Poets and Their Wives

[L.M. The Third]

The ending of a book I read recently got me to thinking about the women who influenced the poets. Being someone who lives and breathes poetry, it really got me. Here are some examples:

Henry Wadworth Longfellow was married twice. Both his wives furnished inspiration for poems. Anyone who has read his poetry can see his knowledge of love.

One of the most beautiful of love stories is that of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. (And, of course, they were both poets, so what about the aspect of the female poet and her loves?)

On the other hand, they say Shakespeare didn't get along too well with his wife. And Milton lived to rue his marriage.

So, anyone have any thoughts to throw in? Know of other poets whose marriages or love-lives hold interest? Or comments on the ones I've mentioned? Post away!

[JBI]

Ahem, poet's and their wives? I hadn't known that all poets were male. Either way, the only particularly superb Longfellow poem about his first wife, ironically is about her death.

You seem to suggest it is an idyllic relationship of inspiration, but we all know the relationship between Hardy and his first wife. Eliot's doesn't seem to have been much better (his first anyway), and I have seen speculation that she is the woman from The Waste Land Section 2(a).

Of course, one can look for the more successful ones - Browning and Browning, etc. But really, I think the unhappy couplings seem to have had the greater influence on poetry.

[Sapphire]

I read this a while ago, might be interesting to read for this thread:
New York Times (1882)

Of course, the love interests and wive(s) of a poet influence their work. I mean, it's the people they live with, the opinions they hear... I guess everybody who's close to them would make an impression on them and thus influence their lives (and poetry).
Had the wive not been in their life, they would have lived a different life and written different poems. Or maybe no poems at all...

It would be nice to point to a line in some ones poetry and say "that's typically his wife speaking", wouldn't it?

[JBI]

Biographer critics argue the woman speaking here from the Waste Land is Eliot's wife. I'm not sure I agree, but it's still an interesting notion to toss around in one's mind. I think all biographers agree that his first marriage was a failure.

Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still.
"My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
"Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak.
"What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
"I never know what you are thinking. Think."
I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.
"What is that noise?"
The
wind under the door.
"What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?"
Nothing
again nothing.
"Do
"You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
"Nothing?"
I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
"Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?"
But
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag -
It's so elegant
So intelligent
"What shall I do now? What shall I do?"
I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street
"With my hair down, so. What shall we do to-morrow?
"What shall we ever do?"

The hot water at ten.
And if it rains, a closed car at four.
And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

[L.M. The Third]

Ahem, poet's and their wives? I hadn't known that all poets were male. Either way, the only particularly superb Longfellow poem about his first wife, ironically is about her death.

You seem to suggest it is an idyllic relationship of inspiration, but we all know the relationship between Hardy and his first wife. Eliot's doesn't seem to have been much better (his first anyway), and I have seen speculation that she is the woman from The Waste Land Section 2(a).

Of course, one can look for the more successful ones - Browning and Browning, etc. But really, I think the unhappy couplings seem to have had the greater influence on poetry.

I mentioned some of the unhappy couplings, as well as female poets.

And "The Cross of Snow" is probably the one about the death of Logfellow's wife you were mentioning, but he did right others, such as "Footsteps of Angels" that are said to be inspired by a wife.

Lastly, I know I have a tendency toward idealism, but that's why I'm exploring this question, so I can take an informed view of the case.

[mazHur]

we must not forget Annabel lee, the pretty young wife of Edgar Allan Poe whose memory
shaped Poe's poetry.

[Eugenie]

Everyone we interact with in life helps shape us. A word here, a word there. I remember nannies and au pairs having said this or that that profoundly influenced me and what I wrote later on. As did teachers, mean or nice, friends, yes even teli.
A walk in the forest influenced me as did a walk in the huge cities.
So , it is such a mix, I cannot say for sure that a wife or husband did all that. Was it a matter of their personality being so much stronger than the poet's that he or she was influenced, was it the upset or joy of the experience, or was it little things that were done or said that set off an explosion inside the mind or heart from similar things all through the years. It is rather a vague question to me.

[mazHur]

It is not usually wives which lay a heavy impact on a poet's art but it is the affair before
marriage ( or no marriage) which plays its toll!

[Eugenie]

I think there might be great truth in that. Whatever it ultimately is, I think it is something however miniscule or large that is like a shaft to the heart and senses. Something that awakens something in us the memory either conscious or subconscious that cannot be done away with everafter, like grief or fear or joy or darkness or goodness.

[mazHur]

I think there might be great truth in that. Whatever it ultimately is, I think it is something however miniscule or large that is like a shaft to the heart and senses. Something that awakens something in us the memory either conscious or subconscious that cannot be done away with everafter, like grief or fear or joy or darkness or goodness.

about women and wives

http://oldpoetry.com/tag/show/Erotica:)

[free]

There is an interesting story about the French poet Charles Cros (a symbolist) and the Italian poetess Nina de Villard living in France at that time. She was famous for her salon where many writers and artists used to meet. He was in love with her and she was in love with him, but when he proposed to her, she got so mad that she broke their relationship. Later on, he married another woman, but was always in love with Nina.

[cacian]

There is an interesting story about the French poet Charles Cros (a symbolist) and the Italian poetess Nina de Villard living in France at that time. She was famous for her salon where many writers and artists used to meet. He was in love with her and she was in love with him, but when he proposed to her, she got so mad that she broke their relationship. Later on, he married another woman, but was always in love with Nina.

that is a devastating story.
I guess he should not have married if he was in love with someone else.

[cacian]

It is not usually wives which lay a heavy impact on a poet's art but it is the affair before
marriage ( or no marriage) which plays its toll!

are you suggesting poetry is lustreous?

[free]

that is a devastating story.
I guess he should not have married if he was in love with someone else.

I think that she was weird to refuse his marriage proposal since she was also in love with him.

[tonywalt]

Bukowski wrote quite a bit about his girlfriends - not so much his wife.