Andy posted this very Catholic Hopkins piece as a recovery poem. Interesting for a very privileged Briton with a very chronic condition. I'll be studying it as I work, a not so privileged angry atheist who believes Andy cannot in fact see as Orwell warns us to really look.
I did really read it twice, and though I see that Hopkins is using a formal scheme, I don't recognize it. Anyone have a take on this?
Last edited by Jozanny; 02-08-2011 at 09:53 AM. Reason: hyperlink, question
@Joz, Hopkins is a poet I fail to appreciate for some reason, it just does very little for me. I understand that he is highly regarded, and I'm aware of some homo-erotic readings of his poems, not that I'm too into the revisionist approach to older authors.
I'll post something contemporary to give living poets some attention:
What the Snake Brings to the World by Lorna Crozier
Without the snake
there'd be no letter S.
No forked tongue and toil,
no pain and sin. No wonder
the snake's without shoulders.
What could bear such a weight!
The snake's responsible for everything
that slides and hisses, that moves
without feet or legs. The wind, for example.
The sea in its long sweeps to shore and out again.
The snake has done some good, then.
Even sin to the ordinary man
brings its pleasures. And without
the letter S traced belly-wise
outside the gates of Eden
we'd have to live
with the singular of everything:
sparrow, leg, breath,
mercy, Truth.
http://www.lornacrozier.ca/poems.html#whatthesnake
I like Crozier's playful retooling of the Eden myth.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
I will follow in Pip's wake, and highlight Linda Pastan, whose same editor may be publishing me, now that I am struggling to get back to work. I never did learn the Hopkins rhyme scheme, so I am still open to suggestion. He is using English terza rima, I believe, so we can consider that issue moot. I think I like Ms. Pastan:
Encore
For RF
Before you go,
I would like to reprise for you
the blue cloud in the song's first stanza
http://www.pirenesfountain.com/curre...ed/pastan.html
Would anyone be interested in discussing Hopkins? Some of his work is free online, and his Catholic piece has intrigued me. I am no expert, but I will lead a discussion if I have any takers.
Last edited by Jozanny; 03-20-2011 at 11:09 PM. Reason: Hopkins scheme
I like it myself just the words itself used
I've just had a quick read of this piece. I'd be interested in looking at it further a little. If I can I'll post a few things at a later stage.Andy posted this very Catholic Hopkins piece as a recovery poem...
http://www.bartleby.com/122/37.html
Would anyone be interested in discussing Hopkins? Some of his work is free online, and his Catholic piece has intrigued me. I am no expert, but I will lead a discussion if I have any takers.
I have attained the Eternal Bliss - By Kabir
I have attained the Eternal Bliss.
There is no time for sorrow or pain,
for now I enjoy singing His glory.
The tree of His pleasure has neither root, nor seed,
as revealed by the grace of the true Guru.
Now there is effulgence of a million suns,
my swan has dipped in the lake of His knowledge.
Says Kabir, listen, O wise brother,
Now comings and goings have come to an end.
I am not a Hindu,
Nor a Muslim am I!
I am this body, a play
Of five elements; a drama
Of the spirit dancing
With joy and sorrow.
this is mine... feel free to comment... never really had anyone critic my work before.
Half Self
Patches and patches
of unfiltered memories
freely flowing
to the surface
suffer the innocence.
Confusion in familiarity.
Betrayal,
Agony in silence.
In thousands of moonrise
even more moons lost.
Fear. Pierce.
Bleed. Fight.
Die.
Over
and over
and over…
Give in.
No moves left.
Surrender to the forgotten
Half self…
Really old Dorset Dialect? I thought it was Scottish!
Well I have lived in Dorset for years and never knew of this old dialect, fascinating, sounds very similar to the Dutch languageOriginally Posted by Neely
I too am SO glad you started this thread. Poetry has always been something special to me and I enjoy reading other people's works. William's poem is beautiful and you can really feel the woe and heartache in it, in such a way that isn't too over dramatic or mushy. Let's facr it anytime a man writes poetry with such ease and passion people are going to flock to it! Great poem for the week!
choosing the words, we lose thoughts
After reading A Movable Feast, I finally pushed and agreed with myself that I'll read some poetry. I have been reading Umbra by Pound. This was the first poem I found by him on the internet and was immediately "hooked".
Ezra Pound:
A Girl
The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast -
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.
Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world.
The White Stag
by Ezra Pound
I ha' seen them 'mid the clouds on the heather.
Lo! they pause not for love nor for sorrow,
Yet their eyes are as the eyes of a maid to her lover,
When the white hart breaks his cover
And the white wind breaks the morn.
‘'Tis the white stag, Fame, we're a-hunting,
Bid the world's hounds come to horn!’
In Celtic mythology, the White Stag is often a messenger from Fairyland. the pursuit of the stag by hunters may be symbolic of a spiritual quest. In the Newberry Award winning children's book, the White Stag led Atilla the Hun (or his father Nimrod, I can't remember the details) over the mountains into Europe. When Charlemagne's army was marching to protect the Pope from infidel Muslim invaders, it was led through the alps by a white stag.
The mythical White Stag is pursued by hunters, but can never be captured. Instead, it leads the hunters into new lands, and new adventures.
In Narnia, hunting the White Stag led Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy back to the lamppost, the wardrobe, and England after years of reigning as Kings and Queens.
In Mallory's King Arthur story, Arthur and Gueneviere's wedding guests see a white stag pursued by black hounds.
Im not sure what "them" refers to (in the first line of Pound's poem). Is it the hounds in Mallory? Gawain, who chased the stag in the Arthur stories? Poets like Pound, pursuing fame, and pausing not for love or sorrow?
The more I think about it, I think "them" is the hounds in the King Arthur story, whose "eyes are as the eyes of a maid to her lover". They love the chase.
This poem is appears to be quite simple, but maybe not.
I was thinking that the underlying meaning of the white stag is Fame and the writer is chasing after it into, as you listed, many possible magical places. I was also thinking about the meaning of "them" and I thought it was the herd of deer. The doe eyes that appear so innocent, but are just that way in appearance- a sort of deception. These were my thoughts. I'm not sure Pound's background or referencing of Arthurian tales.
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