to its readers. In the following poem by the late Marnie Walsh, just a few words, written as if they'd been recorded in exactly the manner in which they'd been spoken, tell us not only about the missing woman in the red high heels, but a little something about the speaker as well.”
The first four lines:
we all went to town one day
went to a store
bought you new shoes
red high heels
To finishing reading the poem, please visit Kooser’s fine Web site at American Life in Poetry: Column 3.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
An Excited Heart
Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Heart’s Journey” consists of two quatrains, each with the rime scheme of ABAB.
The speaker has met a person who has aroused him deeply. After touching the person’s face, it seemed to the speaker that “Drifts of blossom flushed and fell.” The face blushed with excitement then quickly dissipated. He admits that he does not know the person well.
In the second stanza, the speaker offers a fascinating description of his deep emotional reaction to this person’s “joy”: the person motivated “Chime on chime from bell on bell / In the cloisters of my heart.” The speaker’s heart was still and quiet until this person aroused it, and it grew excited.
Commentary
Except for the last two lines, the poem remains rather bland, and while those final lines are interesting, the two stanzas taken together do little more than repeat the theme that the speaker became excited by someone he recently met.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Levi Stahl, who is the publicist for the University of Chicago Press, explains that the poet’s ideas should go into the poet’s notebook, which “can be many things: a quiet rehearsal space, a commonplace book, a tinderbox, an ongoing conversation with one’s peers and influences.”
Even more importantly, clarifies Stahl, these valuable notebooks behave as “an ally in the fight against time’s inevitable losses.” The poet’s notebook is the gold standard and repository for holding “the fleeting impressions that help the poet eventually attempt to put the world into words.”
It sounds so simple: keeping a notebook for ideas is a hedge against memory loss associated with time’s passing. Maybe everyone could put such a tool to use, whether a poet, publicist, or grave-digger. Everybody suffers memory loss. Everybody is under the spell of the passage of time. Good ideas can, thus, help everyone.
To read Levi Stahl’s entire article, please visit The Five-Minute Muse.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Nebraska poet Ted Kooser introduces the poem with the following comment: “Many of us have felt helpless when we've tried to assist friends who are dealing with the deaths of loved ones. Here the Kentucky poet and publisher, Jonathan Greene, conveys that feeling of inadequacy in a single sentence. The brevity of the poem reflects the measured and halting speech of people attempting to offer words of condolence.”
The first four lines:
As Death often
sidelines us
it is good
to contribute
For the whole poem, please see American Life in Poetry: Column 2.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former U. S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser introduces the poem: “How often have you wondered what might be going on inside a child's head? They can be so much more free and playful with their imaginations than adults, and are so good at keeping those flights of fancy secret and mysterious, that even if we were told what they were thinking we might not be able to make much sense of it. Here Ellen Bass, of Santa Cruz, California, tells us of one such experience.”
Here’s a sampling:
For months my daughter carried
a dead monarch in a quart mason jar.
To and from school in her backpack,
to her only friend's house. At the dinner table
To read the rest of the poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 164.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
This Idea Defies All Reason
Can an article about potted plants mean cookbooks are colorful picture books? Can a song about spring mean fall is harvest time? Can the painting of Mona Lisa mean the fall of Icarus was a sad event? Can Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, mean horses make the landscape more beautiful? Of course not. So how is it that a poem can mean anything you want it to?
If this claim were accurate, there would no need for more than one poem. If a poem can mean anything, then you can want it to mean something different each time you read it.
Hughes and Owen, the Same?
Langston Hughes’ poem, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred,” dramatizes through rhetorical questions the possible effects of having to postpone one’s aspirations, but what if you want it to dramatize a soldier's reaction to mustard gas during World War I?
You would be claiming that Hughes’ poem is the same as Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.”
Lazy Thinkers
Misunderstanding poems may begin in high school as some teachers abdicate the responsibility of teaching how poetry works, allowing students to believe anything they wish about the meaning of a poem.
It is much easier to let student believe what they want to believe than to challenge them and guide them to learn to think and reason based on actual evidence.
Unfortunately, this kind of lazy thinking does not apply only to the study of poetry, but I leave that problem to others. If you are one of those unfortunates who believes that poetry can mean anything you want it to mean, please take my free course in eight lessons on Understanding Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About the poem, Kooser remarks: “I have always enjoyed poems that celebrate the small pleasures of life. Here Max Mendelsohn, age 12, of Weston, Massachusetts, tells us of the joy he finds in playing with marbles.
Here’s a teaser:
I love the sound of marbles
scattered on the worn wooden floor,
like children running away in a game of hide-and-seek.
I love the sight of white marbles . . .
The Success of Small Pleasures
The 12-year-old pulls it off. The poem is surprisingly refreshing. Of course, it is not terribly profound, but what can one expect in profundity from one so young?
As Kooser says, “celebrat[ing] the small pleasures of life” is enjoyable. And it is interesting as well as informative to see what a pre-adolescent boy finds worth celebrating.
The success of the poem results in no small part from the fact that the young poet is not straining too much to sound mature. The last line is a little wobbly, but overall, the poem is enjoyable.
To read the entire poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 163.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The former poet laureate’s recent column features Massachusetts poet, Richard Hoffman’s “Summer Job.”
Kooser introduces the poem with the following comment: “Though at the time it may not occur to us to call it "mentoring," there's likely to be a good deal of that sort of thing going on, wanted or unwanted, whenever a young person works for someone older. Richard Hoffman of Massachusetts does a good job of portraying one of those teaching moments in this poem.”
A sampling from the poem:
"The trouble with intellectuals," Manny, my boss,
once told me, "is that they don't know nothing
till they can explain it to themselves. A guy like that,"
he said, "he gets to middle age--and by the way,
he gets there late . . .
To read the entire poem, please visit Column 162 at American Life in Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser comments about the poem: “I may be a little sappy, but I think that almost everyone is doing the best he or she can, despite all sorts of obstacles. This poem by Jonathan Holden introduces us to a young car salesman, who is trying hard, perhaps too hard. Holden is the past poet laureate of Kansas and poet in residence at Kansas State University in Manhattan.”
The following lines are a sample from the poem “Car Showroom”:
Day after day, along with his placid
automobiles, that well-groomed
sallow young man had been waiting for
me, as in the cheerful, unchanging
weather of a billboard . . .
To read the entire poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 161.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The question was, “Of the following, which poem by Emily Dickinson do you most admire?” With the choices as follows: “A Bird came down the Walk,” “I heard a Fly buzz,” “Because I could not stop for Death,” “I taste a liquor never brewed,” and “Success is counted sweetest.”
Big Winner
The big winner is “Because I could not stop for Death,” which received 75% of the votes. Runners-up were “I heard a Fly buzz” and “Success is counted sweetest”—each equally splitting the remaining 25%.
I was surprised that one of Dickinson’s death poems would receive the most votes; it is, however, a magnificent poem that does inspire because of its emphasis on “immortality.” This poem is widely anthologized and therefore probably quite recognizable.
Getting Acquainted with Poems
All of the poems are wonderful, and if you wish to become better acquainted with them, please check out the following articles right here at Suite Poetry:
- A Bird came down the Walk: “A Bird came down the Walk”: Dickinson’s Frightened Beads
- I heard a Fly buzz: Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz”: Mystical Adeptness
- Because I could not stop for Death: Looking Back from Eternity: Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death”
- I taste a liquor never brewed: Dickinson’s Spiritual Intoxication: “I taste a liquor never brewed”
- Success is counted sweetest: “Success is counted sweetest”: A Loser’s Comprehension
This is the last poll. The feature will soon be discontinued. Thanks to all who have participated.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser most recent column features Steve Orlen’s “Three Teenage Girls: 1956.” Orlen is a poet from Arizona.
About the poem, former poet laureate Kooser comments: “I've mentioned how important close observation is in composing a vivid poem. In this scene by Arizona poet, Steve Orlen, the details not only help us to see the girls clearly, but the last detail is loaded with suggestion. The poem closes with the car door shutting, and we readers are shut out of what will happen, though we can guess.”
I wish Kooser had told us his guesses. To sample the poem, please consider the following lines:
Three teenage girls in tight red sleeveless blouses and black Capri pants
And colorful headscarves secured in a knot to their chins
Are walking down the hill, chatting, laughing,
Cupping their cigarettes against the light rain
The first thing I wonder about: why are three teenage girls dressed exactly alike? It strains the credibility of the poet’s observation, unless later in the poem we learn why.
To read the entire poem, please go to American Life in Poetry: Column 160.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Celebrating Poetry Month
Remember to carry your favorite poem in your pocket and at opportune times, haul it out, and read it to family members, friends, co-workers at the water fountain.
Lunchtime would be a great time to enlighten your buddies with poems. Have fun exchanging poems and thoughts about them. I recommend you carry several poems; you never know what kind of extended interest you might elicit.
Reading and Polling
Another way to celebrate poetry, of course, is to read about poetry right here at Poetry on the Suite. Plus, become even more active by taking the current poll, located just below the blog on the homepage.
For more info about this happy day in April National Poetry Month, please see Poem in Your Pocket Day: Celebrating Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Kooser most recent column features Frank Steele’s “Part of a Legacy.”
Here is what Kooser has to say in his introductory comment about Steele’s poem: “Putting bed pillows onto the grass to freshen, it's a pretty humble subject for a poem, but look how Kentucky poet, Frank Steele, deftly uses a sun-warmed pillow to bring back the comfort and security of childhood.”
And here is a teaser from the poem:
I take pillows outdoors to sun them
as my mother did. "Keeps bedding fresh,"
she said. It was April then, too—
buttercups fluffing their frail sails,
one striped bee humming grudges, a crinkle
To finish reading the poem, please visit Column 158 at American Life in Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Academy of American Poets is offering a simple way to celebrate April—National Poetry Month. The group’s Web site encourages you to select your favorite poem, make a copy of it, and carry it in your pocket.
On April 17, at appropriate times, they suggest you take out the poem and read it to family, friends, or co-workers.
The organization also encourages poetry lovers to start your projects. On their Web site, they explain: “In this age of mechanical and digital reproduction, it's easy to carry a poem, share a poem, or start your own PIYP day event.” They list ideas to help get you started:
- Start a "poems for pockets" give-a-way in your school or workplace
- Urge local businesses to offer discounts for those carrying poems
- Post pocket-sized verses in public places
- Handwrite some lines on the back of your business cards
- Start a street team to pass out poems in your community
For more innovative strategies, see Academy of American Poets.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
To learn all there is to know about National Poetry Month, please visit the site where it all began: National Poetry Month at Poets.org. Features include the history of National Poetry Month, This Year's Programs, National Event s and Celebrations.
You can even order posters that celebrate poetry.
Every month is poetry month here at Suite Poetry. So please visit often, and thank you for all of your visits in the past.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About the poem, Kooser observes, “From your school days you may remember A. E. Housman's poem that begins, ‘Loveliest of trees, the cherry now / Is hung with bloom along the bough.’ Here's a look at a blossoming cherry, done 120 years later, on site among the famous cherry trees of Washington, by D.C. poet Judith Harris.”
The following is a sample to whet your appetite. To read the entire poem, please see American Life in Poetry: Column 157.
In Your Absence
Not yet summer,
but unseasonable heat
pries open the cherry tree.
It stands there stupefied,
in its sham, pink frills,
dense with early blooming.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Emily Dickinson Favorite Poem poll seeks to determine the favorite Dickinson poem of Poetry site readers.
Choices
The following poems are offered: “A Bird came down the Walk,” “I heard a Fly buzz,” “Because I could not stop for Death,” “I taste a liquor never brewed,” and “Success is counted sweetest.”
Please participate in the Dickinson poll, located just below the blog on the Poetry homepage. After the poll closes, I will offer an evaluation and commentary about the results.
Thank you for visiting Poetry and for participating in the poll.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser was the U. S. poet laureate from 2004 to 2006. His first column, which began his series called American Life in Poetry, features a dour look at a married couple.
Here is Kooser’s introductory comment about the poem: "We all know that the manner in which people behave toward one another can tell us a lot about their private lives. In this amusing poem by David Allan Evans, Poet Laureate of South Dakota, we learn something about a marriage by being shown a couple as they take on an ordinary household task.”
Kooser calls it “amusing,” but is it really?
Neighbors
They live alone
together,
she with her wide hind
and bird face,
he with his hung belly
and crewcut.
To read the entire poem, please visit American Life in Poetry Column 1.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser features a poem by Marianne Boruch. About the poem Kooser writes, “The American poet Elizabeth Bishop often wrote of how places—both familiar and foreign—looked, how they seemed. Here Marianne Boruch of Indiana begins her poem in this way, too, in a space familiar to us all but made new—made strange—by close observation.”
The following lines give you an idea of the flavor of the poem:
It seems so—
I don't know. It seems
as if the end of the world
has never happened in here.
To read the entire poem, please visit American Life in Poetry, column 155.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Hughes big winner
To the question, “Which Harlem Renaissance poet do you most admire?” voters gave a big positive response to the famous Langston Hughes, while giving 25% to Paul Laurence Dunbar. Poets receiving no votes were Robert Hayden, Claude McKay, and Sterling A. Brown.
Get acquainted with the poets
Understandably, voters often respond to name recognition. Langston Hughes has received much more attention in the literary field than any of the other contenders. But you can get acquainted with the other poet’s work through the following articles:
- Robert Hayden: Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”: A Nearly Perfect Poem
- Claude McKay: McKay’s “America”: A Testimony of Love and Hate
- Sterling A. Brown: Brown’s “Southern Cop”: Irony and Racism
Thank you for participating in the poll. Another one will be coming soon.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
U. S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser comments on Dugger’s poem: “In this endearing short poem by Californian Trish Dugger, we can imagine ‘what if?’ What if we had been given ‘a baker's dozen of hearts?’ I imagine many more and various love poems would be written. Here Ms. Dugger, Poet Laureate of the City of Encinitas, makes fine use of the one patched but good heart she has.”
“Spare Parts”
The following lines invite you to read the rest of the poem at American Life in Poetry Column 153:
We barge out of the womb
with two of them: eyes, ears,
arms, hands, legs, feet.
Only one heart. Not a good
plan. God should know we
need at least a dozen . . .
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About becoming Minnesot's first poet laureate, Robert Bly stated, "They wrote to me and said something about it, and I said that if if doesn't involve any work, I'll do it."
Robert Bly’s literary output reveals that same work ethic.
Appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty
Bly was appointed to the newly established position by Governor Tim Pawlenty. A 12-member committee of the Minnesota Humanities Center compiled a list of choices for poet laureate. They sent their short list of three to the governor, who then selected Bly. This laureateship is an unpaid position, so the tax-papers will not be burdened. For more information about Bly, please visit “Imagism vs Picturism,” and “Robert Bly’s Personal Archive.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Sonnet of the Day
An easy way to go through all of the sonnets of Shakespeare is to read one every day. Now it is easy to do. You can simply subscribe to Shakespeare Sonnet of the Day, and the site owners will send you a Shakespeare sonnet every day.
To subscribe and start those sonnets flowing, just visit the following site, Shakespeare Sonnet of the Day, scroll down, and place your email address in the box, and you are all set.
Articles on the sonnets
To read commentaries about Shakespeare sonnets, you are welcome to visit the following: Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 34, Sonnet 35, Sonnet 36, Sonnet 37, Sonnet 38, Sonnet 39, Sonnet 40, Sonnet 41, Sonnet 42, Sonnet 43, Sonnet 44, Sonnet 45, Sonnet 46, Sonnet 47, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 96, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The former U. S. Poet Laureate from 2004-2006 comments about the featured poem: “Thirty, forty years ago, there were lots of hitchhikers, college students, bent old men and old women, and none of them seemed fearful of being out there on the highways at the mercy of strangers. All that's changed, and nobody wants to get in a car with a stranger. Here Steven Huff of New York tells us about a memorable ride.”
And now here are the first four lines of the poem “Safe” by Steven Huff:
You used to be able to flag a ride in this country.
Impossible now--everyone is afraid
of strangers. Well, there was fear then too,
and it was mutual: drivers versus hitchhikers.
The end has a surprising twist; you will want to read the entire poem, “Safe,” at American Life in Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The recent poll asked the question:Of the following Shakespeare sonnets, which one do you most admire?
And the choices were the following:
- 1 From fairest creatures we desire increase
- 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
- 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds
- 126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
- 130 My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
And the winner is “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” This sonnet won 75% of the votes. And the runner-up is “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” which earned 25% of the votes.
The two winners are, in fact, the most widely anthologized and studied Shakespeare sonnets.
The following articles will help you become better acquainted with the lesser known, but equally worthwhile, sonnets:
- Shakespeare Sonnet 1: 'From fairest creatures we desire increase'
- Shakespeare Sonnet 116: 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds'
- Shakespeare Sonnet 126: ‘O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power’
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About the Ochester poem, Kooser comments: “There's a world of great interest and significance right under our feet, but most of us don't think to look down. We spend most of our time peering off into the future, speculating on how we will deal with whatever is coming our way. Or dwelling on the past. Here Ed Ochester stops in the middle of life to look down.”
Here is the middle of the poem:
not much compared to what they find
in England, where every now and then
a coin of the Roman emperors, Severus
or Constantius, works its way up
To read the beginning and end, please visit American Life in Poetry Column 150.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
PBS’s Jeffrey Brown interviewed six poets of the Holy Land: three Israeli poets and three Palestinian poets. Each poet gives a useful perspective of his/her relationship with the land, the language, and with poetry. Each poet also offers a few lines of verse to give the reader a taste of their subjects, themes, and styles.
Israeli poets
The Israeli poets are Agi Mishol, Eliaz Cohen, and Aharon Shabtai at Israel's Poetry Reflects Story of a Nation.
Palestinian poets
The Palestinian poets are Samih al-Qasim, Ghassan Zaqtan, and Taha Muhammad Ali at In Palestine, Identity Is Regained Through Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Linda Pastan is one of the best poets writing today. The Washington Post has opined that Linda Pastan is “one of the real treasures in poetry of our time.” So therefore, I congratulate Ted Kooser, former Poet Laureate (2004-2006), for offering this fine selection by this necessary poet.
About “The Quarrel, “Kooser comments in his introduction: “Elsewhere in this newspaper you may find some advice for maintaining and repairing troubled relationships. Here, in a poem by Linda Pastan of Maryland, is one of those relationships in need of some help.” This comment could have been better focused, but it, nevertheless, gives a peep into the theme of the poem.
The following lines comprise the first verse paragraph of the poem, “The Quarrel":
If there were a monument
to silence, it would not be
the tree whose leaves
murmur continuously
among themselves
To read the entire poem, please see American Life in Poetry: Column 149.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The new poll asks the following question: Of the following Shakespeare sonnets, which one do you most admire?
- 1 From fairest creatures we desire increase
- 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
- 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds
- 126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
- 130 My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets are numbered, so I have included the number along with the opening line.
Please vote in the poll, located just below the blog on the Poetry homepage.
If you would like to refresh your memory about the sonnets before making a choice, please feel free to visit the following:
- Shakespeare Sonnet 1: “From fairest creatures we desire increase”
- Shakespeare Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
- Shakespeare Sonnet 116: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”
- Shakespeare Sonnet 126: “O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power”
- Shakespeare Sonnet 130: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”
Thank you for visiting.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The most recent poll asked the question: “Of the following poets, which one do you most admire?” The choices were Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, W. B. Yeats, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
I was heartened that every poet received a percentage of the vote. They stack up a follows:
Sharing first place:
- Robert Frost 30.77%
- Sylvia Plath 30.77%
Sharing second place:
- Emily Dickinson 15.38%
- W. B. Yeats 15.38%
Coming in third:
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning 7.69%
Getting to know the poets
You are cordially invited to visit the following articles to get acquainted with the poets: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, W. B. Yeats, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Thanks to all who participated. Another poll is on its way.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Characterizing O’Brien’s poetry as “fierce, funny, and deeply melancholy,” judges for the T. S. Eliot prize awarded the poet the highly esteemed poetry prize for his collection, The Drowned Book. The prize offers a cash award of approximately $30,000.
Born in London on December 19, 1952, O’Brien currently serves as Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also writes reviews for the Sunday Times, the Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement.
Related articles:
- Heaney Wins T. S. Eliot Prize: A Lifetime of Poetry
- Prufrock’s Love Song
- Tricked by J. Alfred Prufrock
- Eliot’s Rhapsody on a Windy Night
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In his recently released book, Melville: The Making of the Poet, Hershel Parker, the H. Fletcher Brown Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, corrects earlier critics’ misconceptions regarding Melville and the art of poetry. Hershel demonstrates how intense was Melville’s relationship with poetry from childhood on and into old age.
For a review of Hershel’s book, please see Robert Faggen’s “The great American author didn't write poetry by accident, Parker argues, but entirely by plan.”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Haiku Society of America, which was founded forty years ago by Harold G. Henderson and Leroy Kanterman, exists to advance the reading, writing, and study of the ancient Asian art of haiku. The organization boasts approximately 800 members worldwide. They have regular meetings, and they sponsor contests, lectures, readings, and workshops.
In addition to their magazine Frogpond, they publish a quarterly newsletter to inform members about their meetings and announce their national and international events. The organization’s Web presence can be experienced at The Haiku Society of America.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006, features Rynn Williams’ poem, “Insomnia,” in his most recent column. About the poem, Kooser says, “If one believes television commercials, insomnia, that thief of sleep, torments humans in ever-increasing numbers. Rynn Williams, a poet working in Brooklyn, New York, tries here to identify its causes and find a suitable remedy.”
The following lines offer a sample of “Insomnia”:
I try tearing paper into tiny, perfect squares—
they cut my fingers. Warm milk, perhaps,
stirred counter-clockwise in a cast iron pan—
but even then there's burning at the edges,
angry foam-hiss their pens.
To read the entire poem, please see Column 145 at American Life in Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser features a poem by Jackson Wheeler. About the poem Kooser writes, “I'd guess you've heard it said that the reason we laugh when somebody slips on a banana peel is that we're happy that it didn't happen to us. That kind of happiness may be shameful, but many of us have known it. In the following poem, the California poet, Jackson Wheeler, tells us of a similar experience.”
Sometimes poems sound too much like prose broken in lines. This poem suffers this flaw but nevertheless offers unique twist on its subject. The following are the first six lines of Wheeler’s “How Good Fortune Surprises Us”:
I was hauling freight
out of the Carolinas
up to the Cumberland Plateau
when, in Tennessee, I saw
from the freeway, at 2 am
a house ablaze.
To read the entire poem, please visit American Life in Poetry, column 144.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
This web site offers poems for birthdays, weddings, funerals, births—literally every occasion. Some of the classifications are Holidays, About Love & Romance, About Seasons & Nature, For Life Events including weddings, birthdays, funerals, and graduation.
You will also find poems about family, and in the section labeled “Hard Times,” you will find poems about break-ups and divorce, tragedy and grief, and war.
You can also sign up for the poets.org newsletter, and during April, you can receive one poem each day to celebrate National Poetry Month.
Poets.org’s Poems for Every Occasion
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ted Kooser’s latest column features a poem by Steve Orlen, an Arizona poet. The poem’s title is “In the House of the Voice of Maria Callas.” The following are the first five-and-a-half lines:
In the house of the voice of Maria Callas
We hear the baby's cries, and the after-supper
Rattle of silverware, and three clocks ticking
To different tunes, and ripe plums
Sleeping in their chipped bowl, and traffic sounds
Dissecting the avenues outside.
Kooser describes the poem as a “lovely tribute to the great opera singer, Maria Callas.” He also says, “Most of us never saw her perform, or even knew what she looked like, but many of us listened to her on the radio or on our parents' record players, perhaps in a parlor like the one in this poem.”
To read the entire poem, please see American Life in Poetry “In the house of the voice of Maria Callas.”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The “Christmas Poem” poll question asked: Which two authors have been accredited with writing the famous Christmas poem that is alternately titled, "The Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas," or "'Twas the Night Before Christmas,” or "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas"?
The correct answer is “Major Henry Livingston, Jr / Clement Clarke Moore.” This correct answer received half of the votes. Congratulations to those who got it right!
However, the other half of the voting participants got it wrong by choosing “Henry David Thoreau / Walt Whitman.”
The remaining choices “Helen Hunt Jackson / Harriet Beecher Stowe,” “Ralph Waldo Emerson / Emily Dickinson,” “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow / Edgar Allan Poe,” received no votes.
Thanks to all who participated, even those who merely observed.
And to all a very Merry Christmas!
Please look for another poll soon.
For information about the controversy surrounding the Livingston/Moore authorship, please see “The Night Before Christmas: A Question of Authorship”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former American poet laureate (2004-2006), Ted Kooser comments in his current column featuring Linda Gregg’s poem, “Elegance“: There's that old business about the tree falling in the middle of the forest with no one to hear it: does it make a noise? Here Linda Gregg, of New York, offers us a look at an elegant beauty that can be presumed to exist and persist without an observer.”
The following offers the first four lines:
All that is uncared for.
Left alone in the stillness
in that pure silence married
to the stillness of nature.
To read the entire poem, please visit American Life in Poetry: Column 142.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Canaday's poem is based on a real person, so the poet offers the following information in a note:
“Robert Serber studied under Robert Oppenheimer at Berkeley before joining the Manhattan Project as a theoretical physicist. In March of 1943, he delivered a series of lectures, later mimeographed and nicknamed the "Los Alamos Primer," to incoming scientists to "bring them up to speed" on the bomb project. He led a theoretical group at Los Alamos and later worked at the Air Force base on Tinian, preparing for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Immediately after the war, he visited Japan as part of a scientific team gathering data on effects of nuclear weapons.”
To read the poem, please see “Robert Serber on How to Build a Bomb.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The current poll lets you test your knowledge about the authorship of this beloved Christmas poem.
The controversy surrounds which pair of authors:
- Helen Hunt Jackson / Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Major Henry Livingston, Jr. / Clement Clarke Moore
- Ralph Waldo Emerson / Emily Dickinson
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow / Edgar Allan Poe
- Henry David Thoreau / Walt Whitman
Please participate in the poll, located below the blog on the Poetry homepage.
Thank you for reading and participating.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Neither Dickinson nor Shakespeare left prose writings or autobiographies; Dickinson’s letters read much like her poetry. Both Dickinson and Shakespeare have provided scholars and critics a great riddle that they go about solving in various ways. Whitman left a great amount of prose.
Anyway, this month is Emily Dickinson’s month. She was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. My article on Dickinson looks at her poem “’Twas just this time, last year, I died” which dramatizes the after death experience, a favorite topic of the Nun of Amherst.
Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Sylvia Plath has poems that refer to Nazis and Jews, especially her poem title “Daddy,” in which she likened Daddy to a Nazi and herself as Jew, but to make a generalization that Plath wrote about Nazis vs the Jews would not be accurate. And poll participants recognized that; no one was tricked by this choice.
William Blake wrote poems criticizing both the city of London and the doctrine of the church, but he did not write about any conflict between the city and its churches. Again, poll participants were smart enough not to be tricked by this one.
Robert Frost is noted for writing about nature, but he never pitted nature against humanity. Unfortunately, this choice tricked 50% of the poll participants.
William Wordsworth did, in fact, write a great deal about “nature's superiority vs civilization's progress,” and fortunately, 50% of the poll participants recognized this.
And again, while Shakespeare did write about love and old age, it would not be accurate to generalize that he pitted love against old age. And this choice got no votes.
Thanks to all who participated in the poll. Another poll will be forthcoming. Please visit again soon.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In his column 137, Kooser offers a poem with a whimsical look at a pregnant woman. The following is the first stanza of “Superhero Pregnant Woman”:
Her sense of smell is ten times stronger.
And so her husband smells funny;
she rolls away from him in the bed.
She even smells funny to herself,
but cannot roll away from that.
To read the entire poem and Kooser’s introductory comment, please visit Column 137.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
November Poet – Vachel Lindsay
This article focuses on his poem, “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.”
Another November Poet
Another November poet is Sharon Olds, whose poem, “The Victims,” is discussed: "Sharon Olds’ ‘The Victims’."
Poll
Also, please participate in the current poll, which focuses on what poets write about. The poll ends soon, so get your vote in while there is still time.
Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Dear Readers,
As I celebrate my first anniversary writing for Suite101 in Poetry, I realize that I have several series of articles including Dickinson, Eliot, Frost, Housman, Wordsworth, and Yeats. I also have a season series with summer poems and the beginning an autumn series.
I recently added a tricked by series, unearthing silly interpretations. My first article in the new poet’s birth-month series, “October Poet: Sylvia Plath,” received an Editor’s Choice notation.
Shakespeare Sonnet series largest
My Shakespeare Sonnet series is the largest collection with forty articles, including Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 34, Sonnet 35, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138.
Plus a blog article on the controversy surrounding the identity of Shakespeare: Who is Shakespeare?
For the love of poetry
I hope you are finding the articles helpful. They are offered in the spirit of appreciation for and love of poetry, with the desire to offer assistance to others who would like to better understand and therefore gain a deeper appreciation of poetry.
Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com.
Blessings,
Linda Sue Grimes
Feature Writer for Poetry
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Robert Frost called his poem, "The Road Not Taken," a "very tricky poem." And many readers over the years have indeed been tricked by that poem. Scholars, critics, and even casual writers often concoct outlandish interpretations about poems. As I encounter these howlers, I shall report and comment on them.
I invite you to experience my first two installments in the "Tricked By" series:
Tricked by Robert Frost This article launches a "Tricked by" series, which will report and comment on passages from writers who have been tricked by Frost and other poets.
Tricked by J. Alfred Prufrock A sense of humor is vital for the reader to appreciate the poetry of T. S. Eliot, especially his widely anthologized, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
Please particpate in the recent poll "What Poets Write About."
Thank you for visiting Poetry.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
According to Dan Gerber: “The most common and certainly the most difficult question I might be asked by a stranger on an airplane is, 'What is your work about?' It’s a conundrum for any artist. And I suspect the one single quality that may peg one as an artist—as opposed to, say, a craftsman—may be the artist’s inability to form a satisfactory answer. “
Poll: What Do the Poets Write About?
Even though some poets like Gerber may claim it is difficult for them articulate what they write about, most of their readers would not have that same difficulty. For example, most readers who have read a significant amount of Emily Dickinson’s poems might say she wrote about love, death, immortality, and she detailed many common object she saw in her environment.
Please go to the poll and participate. It is located below the blog on the Poetry homepage. The new poll asks the following: While each of the following claims may have some truth to it, which one do you think is most accurate?
- Sylvia Plath: Nazis vs the Jews
- William Blake: London vs churches
- Robert Frost: nature vs humanity
- William Wordsworth: nature's superiority vs progress of civilization
- William Shakespeare: love vs old age
Thank you for participating.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Garnering a whopping 75% of the votes, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is the declared favorite Robert Frost poem. Coming in second is “The Road Not Taken” with 25% of the votes, and yes, that means that the other poems received no votes.
Get Acquainted with “Birches,” “Mending Wall,” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
No doubt the other poems are much less known than the widely studied and anthologized “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “The Road Not Taken”; therefore, I offer you the opportunity to become acquainted with these wonderful and insightful poems.
The following articles offer thorough analyses of the poems, each with a link to the poem, and pictures of Robert Frost:
- Robert Frost’s Tricky Poem: Analysis of 'The Road Not Taken'
- Frost’s Snow and Woods: Commentary on 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'
- Frost’s ‘Birches’
- Frost’s 'Mending Wall': 'Good fences make good neighbors'
- Robert Frost's Golden Moments: ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’
A new poll is on its way. Please check back soon.
Thank you for visiting.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
According to the information page, the NewPoetry mailing list has two purposes: "information and discussion related to contemporary poetry." They encourage list members to share "publication announcements, reviews, essays, open letters, quotes, news items, calls for submissions, and, of course, poems and your commentary."
For more information about this list, including subscribing instructions, please visit NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News & Views.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The current poll asks, “Of the following widely known poems by Robert Frost, which one do you most admire?” The choices are, “The Road Not Taken,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Birches,” and “Mending Wall.”
Poll Ending Soon – Please Vote Now!
If you would like to refresh your memory about these poems before you vote, please see the following articles:
- Robert Frost’s Tricky Poem: Analysis of 'The Road Not Taken'
- Frost’s Snow and Woods: Commentary on 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'
- Frost’s ‘Birches’
- Frost’s 'Mending Wall': 'Good fences make good neighbors'
The poll is located below the blog on the Poetry homepage. Thank you for visiting Poetry and for participating in the current poll.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Possibly most readers were outside enjoying the beautiful summer weather, but it is also possible that readers were not familiar with the poems.
Here is the poll question, followed by the choices: June brings the exalted season of summer, and poets have done their share of celebrating this fertile, fascinating season. Please vote for the poem you most admire: Dickinon's “I know a place where Summer strives," Whittier's “The Barefoot Boy,” Riley's “The Old Swimmin' Hole',” Frost's “The Oven Bird,” and Lowell's “Penumbra.”
Not to late to get acquainted with the poems
If you are not familiar with the poems that appeared in last summer’s poll, you have the opportunity to become acquainted with them through the following articles:
- Dickinon's “I know a place where Summer strives”
- Whittier's “The Barefoot Boy”
- Riley's “The Old Swimmin' Hole'”
- Frost's “The Oven Bird”
- Lowell's “Penumbra”
Please participate in the current poll which asks, “Of the following widely known poems by Robert Frost, which one do you most admire?” Your choices are: “The Road Not Taken,” “Stopping by Woods in a Snowy Evening,” “Birches,” “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” and “Mending Wall.”
This poll is located below the blog on the Poetry homepage.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Recent articles on a variety of poetry subjects:
- Philip Larkin’s ‘Here’
- The speaker of Philip Larkin's "Here" is hardly present; however, the speaker's mood and character might be discerned by merely observing his choices for description.
- ‘Success is counted sweetest’
- Emily Dickinson looks at life from a unique perspective, making bizarre claims that often turn out to be accurate and show valuable insight into reality.
- Shakespeare Sonnet 28
- The speaker is suffering writer's block and complains that both day and night seem to be conspiring to keep him from fulfilling his beloved writing duties.
- Eliot’s Rhapsody on a Windy Night
- The wildly famous show tune "Memory" by Andrew Lloyd Webber was inspired by T. S. Eliot's "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" and "Preludes.” This article analyzes the former.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
I will feature at least one poem by the featured poet, depending on how important the poet's works are.
Jamaican poet Claude Mckay was 22 years old, when he came to the United States to attend the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He had published two volumes of poetry in Jamaica, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads, both published in 1912, the year he immigrated.
For an analysis of his sonnet, “America,” please visit “McKay’s ‘America’: A Testimony of Love and Hate.”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The choices were the following:
- Stanley Kunitz
- Billy Collins
- Louise Glück
- Ted Kooser
- Donald Hall
And the winner is Stanley Kunitz with 67% of the votes, while Billy Collins came in second with 33% of the votes.
Thank you to everyone who participated. A new poll will appear next week. Please come back then and participate.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In his American Life in Poetry column, former poet laureate Ted Kooser featured a poem by sixteen-year-old Devon Regina DeSalva, a Los Angeles, California, resident. He explains that the teen wrote the poem in anger with her mother, but her mother loved the poem.
The poem is nothing exceptional, but it adds variety to the poetry palate. Titled "Snip Your Hair," the poem does not make it clear who the speaker is. Is it mother to daughter or daughter to mother? Probably the former, but nowadays many teens are blessed with their own credit cards.
Here are the first four lines:
- I'll snip your hair
- Cut it all off until you look like a man
- I will replace your weight loss bars with bars to make you gain
- I will cut your credit cards in half
To read the rest of this verse, please visit Kooser's column 128 at American Life in Poetry.
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Please vote in recent poll located after the blog on the Poetry homepage.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
In his American Life in Poetry column, former poet laureate Ted Kooser usually chooses delightful poems that sparkle and give us back our experiences. He missed the mark with Marianne Boruch's 'Nest."
While the poem could certainly do what Kooser claims for it, that it miraculously transforms an ordinary object, it contains two glaring flaws that draw so much attention to themselves that any value the poem might have is severely limited:
1. The lines "Woven basket / of a saint / sent back to life as a bird / who proceeded to make
a mess of things" reveals a ignorant notion about reincarnation and the low regard in which the poet holds "saints." Human beings seldom return to an animal form, and it is especially unlikely that a saint would do so. And only a religiophobe could aver that saints "make a mess of things."
2. The lines "merely a trick / of light, if light / can be tricked" do not make sense. In the phrase, "trick of light," it is the light that is doing the tricking. So to say "if light can be tricked" is to get the agent wrong.
Two such glaring flaws is unfortunate in any poem, especially a short 16-line poem. Ted needs to be more careful in picking poems.
To read the unfortunate poem, please visit American Life in Poetry: Column 127.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
On August 2, 2007, Library of Congress librarian James H. Billington annouced the name of the new U.S. poet laureate, Charles Simic. He will begin his duties in Ocober, when he is expected to give a reading of his own work.
Poets laureate always bring a unique plan along with their unique poetic qualities to the position. The main purpose of the position is keep poetry alive in the minds and hearts of Americans. For more information about Charles Simic, please see Charles Simic: New U.S. Poet Laureate.
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Please participate in the poll located under the blog on the Poetry homepage. Thank you for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former senator and soon to be presidential candidate Fred Thompson addressed the VFW National Convention August 21 in Kansas City. He spoke of the importance of our military in securing our freedom and human rights over the centuries.
Thompson took the opportunity to read the following poem by Charles Province, titled “It is the Soldier”:
It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Charles Province
Charles M. Province founded the George S. Patton, Jr. Historical Society. In addition to the poem, “It is the Soldier,” he authored three books on Patton: The Unknown Patton, Patton’s Third Army, and Patton’s One-Minute Messages.
Province is a veteran of the United State Army. He appeared in the documentary, The 100 Greatest War Films.
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New Poll
Please participate in the new poll, which asks, “Of the following recent U. S. poet laureates, which one do you most admire?” And offers the following choices: Stanley Kunitz, Billy Collins, Louise Glück, Ted Kooser, and Donald Hall.
The poll is located just below the blog feature on the Poetry home page.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Again, no more could I do at that point. But then she starts at it again, telling me she thought she might be in the right area, she had been there only once before, but she was so frustrated, she wondered why she was being punished for just trying to find a spiritual group.
And on and on and on. She finally let me go, but it was so frustrating just sitting there listening and listening to the same complaints over and over again. Listening to her complain about how we did not have the address listed: what were we afraid of? Have we had burglaries? She just could not stop speculating about why we were not listed.
Oh, yeah, did I tell you how frustrated she was? She was so frustrated that our address was not listed along with the phone numbers. She could think of no reason why our address should not be listed with phone numbers.
What are people to do? People who just want to attend a service, and there are the phone numbers of the leaders, but not the address of the meeting place. She was so frustrated. Did I tell you how frustrated she was? She just felt so helpless, being so close but not able to locate the meeting.
Let this be lesson to all groups that advertise their existence with their names and phone numbers of their leaders: You might be really frustrating your visiting members, if you do not list your address as well as the phone numbers of your co-ordinators. Well, she finally did, in fact, let me go. And I just had to wonder what her own spiritual group has to put up with.
But many times, you will experience people in all areas of endeavor who tend to repeat their assertions. Maybe they think their idea is so good that they have to make sure the listener really hears it. Or their notion is kind of fuzzy so if they repeat it over and over, it will somehow miraculously become clearer, or maybe they just like to hear to sound of their own voice. Maybe the sound of their own voice is poetry to their own ears.
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Please vote in the recent poll, located below the blog on the Poetry main page.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
You see, I just committed that writing faux pas, so I could correct it. And you thought I intended to let my pattern discombobulate.
If you are still with me, congratulations! Knowing when to quit is sometimes difficult for poets, writers, and speakers. Ever notice how some writers and speakers will spill out what they have to offer and then start repeating it ad nauseum.
A lady called me the other day to complain that our spiritual group did not have its address listed. She called me because my phone number is listed as a contact as one of the co-ordinators for the group.
You see, it is a large organization, and we have groups around the world, and when people visit my area which is quite touristy, they like to attend a group meeting, so we have phone numbers of the leaders published in free mags so the visitors can call us and get the address.
So this lady from a few states away calls to complain that our address is not listed, and after she suggested that it be listed, she told me how frustrated she was a while back when trying to find the meeting place.
I told her I would discuss the matter with the other leaders and see why we do not have it listed; maybe we will be able to list it. That was obviously all I could do at that point,
but then she started up again telling me how frustrated she was when she could not find us a few weeks ago, and she continued to complain, gripe, and harangue; I repeated that I would look into the issue; I would tell the main leader, and maybe she could get it listed.
To be continued, see “On and On: Repetition ad nauseum”
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Please vote in the recent poll, located below the blog on the Poetry main page.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
It has become a cliché that each day is a clean page upon which a person can write a new story. In fact, one might only begin a new story in the one day, but that is neither here nor there. My intention for this piece is to keep it unconnected, yet still focused in some vague, nefarious aspect.
It is not brainstorming, nor is it free-writing, just a well-crafted rambling of sorts. Consider the poetic question: If maple leaves can tumble from trees, why can’t words tumble from writers’ brains? Maple leaves land in patterns on the ground, but you find the patterns only if you look for them.
I have written for a number of these kinds of internet niche vertical sites, but I have never commanded a site that receives much traffic. Such a position could prove detrimental to a writer’s ego. Luckily, I just love to write and create notions, ideas, in word patterns on the page, so I’m not troubled with the writer’s ego.
However, I have often wondered what would happen if I should write some really outrageous pieces, making claims that are obviously loony. I would not want to say things that could imperil anyone who believed my ludicrous claims, just silly enough to cause some head-scratching and maybe an irate email or two. I am convinced that most people do not really like to read, so very few could possibly be led astray by someone as totally unknown as your humble writer.
People are not well-informed in certain areas and endeavors; more people are into history and politics than poetry and spirituality, but people, in general, are well-intentioned; however, there is an old adage about good intentions, remember it: The road to “heck” is paved with them. How is that for avoiding bad words?
To be continued, see “Dangerous Poetry: Discombobulating Patterns”
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Please vote in the recent poll, located below the blog on the Poetry main page. Thank you.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Who was Michael Wigglesworth?
Wigglesworth’s fame and reputation is based entirely on the Day of Doom. Born in 1631 in England, Michael Wigglesworth and his family came to the United States, when Michael was only seven years old. After preparing for three years, he entered Harvard College at age sixteen; he graduated in 1651 and became of tutor Harvard. He tutored many future ministers, including the famed Increase Mather.
He had trained to be a minister, was ordained, and was asked to serve at Malden, but poor health prevented him from taking the position. He traveled to Bermuda, in hopes of strengthening his health, but the trip was proved more difficult for him than any benefit might have received.
After returning to New England, he was finally able to serve as minister at Malden, but several other ministers had to help him until 1687, when he was then stronger and able to fulfill his duties alone.
Day of Doom
After its first appearance in 1662, Day of Doom went through eight printings from its first edition in 1662 to the eighth edition in 1751. It was published in both the U.S. and England.
The first printing sold over 1800 copies. Each further printing sold out. The book was widely used in schools, where students were required to memorize its stanzas. The book served as a companion to Puritan teachings and helped make specific the ideas that were preached from the pulpit.
Day of Doom Today
Today’s poetry world cannot identify with Michael Wigglesworth’s classic. Some contemporary critics defame it as “doggerel.” But the purpose of book was not chiefly literary; it was written for the purpose of helping readers understand the King James Version of the Bible.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Poetry News in the UK
Founded in 1909, the Poetry Society of the UK offers many services to poets. It offers a newsletter with all of the current events of note in the United Kingdom. For example, the Society’s newsletter updates its members on who the latest poet laureate is.
The sample online newsletter from Summer 2005 reported that the Welsh poet Gwenyth Lewis had been appointed to serve for one year, with the option of a one-year renewal. Lewis is the first poet laureate to serve as the inauguration of the position took hold. She writes in both English and Welsh.
National Poetry Day
The Society’s web site reports that Thursday October 4, 2007, will be National Poetry Day. This will be the fourteenth annual poetry day, and its theme is “Dreams.” There will be a “Dreams” tour of the nation’s four capitals: Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and London. A poet from each of the home nations will be in attendance: Patience Agbabi, Robert Crawford, Gwyneth Lewis, and Geairóid MacLochlainn. National Poetry Day has been celebrated in the UK since 1994.
Since 1999, poetry day has been planned around a theme: 2006-Identity, 2005-The Future, 2004-Food, 2003-Britain, 2002-Celebration, 2001- Journeys, 2000-Fresh Voices, and 1999-Song Lyrics.
Poetry Society Membership
The Society will celebrate its centenary in 2009. Funded by the Arts Council of England and its membership fees, the Society declares its purpose is “to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry.”
The membership is open to anyone, not just poets, and its thousands of members around the globe include not only professional poets but also teachers, publishers, librarians, journalists, and other poetry lovers.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former U. S. poet laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser features a column called “American Life in Poetry” and makes it available to media in order to share the poems that he enjoys. His column 119 features Joseph Stanton’s poem, “Banana Trees.” Stanton is a poet who resides in Hawaii, so his experience of the banana tree is first hand.
Kooser always adds a comment by way of introducing the poem, and this one especially caught my attention as a “dedicated stay-at-home,” as Kooser also claims himself to be. He writes: “I'm especially attracted to poems that describe places I might not otherwise visit, in the manner of good travel writing. I'm a dedicated stay-at-home and much prefer to read something fascinating about a place than visit it myself. Here the Hawaii poet, Joseph Stanton, describes a tree that few of us have seen but all of us have eaten from.”
“Banana Trees” is a good poem to help celebrate the summer season; the following offers the first two stanzas:
- They are tall herbs, really, not trees,
- though they can shoot up thirty feet
- if all goes well for them. Cut in cross
- section they look like gigantic onions,
- multi-layered mysteries with ghostly hearts.
- Their leaves are made to be broken by the wind, . . .
New Poll: Poetic Season
Each season has its special qualities, and poets have addressed those qualities in poems. Of the four seasons, which one do you think offers the best material for poetry? In other words, which do you think is the most poetic season?
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter
- They are all equally poetic.
The poll is located below the blog on the Poetry homepage.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are not the only artists who have attempted to remake the Christ in their own image—that is, humanize him while stripping away his divinity. Many poets have done the same—some even admitting they hoped Jesus and Mary Magdalene were lovers!
In the early seventies, Christian rock music was not so widely performed as it is now, and so just the very form of rock music to portray the story of Jesus was more widely considered a blasphemy. Rock music was considered the rebellious outlet for teenagers. That Rice and Webber relied on that form’s reputation at the time to help strip away the divinity from Christ is almost certain.
Even though churches are now performing this musical to try to get youths interested in Jesus, it is sure to backfire, because the message of the rock opera is not the message the churches want delivered to those young people. I cannot enjoy the work at all anymore, now that I have determined what its message really is. Some people can appreciate music simply for the sound and seem to take the words as mere place holders, but I cannot do that. After I have determined the exact meaning of the lyric, I can only appreciate it if the message is truthful. Jesus Christ Superstar is far from truthful, and I have to say that I believe it is blasphemous.
After studying the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, I can understand the outrage experienced by those who for their whole lifetime had considered Jesus both human and divine, those who had harbored in their souls the truth that Jesus’ mission was far more than the mere deliverance of a philosophy of kindness. Many philosophers have offered solace, but only a God-realized individual could offer salvation. And a God-realized master would not deliver the lines placed in the mouth of the false Jesus portrayed in the Rice/Webber reconstruction.
If Jesus Christ had been the personality of the Rice/Webber imagination, we would not know anything about him today. In a sense, Rice/Webber are to Jesus Christ what Michael Moore is to George W. Bush. The “rock opera” is a piece of propaganda, including innuendo, half-truths, and distortions. But at least Michael Moore’s rant can never do any real damage: calling a president an ineffectual liar is a far cry from stripping the Christ of His divinity.
Summer Poem Poll
Please take a moment to vote for your favorite summer poem in this month’s poll. Your choices are:
- 1. Emily Dickinson’s “I know a place where Summer strives”
- 2. John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Barefoot Boy”
- 3. James Whitcomb Riley’s “The Old Swimmin’ Hole”
- 4. Robert Frost’s “The Oven Bird”
- 5. Amy Lowell’s “Penumbra”
The poll is located under the blog on the homepage of the Poetry site. Thank you for participating in this month’s poll.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins (2001-2003) has several poems on YouTube; the poet reads his poems and corresponding images appear as he reads. Some of the imagery include animated drawings, others real people and things captured by a video camera.
“Forgetfulness”
Collins’ poem “Forgetfulness” is one of his readings/videos. The video begins by showcasing a bookshelf with many books, and the poem begins, “The name of the author is the first to go / followed obediently by the title, the plot, / the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel / which suddenly becomes one you have never read, / never even heard of.”
Then the poem begins to catalogue a number of other things the speaker has forgotten: the names of the nine Muses, what a quadratic equation is, state flowers, the address of an uncle, and the capital of Paraguay. Each forgotten item has a corresponding image.
Other Poems
Other poems receive this treatment as well. Collins reads while you enjoy the visual and his lilting voice: “The Dead,” “The Best Cigarette,” “Now and Then,” “Walking Across the Atlantic,” “Some Days,” and others.
Enjoy.
Summer Poem Poll
Please take a moment to vote for your favorite summer poem in this month’s poll. Your choices are:
- 1. Emily Dickinson’s “I know a place where Summer strives”
- 2. John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Barefoot Boy”
- 3. James Whitcomb Riley’s “The Old Swimmin’ Hole”
- 4. Robert Frost’s “The Oven Bird”
- 5. Amy Lowell’s “Penumbra”
The poll is located under the blog on the homepage of the Poetry site. Thank you for participating in this month’s poll.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
So far, the Summer Poem Poll has received no votes. Perhaps the poems are not well known, and therefore folks do not feel they can vote for the unknown—even though in political campaigns they do that all the time!
However, there is plenty of time; I plan to run this poll through July. And dear readers, you can become acquainted with poems by reading the following articles:
- Whittier’s ‘The Barefoot Boy’ John Greenleaf Whittier's "The Barefoot Boy" is reminiscent of Dylan Thomas' "Fern Hill"; both dramatize memories of boyhood. Whittier offers a special nod to summer.
- Frost’s ‘The Oven Bird’ Frost's speaker in "The Oven Bird" explores the same mystery that presents itself in the little eight-line poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
- Dickinson’s Summer In this poem, Dickinson personifies summer as a woman who struggles to overcome the coldness of late spring.
The other two articles about the poems, James Whitcomb Riley’s “The Old Swimmin’ Hole” and Amy Lowell’s “Penumbra,” will be appearing over the next two weeks. Until the articles appear, however, you may experience the poems at the following sites: “The Old Swimmin’-Hole” “Penumbra”
If you would like to suggest other poems that also celebrate summer, please start a discussion and let me and the other readers know which other summer poems are being enjoyed.
Again, your vote in the Summer Poem Poll would be very much appreciated. The poll is located just below the blog on the Poetry home page.
Thank you and have a lovely summer!
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Does poetry create experience or merely report it? It should be obvious that poetry cannot create an experience, but it can report it. Actually, the term report is not appropriate; reporting is what journalists do. “Re-create” works better, because a poem does, in fact, re-create experience by dramatizing an event or portraying a situation. And the poem performs these functions through figurative language, including image, metaphor, allusion, personification, rime, meter, and many other forms.
Creating an Experience
Just a little thought will distinguish the difference between the two ideas of creating or reporting experience. To “create an experience,” what must an individual do? An example might be to create a celebration for one’s child. The child is turning 10 years old, and his mother wants to surprise him with a birthday party. So she plans the food, entertainment, presents; she sends out invitations. She bakes the cake, arranges the candles, and decorates. Then she arranges to have her child away while she prepares the location that will hold the party. He arrives, all the guests shout, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” And the party begins.
A mother has created an experience for her child.
Re-Creating an Experience
Suppose some years later, the child who is now a man, runs across a poem about a birthday party. It reminds him of his own birthday party—makes him remember the excitement and the love that went into that party. Did the poem “create the experience”? No, the poem reminded the man of his own experience. Even if the poem additionally makes him more aware of the love that went into the party, which he had not really noticed at the time, the poem still did not create the experience or the love: the mother created the experience, the boy-turned-man retains it in his memory, and the poem reawakens the memory.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Summer Motivates Poets
The summer season is always a fanciful time of year. The warmth that brings us all outdoors, the warm rain and sunshine that transform the browns and grays of winter into vibrant greens, reds, yellows and all other bright colors all seem to motivate as well as electrify the senses. That such a season is all too short is reason to note it heartily and with a mood of carpe diem.
Emily Dickinson and Summer
And even the end of summer brings strong responses from poets; for example, dramatizing “Indian Summer,” Emily Dickinson writes, “Oh, sacrament of summer days, / Oh, last communion in the haze.” In the same poem, the speaker has claimed, “These are the days when skies put on / The old, old sophistries of June, - / A blue and gold mistake.”
And then she concludes with her notion that something so special as summer must draw to an end in a sacred fashion: “Thy sacred emblems to partake, / Thy consecrated bread to break, / Taste thine immortal wine!”
Poll: What is your favorite summer poem?
As summer tingles the body, it also stimulates the spirit to seek the power behind all of that beauty. Poets are especially open to the call of summer, and many have fashioned fine poems that capture the charm as well as the melancholy that summer effects in minds and hearts.
Please take a moment to vote for your favorite summer poem in this month’s poll. Your choices are:
1. Emily Dickinson’s “I know a place where Summer strives”
2. John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Barefoot Boy”
3. James Whitcomb Riley’s “The Old Swimmin’ Hole”
4. Robert Frost’s “The Oven Bird”
5. Amy Lowell’s “Penumbra”
The poll is located under the blog on the homepage of the Poetry site. Thank you for participating in this month’s poll.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Phillis Wheatley’s first and only book of published poetry was titled Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral; it was published in England. There are two versions of the history of this book’s publication: one is that the Countess Selina of Huntington invited Phillis to London and found a publisher for the poet; the other is that Phillis suffered from asthma, and so the Wheatley family took her to England to recuperate, and while there, they sought publication of her work.
In May 1968 one poem written by Phillis Wheatley brought $68,500 at Christie's auction, Rockefeller Center in New York. It had been estimated to bring between $18,000 and $25,000. The poem is titled "Ocean" its seventy lines were written on three pages that had yellowed with time. It is thought to be the only copy.
For more on Phillis Wheatley, please see my October 29 article, Phillis Wheatley.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Every week Rus Bowden collects news article about poetry and poets. His column contains three sections: News at Eleven, Great Regulars, and Poetic Obituaries. He scours the Web for information regarding poets and poetry. He offers a brief summary and then links to the whole article.
Recent articles have included : New Statesman: Give poetry back to people, The Indianapolis Star: 2 charities lose in Lilly estate ruling, China Daily: Man arrested for satirical poem about officials.
I am honored to be listed in Bowden's Great Regulars each week: Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: William Cullen Bryant--October, and Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Poet Laureate of the Confederacy--Henry Timrod.
Rus Bowden provides a useful service to everyone in need of news about poets and poetry. You can visit his site at http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/wire_rags.htm.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” received 75% of the votes. And coming in second place is . . . William Wordsworth's “The world is too much with us” with 25%.
The other poems received no votes.
Commentary
The most widely anthologized of the lot is Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” which accounts for its being the most famous and recognizable of the bunch. And no doubt explains it garnering the most votes.
I am puzzled that the Wordsworth poem, “The world is too much with us,” would place second. I would have guessed that Dickinson’s “A bird came down the walk” might place ahead of the Wordsworth poem, because most Dickinson poems get more exposure than Wordsworth nowadays and have consistently for the past thirty years.
Get Acquainted with the Poems
Common sense dictates that it is always more likely that readers are going to vote for the poems they know about, and unlikely to vote for a poem they have not experienced. So here is the opportunity to become acquainted with those poems that are less likely to have been on the readers’ radar screen.
- Housman’s 'Loveliest of trees': More than Carpe Diem
- ‘A Bird came down the Walk': Dickinson’s Frightened Beads
- Bryant’s 'The Yellow Violet': A Lesson in Humility
And for articles commenting on the winners, please visit the following:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Poetry and the Genuine
Marianne Moore’s “Poetry” surprises the reader by asserting, “I, too, dislike it.” One wonders immediately, how can a poet say she dislikes poetry? But then by the time the reader has thoroughly experienced the poem, he realizes that she does not dislike poetry at all, rather she has deceived the reader to make a point about poetry.
Poetry and the Political
Such a description might have been referring to Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.” Owen’s poem is definitely raw, using the raw material of war. His description of watching a fellow soldier die in a gas attack is horrendous.
The speaker of this poem has a political purpose in testifying to his own personal trauma that observing such a scene has caused him: he has a recurring nightmare about the event, and he wants to let the brass and the public know that he believes they should not claim that “It is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country.”
Thus, a poem can be quite personal and also have the aim of being quite political at the same time.
And then there is Shakespeare
The Shakespeare sonnets are always reliable, because the poet had a purpose in mind and the talent to pull it off. The following articles focus on the multitalented bard’s sonnets, always a great read:
- Shakespeare Sonnet 17: ‘Who will believe my verse in time to come’
- Shakespeare Sonnet 138: ‘When my love swears that she is made of truth’
- Shakespeare Sonnet 16: ‘But wherefore do not you a mightier way’
The Shakespeare sonnet sequence will continue to be a vital part of this site. Please come visit often to experience these sonnets and their commentaries. Thank you for visiting.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Allin’s blogsite explains: “A year-long project, Sundays 9-5, July 2006 - July 2007 [- I hope, by setting up my desk and working here before you, to communicate the awareness that there is a poet within reach, committed to you."
Alliln earned an M.A. degree from City College in New York in creative writing. She titled her project “Nostalgia” after a film by Andrei Tarkovsy. She says the term denotes a “universal place, that homeland we seek.” She asserts that “Nostalgia” is the place “we long to come home to,” because ultimately it is the “human spirit.”
Allin writes poetry; she also writes journals. She produces “questionnaires, visual poetry, text-art and poetry-driven performances for public spaces.” Her manuscripts “Soviet Poems” and “Roof of Air” are not yet published, but she is actively pursuing their publication.
Experiences
Allin has had many interesting experiences with people who come up to her desk and inquire about her project. She explains one of them: “Two girls approach my desk, eleven, maybe twelve years old. I read "The Passing of Thistle,” [about the death of a dog]. I think as I am reading it—Oh, I've picked the wrong poem. This poem is too mature.” But the girls’ response showed that they understood the poem as they related it to their own experience with an aged and dying dog.
The following is another excerpt that exemplifies her experience: “I've just been approached by a couple with a dog who quoted Shakespeare and then posed this question.”What do you hope to gain from your time here?" Gain? What to gain? My God, how to answer such a question? What a public, making me think! Posing questions! I must satisfy them with an answer. I must satisfy myself. And so the struggle begins. My struggle. The struggle of the poet.”
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Now that April showers have brought May flowers, it is time to enjoy spring’s renewal of nature. And what better way to celebrate spring than with some favorite nature poetry. Please participate in the new poll for May which asks:
With spring come thoughts of nature. Flowers, budding trees, clear blue skies, green grass, and singing birds fill one's thoughts as well as one's senses. Many poets have been inspired by nature as it changes from season to season. The poems included in this poll all rely heavily on nature to present their themes. This month's poll asks: Which of the following poems do you most admire?
Choices:
- Housman's "Loveliest of Trees"
- Dickinson's "A bird came down the walk"
- Bryant's "The Yellow Violet"
- Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
- Wordsworth's "The world is too much with us"
Poll
To vote in the poll for May, please visit Poetry, and then scroll down just below the blog.
Thank you for participating in the Poetry Poll for May.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
April Poll
This month’s poll asked:
“In April 1996, the Academy of American Poets launched a celebration and called it National Poetry Month. Now annually, April continues the celebration of poetry with poets, publishers, libraries, schools, and bookstores uniting to make the public more aware of poetry. How will you celebrate this 2007 April as National Poetry Month?”
Answer choices were:
- I will read more of the poets I admire 28%
- I will learn more about poetry in general 57%
- I will just pay attention to the poets I hear about no votes
- I will continue to write poetry, but never read any no votes
- What is poetry? 14%
Commentary
For those among the 14% asking “What is Poetry?” I have just the article for you: “What is Poetry?”
Otherwise, my thoughts on this poll are that the new placement of the poll at the bottom of the page has resulted in less poll participation.
Another otherwise, however, is that the participation that did result yielded what seems to be proper answers. The most votes went to the answer stating that the participants intended to learn more about poetry in general. And that is a good thing. I hope all of you who went into National Poetry Month with that intention were successful.
The second biggest vote getter included those who intended to learn more about poets they admire, and that too is a worthy goal for April, National Poetry Month.
I was surprised that no one intended to “just pay attention to the poets I hear about.” My guess would be that that is exactly what most people would do during the month. There are constant reminders about poets and poetry, and it would be easy just to celebrate by noticing those that pop up on the radio, on buses, at schools and libraries.
But the real puzzler was that no one claimed the intention to keep on writing poetry but never reading any. A former poll, Poetry and You, found 29% of the participants making the claim that they write poetry but never read it.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Here are more articles to help you observe this “cruelest” but also coolest of months for Poetry:
Apr 27, 2007
Louise Glück’s ‘The Pond’: Nightmares and Blood The former poet laureate dramatizes the incest taboo in her poem "The Pond," which portrays a birdwing covering a pond and a disembodied spirit that stings her memory.
Apr 26, 2007
Shakespeare Sonnet 14: ‘Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck’ In sonnet 14 the speaker says he does not have the power to predict the future by gazing at the stars in the sky, but the eyes of the young man tell all he needs to know.
Apr 25, 2007
The Sonnet as a Cage: Millay’s ‘I Will Put Chaos into Fourteen Lines’ In Millay's Petrarchan sonnet, the speaker resolves to tame Chaos by placing him in the cage of a sonnet, where she will be able to make an orderly being of him.
Apr 24, 2007
Shakespeare Sonnet 13: ‘O! That you were yourself; but, love, you are’ In sonnet 13 the speaker continues pleading with the young man to marry and father a son. Again, the speaker is quite specific: "You had a father: let your son say so."
Apr 23, 2007
Robert Frost’s ‘Bereft’: Hissing Leaves Robert Frost's amazing "Bereft" contains one the most fascinating metaphors of all time: "Leaves got up in a coil and hissed / Blindly struck at my knee and missed."
Apr 22, 2007
Williams and Auden: ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’ Williams and Auden both address the issue of "turning away" from other people's failures and suffering in their poems that focus on Peter Brueghel's Icarus painting.
Apr 21, 2007
Clifton’s ‘homage to my hips’: Celebrating Big Hips Lucille Clifton's fun poem literally praises a large posterior while implying that there is an equally expansive mental facility attached to that physical expansiveness.
Apr 20, 2007
Shakespeare Sonnet 12: ‘When I do count the clock that tells the time’ The speaker of Shakespeare's marriage poem 12 again shows how changing nature always comes under "Time's scythe," and only one remedy can fend him off: producing an heir.
Apr 19, 2007
Hughes’ ‘Theme for English B’: Writing What is True In his poem "Theme for English B," Langston Hughes dramatizes a black college student's assignment to write a theme that is true.
Apr 18, 2007
'The Ballad of the Girlie Man': Bernstein’s Political Propaganda Poet Charles Bernstein wants a "poetry that is bad for you." So he has written "The Ballad of the Girlie Man," a superb example of poem that is certainly bad for poetry.
Apr 17, 2007
Prufrock’s Love Song: A Funny Poem T. S. Eliot is really a very funny poet. His works are taken way too seriously. A reader needs to think irony, satire, and enjoy a few belly laughs when reading Eliot.
Apr 16, 2007
‘A Bird came down the Walk': Dickinson’s Frightened Beads This poem is one of Dickinson's many fun poems loaded with clever plays on words, making a keen observation that serves to remind the reader of images stored in memory.
Apr 15, 2007
Shakespeare Sonnet 11: ‘As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow’st’ In marriage sonnet 11, the speaker again evokes the young man's pleasing qualities, claiming that the lad has an obligation to marry and pass them on to offspring.
Apr 14, 2007
Philip Freneau: Poetry and Politics Philip Freneau was the first American born poet, who earned a reputation as a revolutionary pamphleteer satirizing the British in the struggle for American independence.
Watch for the new blog with a commentary about this month’s poll—appearing on April 30.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The horrendous slaying of 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, has stunned America. But as happened following the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, groups of mourners have come together to console one another and to celebrate renewal and dedication to healing.
Virginia Tech poet, Nikki Giovanni, offers a poem to help uplift the spirits of her colleagues and students at her university. You may click on the link below to listen to this poet’s rousing words, which she offers with such enthusiasm:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The purpose of National Poetry Month is to place poetry front and center in the minds of readers from school age to any age. The articles here at Poetry are ranging far and wide to provide readers with many different kinds of poems from Shakespeare’s sonnets to American poetaster Rod McKuen.
Readers will also sample the English Romantic movement’s founder William Wordsworth alongside American transcendentalists Whitman and Thoreau. There is even an article about one of the most notorious hoaxes ever perpetrated upon a poetry publication in Australia. Then there is the completely sensible nonsense poem “Jabberwocky” that actually tells a story with its supposed gibberish.
And then there is also an essay that suggests an answer to that age-old question, “What is Poetry?”
More articles for celebrating Poetry this April 2007:
Apr 13, 2007
- Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’
- Hailed as the most important nonsense poem in the English language, the poem, "Jabberwocky," serves to exemplify how language works and how it revitalizes itself.
Apr 12, 2007
- Rod McKuen
- Rod McKuen's musical and entertainment accomplishments are undermined by his claim to the title of poet; his so-called "poems" exemplify the work of a poetaster.
Apr 11, 2007
- The Vain Peaceful Noise
- Thoreau held a negative view of his contemporaries, disdaining what he observed as mercenary materialism, unlike an earlier period when bravery and freedom were valued.
Apr 10, 2007
- Shakespeare Sonnet 10
- In Sonnet 10, the speaker challenges the young man's sense of self, regarding his love and affection for others. The speaker exaggerates the lack as "murderous hate."
Apr 9, 2007
- Wordsworth’s ‘Ode to Duty’
- Since the 1960s, in Western culture, "duty" has been a dirty word. It smacks of kowtowing to authority, not being allowed to "do your own thing"; it cramps your style.
Apr 8, 2007
- What is Poetry?
- Readers know a poem when they see it, but poetry does more than exist as a form: poetry portrays and often dramatizes the experience of human emotional life.
Apr 7, 2007
- Whitman’s ‘I Hear America Singing’
- Walt Whitman's tribute to America's ordinary laborers dramatizes the good cheer of the day laborers of 19th century America but also tips its hat to night time partiers.
Apr 6, 2007
- The Ern Malley Caper
- The Ern Malley affair may be the most important literary hoax of the 20th century. It grew out of a hatred of and the desire to debunk the avant-garde style of modernism.
Apr 5, 2007
- Shakespeare Sonnet 8
- In Shakespeare's "Marriage Sonnet 8," the speaker for the first time evokes the joyful state of marriage itself, as he continues urging the young man to produce an heir.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
At Suite101 Poetry, every month is poetry month, every week is poetry week, every day is . . . you can see where I’m going here.
It 's true, readers can celebrate poetry here every day all day long: with articles about poetry and poets and poetry events, with a blog to help keep you updated on poetry articles and poets and events. There is even a discussion area where you can post questions, comments, or just the random thoughts that you are urged to express.
You can express yourself by taking the poll, that this month focuses on your intentions for celebrating April as National Poetry Month.
Celebrating April with Articles
In case you might have missed them, here are the April poetry articles thus far:
Apr 4, 2007 “Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’”The speaker in Frost's "Mending Wall" is a provocateur, questioning the wall's purpose, chiding his neighbor about it, yet he is the one more concerned about its repair.
Apr 3, 2007 “Yeats “Easter, 1916’” William Butler Yeats' poem, "Easter, 1916," focuses on the Irish rebellion known as the Easter Rising, which occurred the week after Easter of 1916 in Dublin, Ireland.
Apr 2, 2007 “Shakespeare Sonnet 7” The speaker employs a clever pun in Sonnet 7 as he metaphorically compares the young man's life to a daily trip of the great star across the sky.
Apr 1, 2007 “Housman’s ‘Loveliest of trees’” A. E. Housman's "Loveliest of trees," often misread as a carpe diem poem, actually offers a way to increase the enjoyment of beauty, not just grasp it for a while.
Thanks for visiting Poetry at Suite101.com, and whichever way you choose to celebrate Poetry during this cruelest month of April, I hope your celebration affords you joy and enrichment.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
“The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks received 11% of the votes, tying with Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy.” Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” got 33%, while Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” received no votes. The big winner is Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death,” garnering a whopping 44% percent.
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Commentary
The results of this poll are not surprising. By far the best poem of the bunch is the Dickinson poem that got the most admiration along with the most votes. The poll question was stated this way: “March is Women's History Month, so this month's poll question involves five poems written by women. Of the following poems written by women, which one do you most admire?”
Personally, my next choice would be Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus,” which is a fine Italian sonnet, skillfully crafted and historically salient for those who value freedom.
Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Mother” is a poignant poem that speaks to the issue of abortion with its heartbreaking, yet profound truths.
Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” is a fun poem, with a valuable message as well.
Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” exemplifies the worst of the confessional genre, and the poet’s critics have tried to gloss over the inappropriate temper tantrum that this poem dramatizes. On the one hand, in this poem, Plath demonstrates her considerable poetic talent, but on the other, the ranting theme is ultimately as shallow as a teenager’s angst in the middle of a spurt of growing pains.
Articles about These Poets
For more about each of these poets, please check out the following articles:
- Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus”
- Emma Lazarus embraced her heritage as an American Jew, and her poem "The New Colossus" became a symbol for opportunities of freedom.
- Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death”
- Emily Dickinson, in her poem of cosmic drama, portrays Death as a man carriage driver, for whom she ceases her leisure as well as her work.
- Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman”
- Angelou is a poet, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor, actor, dancer, director, and professor. She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in Haley's Roots.
- Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”
- In Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy," the speaker denigrates the addressee to the point of insisting that he died before she could kill him.
- Gwendolyn Brooks’ Cool Poems
- Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks served as U.S. Poet Laureate in 1985-86, while that title was still Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
What a treat to visit Poet Seers and find a lovely Dickinson poem featured as the Poem of the Day! And its message of inspiration is a valuable and uplifting one. For the speaker of the poem, the possible devastation of loss is offset by the fact that she had the faith and courage to venture forth and to attempt to win.
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“Life is but life, and death but death!”
The speaker excitedly proclaims that “Life is but life, and death but death!” She furthermore exclaims, “Bliss is but bliss, and breath but breath.” So if she meets with defeat, she can proclaim defeat is but defeat, or as she puts it, “At least to know the worst is sweet. / Defeat means nothing but defeat, / No drearier can prevail!”
But if she wins, there will be a gun salute and the church bells will ring, but she will have to be careful and gradually get used to the winning, because for her “heaven” would be winning, and if she were to become conscious of being transported to heaven, she might become too excited: heaven “might o'erwhelm me so!”
Overwhelmed vs Extinguished
Interestingly, in the Thomas Johnson publication of Dickinson’s original versions of her poems, instead of “o’erwhelm me so” she says “extinguish me.” The editors who changed Dickinson’s extinguish to overwhelm, no doubt, did so because they deemed such a word a mere exaggeration.
But true prophets or seers, those who reach the breathless state of samadhi, satori, nirvana, do realize that their physical level of being is “extinguished” as they commune in heaven with the Divine. So Dickinson’s original better expresses what the speaker of the poem means.
The poem is inspirational, however, even if the reader takes its message to apply only to the physical level of being. The healthy attitude of viewing defeat as just defeat and not the end of one’s striving can prevent depression and illness, because one will retain the hope, courage, and faith to continue striving to live a fulfilling life.
Other articles on Dickinson:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Academy of American Poets’ web site features Carolyn Kohli’s teaching unit called “Women in Poetry.” Poet Carol Conroy from Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City helped Kohli create and implement the unit.
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Beginning with Assumptions and Questions
The first week of study begins with the following questions: “What things do we expect women to be concerned with? What do we consider "feminine"? Do we expect poems to be written by women to be "feminine" by our definition?” Themes include "Entering the Darkness Out of Childhood," "Voices of the Mothers," "The Body Electric," and "Ars Poetica."
Students are introduced to poetic vocabulary through creative as well as critical writing exercises. They are also taught to use the Internet for research. The students practice writing with Microsoft Word, as they search for information about the poets and poetry.
Learning Objectives
There are eighteen learning objectives that the students are expected to have achieved by the end of the unit; the first three include: 1. Describe the traditional roles of women/received cultural stereotypes and find them expressed in poetry by women. 2. Describe the ways women poets belie stereotypes in their poetry and voice. 3. Recognize and describe voice and tone in a variety of poems by women.
They will also be required to write a 300-500-word essay comparing two poets: Emily Dickinson and Gwendolyn Brooks. Plus they will “Learn and practice techniques for creating a web page, including copying and pasting photographs and art, creating hyperlinks, researching poets' lives and works on the Internet.” And for their final project, they are required to create a web page.
Six Weeks
The unit lasts six weeks and each week focuses on a specific theme:
- Week 1: What Do Women Poets Write About, Anyway?
- Week 2: Entering the Darkness Out of Childhood.
- Week 3: Voices of the Mothers: Dickinson and Brooks.
- Week 4: The Body Electric.
- Week 5: Whose Story?
- Week 6: Ars Poetica
A goal is set for each week’s installment, and the specific activities are clearly spelled out in order for the students to achieve the goal.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
March is Women’s History Month, and Poetry at Suite101 is celebrating the achievements of many women poets from St. Teresa of Ávila to Emily Dickinson to Maya Angelou. The following articles focus on the rich poetic efforts of these fine poets:
Teresa of Ávila St. Teresa of Ávila wrote many poems dramatizing her mystical visions. Her most famous poem was immortalized in stone by sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini.
Elinor Wylie Elinor Wylie's life attracts more attention than her poems, but some of those poems are worth revisiting.
Lazarus’ 'The New Colossus' Emma Lazarus embraced her heritage as an American Jew, and her poem "The New Colossus" became a symbol for opportunities of freedom.
Looking Back from Eternity Emily Dickinson, in her poem of cosmic drama, portrays Death as a gentleman carriage driver, for whom she ceases her leisure as well as her work.
Maya Angelou Angelou is a poet, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor, actor, dancer, director, and professor. She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in Haley's Roots.
Millay’s ‘Renascence’ Millay's "Renascence" dramatizes a mystical experience that results in the speaker's new birth, realizing the depth of love and the power of the soul.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Poet Seers has collected a wealth of poetry from all over the world from different spiritual traditions; about the poets, they explain, “Through a diversity of paths and language they remind us we are in essence one world family all journeying back to our common source.” For the spiritual devotee, these poems are more than mere entertainment; they serve as a guide to direct the devotee’s mind God-ward.
The site offers a daily poem; today’s contribution is from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence titled “Eternity”:
- He who binds to himself a joy
- Does the winged life destroy.
- But he who kisses the joy as it flies
- Lives in eternity's sunrise.
Blake’s excerpt reminds us that the spiritually seeking soul must strive to achieve an attitude of nonattachment. Thus, grasping joy and jealously trying to keep it has the opposite affect: instead of retaining it, one loses it. To retain joy and contentedness, the devotee much practice nonattachment.
The site includes poems from ancient sources such as The Gospels of the New Testament, the Indian Kalidasa, the Chinese Li Po, and many other ancient texts from the very early centuries.
Also the American poets Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, and contemporaries, Mary Oliver and Maya Angelou, are represented. Poems are arranged by theme, country, date, and even literary movements such as the Romantics.
There is a link to “Spirit Blog” at Write Spirit, where Richard Pettinger posts spiritual poems and commentaries.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Sponsored by The Poetry Foundation, Library of Congress, and University of Nebraska
at Lincoln, American Life in Poetry was initiated by poet Ted Kooser while he was serving as Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006.
The project’s web site offers useful information, including a biographical sketch of the former Poet Laureate, a description of the project, an archive of past columns, and the current column.
The Weekly Column
Ted Kooser always introduces each poem with a helpful bit of information that orients and entices the reader to enjoy the poem. This week’s column is number 101, featuring Cynthia Rylant’s fun poem “Wax Lips.”
“Wax Lips”
Rylant’s “Wax Lips” portrays a visit to a hardware store that also sold candy and had a real monkey in residence; the speaker begins the description in the first three lines: “Todd's Hardware was dust and a monkey— / a real one, on the second floor— / and Mrs. Todd there behind the glass cases.”
The remaining nine lines take the kids back to candy counter where they pick out their goodies from among “red wax lips,” “Mary Janes,” and “straws full of purple sugar.” They have “stepped over buckets of nails and lawnmowers” to get to the candy counter. The speaker mentions Mrs. Todd again, noting that she was “white-faced and silent.”
The kids leave the store with their goodies and walk “the streets of Beaver” (a real city in Oregon) biting into the wax lips that the speaker inexplicably, because these are after all just children, describes as “big red lips worth kissing.”
But Kooser knows how to take the best and leave the rest as he describes the poem: “Those big cherry flavored wax lips that my friends and I used to buy when I was a boy, well, how could I resist this poem by Cynthia Rylant of Oregon?”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Robert Frost is, without doubt, the most recognizable name in American poetry. His poetry earned him four Pulitzer Prizes. He was invited to read a poem at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. The poem Frost read, titled “The Gift Outright,” is one he wrote during one of his visits to the Keys.
The Robert Festival will feature presentations, workshops, readings, films, and even a sunset poetry cruise. It will also announce of the winners of the Robert Frost Poetry Festival international haiku and poetry contests.
Poems and Politics
Frost first met with publishing success in England, after unsuccessfully trying to publish in America.
Frost traveled to the Soviet Union with a good-will group in 1962, and he talked with Premier Nikita Khrushchev. About the Premier, Frost reported that he was “no fat-head” and that he was “not a coward.” The poet also said that the Soviet leader had quipped that America was “too liberal to fight.” That remark, it is gossiped, caused a stir in Washington.
For the Kennedy inauguration, Frost had actually penned a new poem, but when he tried to read it at the ceremony, the sun was too bright, and he could not see to read it that January day, so he recited his old poem, “The Gift Outright.”
Robert Frost died January 29, 1963 in Boston. After Frost death, President Kennedy later praised him in a speech at Amherst College, saying, “The death of Robert Frost leaves a vacancy in the American spirit....His death impoverishes us all; but he has bequeathed his Nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding.”
More articles about Robert Frost:
Robert Frost’s Tricky Poem: An Analysis of ‘The Road Not Taken’
Frost’s Snow and Woods: Commentary on 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
A fourteen-year-old child named Abramek Koplowics was killed in a gas chamber at Auschwitz in 1943. Eliezer Grynfeld, of Jerusalem, older stepbrother of Abramek, found a notebook of poems written by the child in an attic that had held “family relics that had survived the Holocaust.”
Grynfeld, now 83, published his stepbrother’s poetry on an Israeli web site sponsored by Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. The site is translated into Farsi, because its goal is to help the Iranian people understand the reality of the Holocaust, which their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, so vehemently and often denies.
Avner Shalev , who is the director of the museum says, "Ahmadinejad is using Holocaust denial as a concrete tool to pave the way for nuclear strikes. I'm afraid he is building up a wave of hatred and this is one of the only ways I can think of breaking it down.”
The web site launched on January 27, 2007, and it has had more than 10,000 hits in Iran along with hundreds of emails thanking them for offering this information. The Iranians tell them museums directors that procuring information about the Holocaust in next to impossible in Iran.
The child Abramek Koplowics’ poem “The Dream” continues to get the most hits. And it encourages many Iranians to respond, some in Farsi, yet often in broken English, as one man did: “I am sorry that my president tells such a crazy speeches against Holocaust. ... My eyes are full of tears when I see my little daughter and remember such a story. I am here to tell you: We do not think like Ahmadinejad."
Another testimony for the power of poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Whenever any discussion of African American poetry takes place, one can count on the poet Langston Hughes being part of that discussion. Therefore, I was not too surprised to see him get all of the votes in the latest poll. However, all of the other contenders are fairly well known.
Rita Dove served as United States Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, and she won a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah. One of her best-known poems is titled “Parsley,” which she read at the White House. Dove was motivated to write this poem by the “creativity” of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, who slaughtered thousands of Haitians who could not pronounce the Spanish “r”.
Gwendolyn Brooks, a Chicago poet, who also served as Poet Laureate (1985-86) has a wide audience, with such poems as “We Real Cool” and “The Mother,” plus she has been interviewed by many magazines and news outlets. Brooks won numerous awards and fellowships including the Guggenheim and the Academy of American Poets.
Robert Hayden, whose masterpiece, “Those Winter Sundays,” is one of those poets who certainly deserve a wider audience. He is a much more accomplished poet than Langston Hughes, but not nearly as well known. His contribution to racial understanding far exceeds that of Hughes.
Sterling A. Brown, born to a middle class family in Washington D.C., graduated from the prestigious Dunbar High School, then from Williams College earning Phi Beta Kappa his junior, and then earned the M.A. degree from Harvard. After teaching at several colleges in the south, Brown returned to Harvard, where he completed the PhD and then served forty years teaching at Harvard. Brown continued to study “folk” literature and ways, and these themes show up in his poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Dream in Color
The title of the project is “Dream in Color,” and you might have seen posters advertising it at the Target department stores. The Target web site features an informative overview of the project. You can click on various icons representing items on Dr. Angelou’s writing desk to get a bit of biography of Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
You can also listen to the poets read from their poetry, while the read along with them. There is an activities book with lesson plans for K-12, an interview with Maya Angelou, and you create you won poem with words from the famous poems featured on the site.
Poetry Foundation
This ambitious project offers lessons plans for teachers, discussion guides, a glossary of poetic terms, and activities that guide student in writing their poems. The guidelines provide exercises to entice students to explore African American as well as poetry in general. The Poetry Foundation web site offer the following links for schools: Elementary School (PDF), Middle School (PDF), High School (PDF).
This project is evidence that poetry matters to a lot people.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Scholars, Books, Lectures
Christoph Irmscher, Longfellow scholar and English professor at Indiana University, and Longfellow biographer Charles Calhoun are working to bring back some of the luster of early American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was, in his own lifetime, a widely read and respected poet.
Irmscher’s book, Longfellow Redux, was published in 2006. According to Matthew Pearl, editor of Longfellow’s translation of Dante’s Inferno, this book is one of the most important books ever written about Longfellow. Charles Calhoun’s biography of the poet, Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life demonstrates the wide influence the poet had over American culture.
Irmscher says of his own Longfellow scholarship, "It's an attempt to recover the first celebrity poet that America has ever known, probably the most popular poet that ever lived." About Longfellow as a major literary figure, Calhoun explains that Longfellow’s critics denigrate the poetry’s “excess sentimentality,” but according to Calhoun, the emotion dramatized in Longfellow’s works gives readers an accurate understanding of early American history and culture.
In addition to writing scholarly books about their favorite poet, Irmscher and Calhoun also lecture widely about Longfellow. Bowdoin College, from which Longfellow graduated in 1825, will feature a month-long celebration of the poet’s birthday, “Longfellow's 200th Birthday To Be Celebrated Locally and Nationwide.” Irmscher and Calhoun will delivers lectures at this event.
Stamps, the Weather, Schools, and More
On March 15, 2007, a Longfellow Commemorative Stamp will be issued by the U.S. Postal Service. The stamp will feature “Paul Revere’s Ride” with a superimposed portrait of the poet. Hailed as the America’s 19th century poet laureate, Longfellow will become the 23rd such honor of a literary figure to honored with postage stamp.
“Into each life, some rain must fall”: We have all heard this adage, which is a quotation by Longfellow, and so many of them are extant that weather forecasters are being provided with such quotations to work into their weather forecasts.
There are many schools across America that bear the name of the poet. These schools will schedule special event to celebrate their namesake.
The web site, Smithsonian.com, features an article about the poet, “Famous Once Again by Nicholas A. Basbanes.” This article gives a useful introduction to the poet’s life and works.
Longfellow Bicentennial 2007is proving to be a celebrationfrom sea to shining sea for this special poet that America will never forget. And a quotation from Longfellow himself describes his own accomplishment:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Doubters
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain are some of the writers who have expressed doubt that the man traditionally extolled as the author of the tragedies, comedies, and sonnets could have written those works.
Other doubters are actors Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Leslie Howard, and Sir John Gielgud. Even Sigmund Freud and Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Harry Blackmun have asserted that they believe the more likely author was the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.
The little that is known about this actor Shakespeare suggests that he did not have the education nor the experience to write those works. The important Shakespeare scholar, Daniel L. Wright, supports the claim that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare-Oxford Society is dedicated to studying this issue. This Society claims, “if you get Shakespeare wrong, then you get the whole Elizabethan Age wrong.” An excellent point. Their work is important and fascinating.
Shakespeare Sonnets
While the scholars are working out the true identity of the writer of the sonnets, I shall be offering a series that analyzes and comments on them. There are 154 sonnets, and I begin with sonnet 18, because it is so widely anthologized and analyzed yet misunderstood.
To read my article, please go to, “Shakespeare Sonnet 18: ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day’”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Business Executive and Poetry Critic
Dana Gioia is an internationally known critic, and his essay “Can Poetry Matter?” appeared in the May 1991 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. This essay has been widely discussed since its first publication, and Gioia included it in his book of that title.
For fifteen years, Gioia supported his writing habit as well as his family by excelling as a businessman; he served as an executive at General Foods and became a Vice President. During that period, he worked on his writing nights and weekends, thus establishing a major literary career, allowing him to leave the business world to devote himself full-time to writing.
Man of Music and Education
In addition to poetry and criticism, Gioia has also composed music. Music was actually his first love in the arts, and he studied to become a composer. He served a classical music critic for San Francisco magazine. His own poems have been set to music by others.
Gioia helped found the West Chester University summer conference on Form and Narrative in 1995, and now that conference is the largest poetry writing conference in the United States. He also founded Teaching Poetry in 2001, a Santa Rosa, California conference aimed at improving the teaching of poetry at the secondary level. He has taught at a number colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, and Wesleyan.
But Can He Write Poetry?
Dana Gioia’s writing credentials are obviously impressive, but can he write poetry? Does his poetry stand up to scrutiny or is it, perhaps, a litany of post-modern rubbish, a screed of shock therapy, or does it fold into nothingness when compared to the greats?
For a thorough analysis of Gioia’s poem, “Words,” please see my article, “Dana Gioia’s ‘Words’.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Stairway Metaphor
In Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son,” the mother is speaking to her son; her message is that her life has not been easy, but she has not let herself stop trying. The speaker uses a “stair-way” metaphor to represent her life.
She first tells her son that “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” A crystal stair represents an imaginary path of ease—the crystal makes the climb smooth and comfortable. The stair this mother has ascended has had difficulties—“tacks” and “splinters”—it has had not had carpet which would also make the walk easier on the feet.
And as in life, there are twists and turns, the stairway the mother has climbed his had turns. But she makes the point that she never gives up, regardless of the difficulty: “I'se been a-climbin' on.” And she is rewarded for her effort by reaching landings and turning corners; these places on the stairway represent real achievements she has made by her vigilant struggles.
Don’t Give Up
She advises her son, “So boy, don't you turn back / Don't you set down on the steps.” She has been through darkness on her climb up the steps, but she warns him that just because things can be hard, he must let the challenges dishearten him to the point of ceasing the struggle.
She repeats three times that she has never given up the struggle to meet life’s challenges: “I'se been a-climbin' on,” in line 9, “For I'se still goin', honey,” line 18, and “I'se still climbin',” line 19. She also repeats the line that establishes the metaphor: “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair,” in the second and last lines.
The mother uses her own experience to show her son that despite the difficult challenges of life, the continued valiant struggle made with courage and determination is the only choice that will lead to success.
Other article on Langston Hughes:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About Whittier’s Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl, Maglaras says, "It is to poetry what Beethoven's 'Ninth Symphony' is to music. No word is out of place. It's completely from the heart, truly incomparable work."
Maglaras has begun a project of recording Whittier’s poems, and the recording artist is sponsoring events throughout 2007, which marks the 200th birthday anniversary of the New England poet, including a reading of Whittier’s most widely-known poem Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl.
Whittier the Poet
Born December 17, 1807 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, John Greenleaf Whittier became an ardent abolitionist and was a founding member of the Republican Party. He enjoyed the works of Robert Burns and was inspired to emulate him.
Whittier‘s Snow-Bound was first published in 1866 and sold 20,000 copies within a few months. After its reprinting it sold 2000 more copies.
Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl
Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl is a long poem of 759 lines. It was first published as a single volume in 1866, and it immediately became very popular. In his introduction, Whittier writes, “The inmates of the family at the Whittier homestead, who are referred to in the poem, were my father, mother, my brother and two sisters, and my uncle and aunt both unmarried. In addition, there was the district schoolmaster who boarded with us.”
Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl was greeted with many favorable reviews that focused on the simplicity and power of Whittier’s writing. The reviewer for The North American Review writes, “We are indebted again to Mr. Whittier, as we have been so often before, for a very real and very refined pleasure. It is true to nature and local coloring, pure in sentiment, quietly deep in feeling, and full of those simple touches that show the poetic eye and the trained hand.”
This review eloquently captures the essence of Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl. Whittier’s works have fallen out of favor with contemporary poetry readers who place too much undeserved value on shock and degradation, and that’s too bad because reading Snow-Bound is a pleasurable, as well as enlightening, experience.
A Whittier Revival
It is quite heartening to see that a contemporary artist is so enthusiastic about an early American poet that he is acting to share that enthusiasm. This is Whittier’s bicentennial, and Michael Maglaras is making it a Whittier revival. Congratulations to Mr. Maglaras on his accomplishments and best wishes for his celebrations of Whittier, one of America’s most important poets as well as one of America’s most important Americans.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
A reader called the San Francisco Chronicle to complain about an article that contained the claim: “Forest Service begins testing pilotless drone." The reader objected to the phrase “pilotless drone.” He began to harangue the paper with questions: “Is there any other kind of drone, drone, other than a pilotless drone? Isn't that what a drone is: an unmanned aircraft? Don't you check these things? Don't you supervise the subeditors who write these headlines? Don't you do your job?”
After hurling these questions repeatedly, the caller fell into a sing-song chastisement: “Drone, drone, drone. Get it? Drone. Pilotless airplane. Drone, drone, drone — not pilotless drone!”
According to NPR’s Ina Jaffe, “It didn't take long for someone to notice the poetry in this . . . .” (my emphasis)
This then is the San Francisco Chronicle’s (or was it Ina Jaffe's?) idea of poetry? It might be catchy, cute, and rhythmic, but by no stretch of the imagination can the caller’s obsession with redundancy be called “poetry.” Of course, many terms get slung around carelessly as writers slog through their days stringing long lines of words together.
But the irate caller was correct in thinking that a newspaper should edit and revise to eliminate obvious errors. While that caller observed that the Chronicle was not doing its job when it allowed “pilotless drone” to pass, whoever decided to label the caller’s sing-song diatribe “poetry” was also not doing a thorough job.
Did the Chronicle take the caller seriously? Well, in a way—they decided to remix the “poetry” and fling it up on Youtube. And they are initiating a podcast channel calling it “Correct Me If I'm Wrong” to feature the “poetry” of other irate callers. The first episode, of course, will include the “poetry” of “The Pilotless Drone.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
According to 42% of the poll takers, poetry should never be easy. Should poetry be political? No, according to 4%, and 3% say poetry should never be philosophical. Sad and sentimental were nixed by 2% each.
That poetry should never be easy received the most votes can be easily explained: Most people think poetry is difficult. All of my experience working with poetry and people from junior high school students to the general public confirms that fact. College students believe that a poem can mean anything you want it to mean: that helps alleviate the difficulty. You do not have to think about it much, if whatever you say it means is correct.
If the poem were “easy, “ there would be no need to reduce its meaning to having the modeling-clay-like quality of meaning anything you happened to want it to mean. If it were “easy,” a person could read the poem and immediately understand what it means. So 42% believe that a poem should never be easy.
At 4%, 3%, and 2% political, philosophical, sad, and sentimental poetry is more acceptable. And it makes good sense that of these qualifications, the political is less acceptable; after all, most readers associate poetry with self-expression not reportage of the outside world. Similarly with philosophical, most readers do not expect poetry to expound theories. That fewest felt sentimental and sad were not the purview of poetry is also understandable, because most readers do associate poetry with emotion.
Poetry is Flexible
Poetry is so flexible and varied that it can profess most of the qualities I offered in the poll: political, philosophical, sad, and easy. Sentimentality is usually disdained by poets, literary critics, and scholars. More on this later.
I would like to offer an example of a poem that exemplifies most of these qualities; the poem is Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” a poem Hughes wrote when he was only eighteen years old.
Easy
The poem is easy; it speaks in a cosmic voice similar to Walt Whitman’s. The only difficulty it might cause novice poetry readers is the claim, “I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.” The beginning reader will wonder how someone born in 1902 could be claiming to have “raised the pyramids.” But then when the reader sees in the next line that the speaker is also claiming to have been present in Abe Lincoln’s time, the mystery is solved: the cosmic voice of the speaker allows him to be present anywhere at anytime.
Political
The poem has a political reference in Abe Lincoln’s flatboat trip to New Orleans in 1830, where the future president probably witnessed a slave auction, the absurdity of which later influenced Lincoln’s policies resulting in the Emancipation Proclamation.
Those three lines are cheerful: “I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln / went down to New Orleans / and I've seen its muddy / bosom turn all golden in the sunset.” The river sang and turned golden because this future president would be responsible for eliminating slavery in his country.
Philosophical
The poem is philosophical in the very definition of the word philosophy, or love of wisdom. The speaker is laying his claim to wisdom when he asserts twice, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers.” Soul-awareness includes an intuitive knowledge that is both more accurate and more powerful than mere empirical information. The speaker’s knowledge comes from a source deeper than blood and ancient like the meandering qualities of rivers.
Sentimental and Sad
Most poets, literary critics, and scholars disdain verse that that they label sentimental. They argue that sentimental verse offers emotion for emotion’s sake, that the emotion is often unearned, that it fake, that it attempts to elicit stock responses, that the language is clichéd, dull, and unoriginal. Hughes' “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” has none of those negative qualities associated with sentimentality.
Sadness may be elicited by the historical allusions to slavery in the building of the Pyramids and Abe Lincoln, but as we mentioned earlier, the allusion to Lincoln suggests the positive events that occurred during his presidency. The speaker does not offer the actual perspective of the Pyramid reference: it could be the Pharaoh Khufu who “looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.”
Poetry Contains Multitudes
As Walt Whitman claims in Song of Myself, “I am large, I contain multitudes,” poetry is also large and contains a multitude of possibilities. One last word about “easy”—that quality is definitely in the eye of the beholder. For the reader who already knows the allusions included in poem, the poem would be easier to understand sooner than for the reader who had to do some research into the unknown allusions. But that does not make the poem difficult; it just makes it a task master.
Article on Langston Hughes’ poetry: Hughes’ ”Harlem: A Dream Deferred”
More articles on Polls: Emily’s Favorite, Poetry and You
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
From January 27 through February 3, 2007, the cowboys will be meeting in Elko, Nevada, to share their poetry and music, and to have a rip-roaring good time. This 23rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering takes as its theme “the ranch.”
To celebrate the “ranch” theme, there will be ranch tours, cooking workshops conducted by ranching families, panels given by respected Western writers discussing important issues such as sustainable land stewardship and husbandry practices.
Also included will be special exhibits, films, lectures, workshops, along with musical entertainment and dancing. And as always, there will be performances by sixty or more poets.
Classic Cowboy Poetry
The web site Western and Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch offers a nice sampling of cowboy poetry both classic and contemporary. The following verse was written by Katherine Fall Pettey and was taken from Songs from the Sage Brush published in 1910. This classic cowboy poem alludes to the poet James Whitcomb Riley; it is clever and gives the reader a taste of what the Western flavor has to offer:
The Cowpunch and James Whitcomb Riley
I'm sure some weak on poetry;
I don't savvy it right well,
When it tries to rope in flowers,
And a cool and peaceful dell.
For there ain't no dells in cowland,
Just a water hole or two;
Where the mav'ricks wash their faces
In the alkali, for dew.
But there's one Jim Whitcom' Rily,
He can bust the bronco pen,
Till it's gentle as a baby--
And you wish he'd bust again.
Contemporary Cowboy Poetry
A more contemporary poet is Carole Jarvis, who says, “As [a] young girl, I dreamed of a ranch, a cowboy, and a horse. Or probably lots of horses. But unlike many other girls who outgrew these dreams, I never did.” She and her cowboy husband have been living the cowboy life for forty years. Jarvis has been awarded the 2001 Gail I. Gardner Award for a Working Cowboy Poet and the 2003 Western Heritage Award.
The following excerpt is from her poem “The Home Ranch”:
It's not much for fancy, as home places go,
the road comin' in is just dirt.
The outbuildings need a little repair,
and a new coat of paint wouldn't hurt.
More Than Just Horses and Poetry
The purpose of the gathering that sounds like a big Western party is really a quite serious one: to share information about living the Western life. On their web site, the Western Folklife Center, which sponsors this event, explains their purpose: “The Folklife Center strives to create deep and lasting experiences, to challenge the intellect and engage the emotions, to encourage a sense of belonging for those at home in the West, physically or spiritually, and to ensure that rural communities throughout the region realize and appreciate their own cultural bounty.”
So even if one is only spiritually connected to the Western/cowboy culture, one would find hospitality at these gatherings along with the horses, music, and poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
About a decade ago, Jeff Towns, a fan of Dylan Thomas and a bookstore proprietor, discovered a poem the poet had written and published in the July 1929 edition of a magazine of the Swansea Grammar School. Towns was looking through the school magazine for poems to include in publication he had planned about poetry and food.
Towns says that when he discovered the poem by the young Dylan Thomas, "It was like finding a hidden masterpiece by Rembrandt." Until Towns rediscovered the poem, only Thomas scholars had been aware of it.
The poem is called “A Ballad of Salad.” The following excerpt of the poem appears on the bar meal menu of the Dylan Thomas Center in Swansea, the town in which Thomas was born:
Give me the lettuce that has cooled
It's heart in the rich earth,
Till every joyous leaf is schooled
To crisply crinkled mirth.
The poem is a charming precursor to the brilliant work Thomas later accomplished. To read the entire poem, please see "Thomas's salad poem still fresh by Sean O'Neill."
Dylan Thomas articles:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
These three poets are universally recognized as great American poets, whose voices are always worth hearing. Dickinson addressed some of the most pressing issues that affect us all as human beings.
Whitman demonstrated an all inclusiveness of races, genders, and classes of people, and he elucidated the profound effects of democracy that still resonates with readers. And Hughes still shines with important observations regarding race and class issues in America.
The influence of such a symposium could have put poetry in the spotlight in a way that many Aprils (national poetry month) could not equal. A wide variety of issues could have been discussed, including the issue of anti-war ideology.
This potentially momentous occasion was scheduled for February 12, 2003. The First Lady sent invitations to some of America’s publishing poets.
One of the poets receiving an invitation to the symposium was Sam Hamill. After reading his invitation, Hamill wrote the following letter to some fellow poets:
Dear Friends and Fellow Poets:
When I picked up my mail and saw the letter marked "The White House," I felt no joy. Rather I was overcome by a kind of nausea as I read the card enclosed:
Laura Bush requests the pleasure of your company
at a reception and White House Symposium
on "Poetry and the American Voice"
on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at one o'clock
Only the day before I had read a lengthy report on the President's proposed "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq, calling for saturation bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing countless innocent civilians.
I believe the only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and unconscionable idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam.
I am asking every poet to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend his or her name to our petition against this war, and to make February 12 a day of Poetry Against the War. We will compile an anthology of protest to be presented to the White House on that afternoon.
There is little time to organize and compile. I urge you to pass along this letter to any poets you know. Please join me in making February 12 a day when the White House can truly hear the voices of American poets.
Sam Hamill
When Mrs. Bush became aware that the symposium’s focus was to be highjacked by a crowd of ideologues, she cancelled the event. So instead of a discussion and reading of three of America’s greatest bards, Hamill collected a group of “anti-war” poems, slapped together a book, Poets Against the War, and flung up a web site with the same title. And poetry suffered another defeat at the hands of these "poets," who decided it was better to promote a slog of doggerel than present a useful discussion of three of America’s best poets.
Orinn Judd’s remark captures the depravity of Hamill’s and his fellow poets’ action:
In [Dana Gioia's] essay, [“Can Poetry Matter?”], he suggested that the world of poetry has become an insular subculture that no longer interacts with the larger society. This little contretemps with the White House perfectly illustrates the point. Given an opportunity, with White House imprimatur, to celebrate poetry, these poets sought instead to turn the event into a denunciation of the American government and people, who contrary to the author's assertion, support the coming war in record numbers. Little wonder then that so few of us think modern poetry is intended for our ears, but is instead the mental onanism of an effete, ivory-towered, intellectual elite.
For a useful discussion about this event, please read Bruce Bawer’s “A Plague of Poets,” which appeared in the Winter 2004 issue of The Hudson Review.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “The Snow-Storm” was published in 1841; about twenty-two years later (1862), Emily Dickinson composed “It sifts from Leaden Sieves”; therefore, she no doubt had read and enjoyed Emerson’s drama focusing on the behavior of snow.
Dickinson often practiced rewriting other people’s work, especially poems. It was a game or exercise for her. She certainly put her own stamp on the work, because we never feel we are experiencing a plagiarized product. What Dickinson practiced was in no way plagiarism.
Comparing these two snow poems reveals fascinating nuances of similarity. Emerson’s poem is much more chatty than Dickinson’s; she crystallizes events that Emerson lets sprawl, for example, the opening lines of Emerson’s “The Snow-Storm” state: Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, / Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields, / Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air / Hides hills and woods, the river.
Dickinson sees the snow more specifically as being sifted like flour from a sieve, an image she would have observed many times as she baked bread and biscuits in her large family kitchen. Just as the flour powders the kitchen counter, the snow “powders all the Wood.” Then the flour/snow becomes “Alabaster Wool” filling the “Wrinkles of the Road.”
Dickinson’s observation of the snow turns into specific metaphoric images right away, whereas Emerson states his observation in much more prose-like expressions. The trumpets of the sky announce the arrival of the snow as trumpeters would announce the arrival of a royal personage.
Then the snow drives over the fields, but seems not to land anywhere. “The whited air” then hides the hills, the woodlands, and the river. Emerson’s opening, while revealing the interesting metaphor of the trumpeters, does not create anything new of the snow as Dickinson did when she metaphorized it into flour.
Both poems show the snow recreating the landscape. Emerson imagines, north wind's masonry. / Out of an unseen quarry evermore / Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer / Curves his white bastions with projected roof.
While Dickinson sees that, It makes an Even Face / Of Mountain, and of Plain — / Unbroken Forehead from the East / Unto the East again.”
Both Emerson and Dickinson liken the creations of the snow to art work: “Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art / To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,” claims Emerson, while Dickinson observes, “It Ruffles Wrists of Posts / As Ankles of a Queen — / Then stills its Artisans — like Ghosts — / Denying they have been.”
And they both end on a similar note, that after the artists of snow had finished their creations, they magically vanished, and it is as if they had never been there—only the mystery of the snowy art remains.
Both poems offer us a wonderful look at snow and give us a drama that only two accomplished poets can provide. Emerson’s experience is sprawling and more generalized than Dickinson’s.
More articles on Dickinson:
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Because spirituality focuses on the non-physical, the language used to express ideas has to be metaphorical, rather than literal. Actually, the major problems between and among religions can be attributed to the fact that they use different metaphors, that too many people are unwilling to appreciate.
Poetry sometimes addresses the realms of being that are not seen, particularly the emotions. While we might be cognizant of the results of emotional responses, we cannot actually see, hear, touch them. For example, we can see the affect of love, anger, or joy, but the actual body of such beings is not detected by the five senses. Therefore, to express emotion in poetry, we have to use metaphor and image, just as we do in expressing spiritual or religious ideas.
For an article that explores this issue, please see "The Spiritual Altar: Yoga and Chanunpa."
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The “Emily’s Favorite” poll brought some interesting results. By far, the winner is Sylvia Plath receiving 61% of the votes; tied for second place are W. B. Yeats and Edna St. Vincent Millay with 14%. Also tied for third place are Rabindranath Tagore and Gwendolyn Brooks with 4% each.
Plath was chosen most likely because of her perceived obsession with death and the dark side of life. While it is true that Emily Dickinson wrote many poems on the subject of death, her purpose was very different from Plath’s.
Plath seemed to have a true obsession and fascination with death, but Dickinson explored death because she was repulsed by it. Dickinson studied the subject until she became convinced that there was no such thing as death—at least for the soul. Dickinson demonstrated an understanding of immortality, while Plath sought death as the end of suffering.
Yeats and Millay both demonstrate a skill that, no doubt. prompted voters to choose them. Dickinson would have studied these poets for their sheer talent as well as for their subject matter.
Brooks was probably chosen simply because she was a woman, but also perhaps because she did experiment with language as Dickinson did.
Tagore, although tied with Brooks for last place, would receive my vote, if I were voting. Tagore’s poetry offers a unique spiritual perspective that would have intrigued Dickinson immensely. Dickinson’s poetry dramatizes her spiritual search, and that is exactly what Tagore’s poetry does.
In Tagore’s Gitanjali, poem number 7 speaks to God as Master Poet, dramatizing the spiritual concept of man being made in the image of God. Dickinson’s “The Brain is wider than the sky” also dramatizes this concept when she says, “The brain is just the weight of God.”
Dickinson was well acquainted with Holy Scripture particularly the King James Version of the Bible, and Tagore was well versed in Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita and other sacred Hindu texts, such as the Vedas. In the work of both poets, readers find evidence of this study of spiritual texts.
Poetry readers can find similarities among poets who might seem worlds apart as, of course, Dickinson and Tagore were geographically and culturally. But ultimately, what puts the poets in similar categories is their dedication to certain themes and subjects. For Dickinson and Tagore those themes and subjects were almost always of a spiritual nature, unlike the other poets who made up the poll.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Falkoff plans to publish the collection titled Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak in the fall of 2007 through the University of Iowa Press. Most of the poems were written in Arabic and have been translated by “non-professionals,” according to Ken Silverstein, Washington editor for Harper’s Magazine.
Falkoff is also an attorney for seventeen Guantánamo detainees, and he holds a doctorate in literature. He claims that several of his clients were sending him poetry, but that poetry itself did not motivate Falkoff to publish it. Interestingly, he hatched that idea while reading Here Bullet by Iraq War veteran, Brian Turner. Falkoff, then, contacted other attorneys and discovered that they also had poems from their detainee clients. Falkoff explains, “It hit me that we could pull a lot of this stuff together as a collection so the public could, yes, hear the voices of Guantánamo, and perhaps move [[beyond]] the administration's sloganeering.”
Falkoff does not explain what he means by “the administration's sloganeering” or what would result by moving beyond said sloganeering. But later he says, referring to some of the poems being classified by the Pentagon, “It was not made clear whether the Pentagon believes the danger lies in the power of words or in the risk that detainees could send coded messages to terrorist operatives through their poems. “ As much as I'd like to think it's the former, I presume it's the latter.”
In other words, Falkoff would prefer to believe that the Pentagon wants to censor the poems for ideological reasons, which is not be a legitimate reason instead of for security reasons which is a legitimate reason. And although he thinks the Pentagon’s reasons are valid, he would prefer that they were not valid. So this lawyer with a doctorate in literature would rather his government do things for poor reasons instead of for valid ones.
Detainee, Jumah al-Dossari, who was captured by Pakistani security in 2001, was brought to Guantánamo. Al-Dossari claims he has been beaten and isolated for long periods of time. He denies any terrorist connection. Allegedly, he has tried to kill himself several times. Al-Dossari will have his poem, “Death Poem,” included in the Falkoff’s upcoming anthology:
Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the “protectors of peace.”
Another example of the poetry Falkoff has deemed to have literary value is Ibrahim al Rubaish’s “Ode to the Sea”:
Your beaches are sadness, captivity, pain and injustice whose bitterness eats away at patience
Your calm is death, and your sweeping is strange and a silence rises up from you, holding treachery in its fold.
Perhaps it is the lack of skill of the “non-professional” translators, perhaps it is the tone deafness of the lawyer/doctorate in literature, or perhaps it is a combination of the two, but this book will serve no useful purpose. This kind of doggerel may serve to fill the idle hours of the possible terrorist waiting for justice at a military detainment camp, but it does not bode well for a book that will call itself poetry.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
The Irish Independent announces that poet Seamus Haney has been awarded the prestigious T. S. Eliot Prize of €15,000, about $20,000 US. The prize was presented by Eliot’s widow, Valerie, January 15, 2007, at a ceremony in London.
Heaney’s poetry collection District and Circle beat out competitors Simon Armitage and Paul Muldoon. The chair of this year’s judges panel, Sean O’Brien, said of Heaney’s collection, "Seamus Heaney's 'District and Circle' is a commanding, exhilarating work. In an outstandingly strong field, this was an exceptional collection of poems."
Heaney did not attend the ceremony, because he has been experiencing poor health, so poet Bernard O’Donoghue read some of Heaney’s poems. District and Circle brings Heaney’s poetry publications to an even dozen.
About Heaney’s most recent collection, Poet Laureate Andrew Motion concluded that these poems exude "the undiminished freshness of his response to time-honoured things.” The New York Times claimed that District and Circle "brims with lovely evocations, reconstructions, restorations."
Sion Hamilton, poetry buyer at Foyles bookshop, gave some insight about the importance of this prize: "The TS Eliot prize has become a highly prestigious literary award. It seems almost incredible that Heaney has never won before. Winning the prize really affirms a poet's standing. Even though it is awarded to a particular title, it reflects on all the hard work the poet has put in over the years."
Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, and twice he has been awarded Whitbread Book of the Year Award: first for his collection The Spirit Level and for his translation of Beowulf. He was a finalist for the T .S. Eliot award in 2001 for his book, Electric Light.
Heaney was born to a Roman Catholic family on April 13, 1939, in Northern Ireland at Mossbawn, his family’s farmhouse, northwest of Belfast. He is the oldest of nine siblings. While attending a boarding school in Derry, Heaney’s four-year-old brother was killed in a car crash. The following is one of two poems Heaney wrote on this subject:
Mid-Term Break
- I sat all morning in the college sick bay
- Counting bells knelling classes to a close,
- At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.
- In the porch I met my father crying—
- He had always taken funerals in his stride—
- And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
- The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
- When I came in, and I was embarrassed
- By old men standing up to shake my hand
- And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,"
- Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
- Away at school, as my mother held my hand
- In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
- At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
- With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
- Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
- And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
- For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
- Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,
- He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
- No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
- A four foot box, a foot for every year.
From 1989 and 1994 he served a poetry professor at Oxford, and then again at Harvard in 1997 he was honored with the position, Ralph Waldo Emerson Poet in Residence.
Between stints at universities, Seamus Heaney lives in Dublin.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
All I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip's over.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” has been misread even by well-educated professionals. Jeff Greenberg, Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona, offers a typical example of the misreading Roethke’s innocent drama of father and son roughhousing. In the professor’s lecture, titled “The impact of violence on our children: Some insights from Becker and the cinema,” he states the following which introduces Roethke’s poem: “Perhaps most uniquely disturbing is when our security base turns on us, conveying inconsistent values and unpredictable behaviors, and inflicting emotional and physical pain; how then does a child sustain equanimity? Even if brutal and deeply disturbed, the parent is typically still the only basis of security the child knows. Theodore Roethke expresses this problem eloquently.”
The professor could not be further from the truth, but fortunately, he says no more about the poem, allowing his mischaracterization to say it all. Contrary to the Professor Greenberg’s misreading, Theodore Roethke’s poem expresses love between a father and son in a roughhousing session that the adult speaker in the poem looking back chooses to metaphorically dramatize as a “waltz.” If the event portrayed in the poem resulted in “emotional and physical pain,” it is unlikely that the adult speaker would have allowed his readers to interpret the event as a special time when the father and son “romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf,” and then the father “waltzed me [the son] off to bed / Still clinging to your [the father’s] shirt.”
“Romped” is too playful a word for an emotionally and physically traumatized adult to use in looking back at a childhood event. And if the father were actually beating and abusing the child in an alcoholic rage, the child would not be clinging the father’s shirt, he would be trying to run away from him.
The time designations of the poem make it clear that the father and son did this kind of “waltzing” often. It was not just one session that the speaker is recounting. Notice he says, “Such waltzing was not easy.” The gerund “waltzing” signals that every time they engaged in this “dance,” the son was challenged to keep up with the father’s movements. The child enjoys this waltz not being easy, or else it would have become boring. The father challenged the boy to keep up with him as they “romped” around the kitchen making those pans slide off the shelf.
Also, if the session were one of abuse and beating by a drunken brute, the mother would have taken a more active rôle than just frowning. The mother does not even speak, signaling that she is only mildly annoyed by this masculine ritual. There are no indications that the father is abusive to either the child or the mother or any other members of the family. The poem reveals only a speaker who is an adult looking back at a playful time he spent with his father. The alcohol breath, the dirty hands, the clumsy romping, and beating time on the boy’s head are all just innocent challenging features that comprise the metaphor of the waltz, that so impressed the boy that as an adult he dramatizes the event so we can enjoy his challenging dance along with him and his family.
For a thorough analysis of “My Papa’s Waltz,” please see my article, “Roethke’s 'My Papa’s Waltz'.”
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Where the Mind is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
—from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
Analysis
Consisting of one sentence, Tagore’s simple prayer for his country, India, prior to her gaining independence from Britain, has become one of the most quoted poem/prayers by political activists. The universality of this prayer allows it to transcend both time and space, as all great poetry does.
The first seven lines consist of adverb clauses that denote a condition portrayed by a metaphor of place, “where the mind is without fear, “where knowledge is free,” etc. Until we read the last line, we do not know the exact reference of this place, but we do realize that it is a place where many wonderful qualities exist: fearlessness, knowledge, unity, truth, useful work, reason, and progress.
Then after depicting all these useful qualities, in the main clause of the sentence the speaker names that condition, that metaphoric place as “that heaven of freedom” and asks the “Father,” i.e. God, to allow his country to arrive there or “awake” to the realization that she must strive to achieve the ability to demonstrate all these wonderful qualities.
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Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Of course, it still does, and because of that more recent “day of fire,” September 11, 2001, as noted by our current commander-in-chief, President George W. Bush, it stings the memory all the more.
Such days of unfathomable horror motivate poets to express their musings. Poet/professor Walt McDonald’s poem, “The Winter They Bombed Pearl Harbor,” subtly invokes the Pearl Harbor attack as almost an after-thought. But throughout the poem, we catch images that suddenly propel us from that family farm setting into the heart of war; one such image is “the roar and buzz of steel and mosquitoes,” and another is “lobbing frozen dirt clods like grenades.” And of course, the last stanza that brazenly inserts “Pearl Harbor bombed” and “the fall of Bataan” promising that war would not be lost, because the speaker’s father had enlisted.
If Walt McDonald fears too much patriotism, Marty Lewinter does not. Also, a professor as well as versifier, Lewinter offers poems that are quite literal and anything but subtle. Then there is “Pearl Harbor Day” by Irvin L. Rozier, not exactly a polished poem, but nevertheless, its sentiment is understandable. Other poems that commemorate the Pearl Harbor attack: “Pearl Harbor TO 911: Everlasting Changes,” by Ralph Maduike; “Pearl Harbor is its Name” and “USS Arizona Memorial: To Honor our Dead” on the web site Poetry for Veterans; “Always Remember” by John Chaffey, and “Surprised Infamy” by Roger Hancock.
Linda Brown’s poem, “Pearl Harbor’s Child” dismisses any notion of patriotism, sentiment, or raw emotion, except as she is able to muster for own self-grieving. Her first stanza goes, “I was born a week after Pearl Harbor / into a crib with an air raid siren. / It wailed nightly from the elm outside / until I went rigid as a hypnotist's steel board, / too scared--even in my mother's arms--to cry.” And then we’re treated to her being moved from one location to the other, until finally her speaker throws up her hands and says what else but a poet could such poor frightened devil have become.
All of the poems mentioned here are at various stages of accomplishment: some of the poets are merely gushing forth sentiment, not well crafted verse, just expressions of raw emotion. Still they are worth considering as we look back into history and reflect on events that will always elicit raw emotion.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
- To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
- One clover, and a bee,
- And revery.
- The revery alone will do,
- If bees are few.
This little poem expresses Dickinson’s continuing love affair with the spiritual level of being. She begins by claiming that to make a physically large item, “a prairie,” all one needs is two small physical items, “a clover and one bee.”
Then she qualifies that by saying, “One clover, and a bee / And revery”; then she qualifies that claim further, by saying if you don’t have one of those physical components, “bees,” (and by implication, the clover as well), then you can still make the prairie by revery alone.
“Revery” means dream, thought, extended concentration on any subject, or even day-dreaming wherein the mind is allowed to roam free over the landscape of unlimited expansion, but to the speaker in this poem, “revery” is more like meditation which results in a true vision.
The speaker’s power of revery demonstrates an advanced achievement, far beyond ordinary day-dreaming or cogitation. Ultimately, this speaker is claiming that without any physical objects at all, the mind of one advanced in the art of revery can produce any object that mind desires.
Other Dickinson poems that focus on a similar themes are #632 “The Brain is wider than the sky,” #670 “One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted,” #674 “The Soul that hath a Guest,” and many others.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, primarily for his prose translations of his book called Gitanjali, Bengali for “song offerings.”
The following is an excerpt, Gitanjali poem #7:
My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union. They would come between thee and me. Their jingling would drown thy whispers. My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O Master Poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.
This poem demonstrates a humble charm: it is a prayer to open the poet’s heart to the Divine Beloved—“Master Poet”—without unneeded words and gestures. A vain poet produces ego-centered poetry, but this poet/devotee wants to be open to the simple humility of truth that only the Divine Beloved can offer his soul. As the Irish poet W. B. Yeats has said, these songs grow out of a culture in which art and religion are the same, so it is not surprising that we find our offerer of songs speaking to God in song after song, as is the case in #7. And the last line in song #7 is a subtle allusion to Bhagavan Krishna. According the great yogi/poet, Paramahansa Yogananda, "Krishna is shown in Hindu art with a flute; on it he plays the enrapturing song that recalls to their true home the human souls wandering in delusion."
Rabindranath Tagore, in addition to being an accomplished poet, essayist, playwright, and novelist, is also remembered as an educator, who founded Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal. Tagore exemplifies a Renaissance man, skilled in many fields of endeavor—including, of course, spiritual poetry.
For more about Tagore, please see my article Rabindranath Tagore.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Here are the poll results “Poetry and You” with the question, “Which statement best describes your experience with poetry?”
- I love it and read everything I can about it. (54.84%)
- I hate it and avoid it always. (3.23%)
- I've never really tried to read poetry. (6.45%)
- I'm taking a course about poetry, but I'm not enjoying it. (6.45%)
- I write poetry but never read it. (29.03%)
The results are quite positive with over half the respondents saying they love it and read everything they can about it. Too bad about the three percent that are totally missing out. I always wonder about people who hate things that they know nothing about. On the other hand, maybe that’s the only way hate is possible, because when you really learn about something, you can always find something about it to like.
To those folks who’ve have never really tried to read poetry, I say, welcome aboard, you’ve come to the right place. And the poor souls stuck in a class, forced to study and not enjoying it—well maybe by the end of the course, you will discover that your position has changed. At least, that’s what we hope for.
And while the percentage shrank since I wrote in an earlier blog about the topic, still over a quarter of the responders belong to that odd group that writes poetry but never reads it. I’ll bet you folks think that “a poem can mean anything you want it to mean.” I also image you write things like “I put my shoes on my head / and go to town / waiting for blue lilies to / mingle with the / frogs on the dashboard / of my mind…”
Thank you--all who took time to respond to the poll. Please check out the next poll, and then expect another analysis after it is complete. Ain't poetry fun???
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Dylan Thomas fans have the great fortune to be able to enjoy a web site dedicated to Wales's favorite poet, adminsitered by the poet's son, Aeronwy. Information about Thomas is just a few clicks away. The site includes the following: Chronology, Works by Dylan Thomas, Bibliography, Dylan Thomas Collection, Talks and lectures, Dylan Thomas enquiry form, Dylan and Caitlin's friends and contemporaries, and other links to informative pages.
Of course, Dylan Thomas's most widely anthologized and most studied poem is "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." In my article, Dylan Thomas' 'Do Not Go Gentle', I offer an analysis of and commentary about this poem.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
To read Tennyson's "The Eagle"
Analysis
This poem is just a simple poem about an eagle. In the first stanza the eagle sits perched up on some high mountain crag in some deserted area, and in the second stanza he suddenly swoops down in flight. That's really all there is to it as far a subject matter goes. However, the significance of the poem is the interesting way Tennyson communicates that experience of the eagle through the poetic devices: crooked hands, ring'd with the azure world, wrinkled sea, like a thunderbolt, etc. Notice the interesting contrast between the two stanzas: in the first the eagle is sitting still, and in the second one he is in flight.
There is nothing in this poem to suggest that Tennyson is making a religious, philosophical, or political statement.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Personal Experience
When I was a senior in high school (1963-64), the opportunity opened for seniors to take creative writing instead of English literature. A number of us choose to do that. Actually, the class was probably about 30 of our total number of 76. The creative writing class was taught by the same teacher who had the previous year taught American history, and that year was this teacher’s first year at our school. That he was able to talk the administration into letting him teach creative writing is testimony to this man’s powers of persuasion. He was a poet himself and also taught English.
The English literature teacher had taught at our school for over thirty years, and she was an excellent teacher. I had in been in her sophomore English class and junior English, which focused on American literature.
But I chose to take the creative writing option instead of English literature, and over the years, I have regretted that choice. If I had taken the creative writing in addition to the English literature class, I would have received a much better education. Instead, by taking the creative writing, I missed out on learning about valuable foundations such as Beowulf, Shakespeare, and other important British literature.
At first I thought it didn’t matter too much, because I was very interested in foreign languages, and I considered becoming a teacher of Spanish, Latin, or French. It turns out that I became of teacher of German, but my interest in poetry soon returned, and I returned to writing poetry.
As I engaged my interests in creating poetry, I realized that my knowledge of literature was deficient. So I returned to graduate school to complete a degree in English. And after finishing the MA and PhD in English, I had finally caught up. I actually chose British literature as my concentration area for my PhD. Still, if I had just taken the English literature as a senior in high school, I would have been ahead of the game.
Poets and Traditional Literature
Poets need a good foundation in literature. It behooves young students to take all the literature courses they can, if they discover they have an interest and talent for writing.
Right now, on the poll, Poetry and You, I ask the question, “Which statement best describes your experience with poetry?” More than one-third of the responders have chosen the answer, “I write poetry but never read it.” That is too bad. I imagine their creations would demonstrate their lack of expertise and skill with literature. It’s difficult to imagine how one could acquire skill in an endeavor that one never observes. Imagine a musician who plays music but never listens to any, or a surgeon who has never observed other surgeons at work.
The good news reflected in the poll is that 44% of the responders claim to love poetry and read all they can about it. I hope more writers come from that group than the other.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
John Tyler was president of the United States from 1841-1845. When he was happy, he wrote poetry, according to his biographer Robert Seager. Tyler married when in office and wrote his poem, "Sweet Lady, Awake!" to his wife while they were on their honeymoon.
The Poetry web site at the Library of Congress also features videos of such poets as Langston Hughes.
The site announces upcoming event such as Maxine Kumin & Wesley McNair Nov. 9, 2006
Poetry reading, and Poetry at Noon Nov. 14, 2006 Deliciious poems about food.
For more information about this fascinating site, please see my article Poetry at the Library of Congress.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
"Childhood" by Frances Cornford
- I used to think that grown-up people chose
- To have stiff backs and wrinkles round their nose,
- And veins like small fat snakes on either hand,
- On purpose to be grand.
- Till through the banister I watched one day
- My great-aunt Etty's friend who was going away,
- And how her onyx beads had come unstrung.
- I saw her grope to find them as they rolled;
- And then I knew that she was helplessly old,
- As I was helplessly young.
Analysis
The speaker of this poem is looking back on an occasion in her life when she first realized that both young and old people are helpless against the aging process. In lines 1-4, she tells us that she used to think grown-ups "chose" those physical defects that marked them as old, but the speaker also thought they chose them "to be grand." This thought indicates that the speaker was very young, since she thought stiff backs, wrinkles, and veined hands were "grand." (I secretly wish the poet had chosen a different word from "grand," one that truly reflected her meaning; I suspect she settled on grand to rime with hand.)
The lines 6-10 contain the reason for the speaker's changed opinion about aging grown-ups. She had told us that she used to believe that the grown-ups "chose" those aging qualities until she observed her great-aunt's friend groping helplessly for her beads. The speaker realizes that it is not likely a person would choose to have such difficulty just retrieving some loose beads, so she then realizes that they probably don't choose those visible physical defects either. This observation led the speaker to change her perspective: the adults were just helpless as they acquired those old-age characteristics, and their helplessness paralleled her own, the helplessness of being young.
The rime scheme in this poem is AA, BB, CC, DE, ED. An interesting rime scheme, but as I mentioned earlier, I believe the rime scheme interferes with meaning. Take "wrinkles round their nose," for example; wrinkles usually form around the eyes and mouth. Even in a very old person, wrinkles are seldom noticeable around the nose. In line six the friend "is going away"; while "away" provides a nice rime with "day," it is vague. Perhaps the speaker wants us to infer that the friend was dying, but "going away" does not clearly convey that message.
"Childhood" is still an interesting poem, allowing us one speaker's observation about how a young person relates to the aging process.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Please visit Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider" to read the poem.
Commentary
Whitman’s brief ten-line poem exemplifies an idea he had jotted down in his notebook: "small in theme yet has it the sweep of the universe." —from Walt Whitman's Notebook page 19 LOC #94
In the first verse paragraph, the speaker of the poem creates a little drama as he recounts his experience of watching a spider trying to find a place to spin its web. We see the spider positioned alone on some object which the speaker chooses not to identify but merely calls a “little promontory.”
He tells us that the spider was exploring the vast space around him by throwing out the thread-like material that spiders use to spin webs: “It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself.” He sees the spider do this many times throwing, throwing each thread out of itself, and it continues this activity for a long while.
In the second verse paragraph, the speaker directly addresses his own soul and compares it to the spider. Like the spider his soul is “surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space” and like the spider sending out his “filaments,” the speaker’s soul searches for a place to connect itself.
The spider is simply trying to find places to anchor its filaments so it can spin a web, but the speaker’s soul is searching for a lasting connection whether a friendship with another human being or more profoundly a connection with its Creator. Thus the poem can be considered “small in theme” in the first verse paragraph, yet contain a “sweep of the universe” in the second verse paragraph.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Donald Hall, the current Poet Laureate of the United States, has made poetry his life. And like most poets, he has written numerous essays about poetry, including the state of poetry, the decline of poetry, and just generally how he feels about poetry.
One of his most famous poems is "My Son, My Executioner" which dramatizes the paradox of birth and death. He has published over twenty books of poetry and about that many in prose and children's books.
So this Poet Laureate can speak to poetry issues with some authority. And he has some definite ideas about what poets should do and how they should do it. Now as Poet Laureate he had a forum to influence the art and how it is perceived. It will be interesting to see exactly how he accomplishes the main purpose of the laureate position, that of promoting poetry.
See my article "Donald Hall on Ambition" to find out just what has to say about the proper relationship between poets and ambition.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Earlier this month the University of Minnesota Libraries paid $775,000 for the manuscripts, correspondence, and personal papers of Robert Bly, native of Minnesota. A spokesman for the libraries, University of Minnesota Librarian Wendy Pradt Lougee, said, “Acquiring Robert Bly’s archive is really a coup for the University of Minnesota Libraries. Several other prominent libraries vied for the archive, but we are so pleased that we can keep his works and personal papers in his home state.”
This collection contains approximately 80,000 handwritten pages and a journal spanning 50 years. It also includes notebooks of Bly’s “morning poems” as well as numerous drafts of his “translations.” The archive also holds his many letters from writers such as James Wright, Donald Hall, and James Dickey. Any other material produced from now on will become part of this archive.
Allen Ginsberg’s personal archive brought a million dollars in 1994, bought by Stanford University.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Analyzing, explicating, examining poems can be a challenge. But when you find a poem you truly enjoy, the challenge is worthwhile. Instead just thinking quietly about the joy the poem brings, if you ask yourself a series of questions about the poem, you might find that you enjoy the poem even more.
Three important question to begin with are: 1. Who is the speaker? 2. What is the dominant metaphor? 3. What are the dominant images?
If you can answer these questions with some detail, you'll find that you actually appreciate the poem even more. And you will also find that your respect for the poet deepens.
Posted by Linda Sue Grimes
Reading a poem is not like reading a newspaper article. We don't even read those two genres for the same purpose. We read newspapers to get information; we read poetry to get back experience.
Therefore, when we read a poem, we need to read it many times, slowly--unlike reading solely for information, when we read as fast as possible to get as much information as possible in as little time as possible.
Reading about poetry, then, is somewhere in the middle. Of course, we need to be acquainted with poem, so we must read the poem slowly and deliberately, but when we are reading to obtain information about the poem, we might speed up a bit. But also we might need to return to poem as we are reading about it.
To gain a solid appreciation of a poem, it is useful to first study the poem to decide what we think it is doing; then, if we have the good fortune to be able to read a commentary or analysis, or even a thorough explication, we get an extra opportunity to gain even deeper apprecaition.
