Write It to the Tune of ... Poetry Contest

[YesNo]

Do days make me rush for the evening,
Routines keep me faithful and true?
Would I going out after rushing about
Give my hand opened outward to you?

When we watch our dreams slowing changing
Pretending that some might renew
All the hope that they’ve cost, even though we have lost,
I would still long to dream them with you.

I watched you smile when dreams were made
And watched you as you let each fade
To another.
No matter what we’re waiting for
It’s always less when we want more
Than each other.

Do dreams lead me far from remembering
The moments that we’re passing through?
I stop and recall that we did have it all
And be glad that I had them with you.

I watched you smile when dreams were made
And watched you as you let each fade
To another.
No matter what we’re waiting for
It’s always less when we want more
Than each other.

[Pendragon]

Well, YesNo, mon ami, I am truly sorry for the utter lack of competition here. I've tried to keep these contests fun and on track through the years, but sooner or later you ask yourself what's the use? I'm gone. I am on Facebook, Dale Harris from Atkins, VA. Look me up if you'd like!

Farewell

Pendragon

[YesNo]

Best wishes, Pendragon.

[Pompey Bum]

Just a suggestion, but how about we drop the requirement that everyone has to write thr poem/song parody to the same tune? That might get more takers.

[YesNo]

That sounds like a good idea.

[Pompey Bum]

That sounds like a good idea.

Well, let's not jump to conclusions

I am the very model of a classical grammarian;
I conjugate in languages Hellenic and barbarian;
I'm steeped in Euclid's beauty bare and Caesar's endless narratives;
I urge on in subjunctives and I order in imperatives!

He urges in subjenctives and he orders in...etc.

I am very well aquatinted, too, with Livy and Thucydides;
I'd banish all translations if I knew how to get rid o' these;
Of passive periphrastic I am teaming with a lot o' news;
With many cheerful facts about the roots of hippopotomooz!

With many cheerful facts...etc.

I know nothing of Cervantes' wit or Rabelais' urbanity;
I'm at a loss when friends discuss Raskolnikov's insanity;
Robert Browning, William Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold, and their ilk I hate;
I always thought that Trollope was a girl you wouldn't want to date!

He always thought that...etc.

When I discover what it is that Zen seeks to annihilate,
When I know more of Foucault than a freshman from Ohio State,
In short when I've a smatt'ring of modernity and all of it
You'll say, "Numquam pedagogus melior has ever gee sedit!"

You'll say, "Numquam pedagogus...etc.

For my literary knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Begins to peter out about the 12th or 13th century;
But still in things linguistical, arcane, and antiquarian
I am the very model of a classical grammarian!

But still in things linguistical, arcane, and antiquarian...etc., etc., ad nauseum

[YesNo]

I enjoyed it, especially the many lines ending in "etc" and then the final "ad nauseum". I also liked the impossible dream of knowing more about Foucault than a freshman from Ohio State.

[Melanie]

…so, are we just picking random tunes to write to and post randomly? is this still going to be a poetry contest with someonejudging/someonewinning? I'm fine either way, especially since I'm not actively participating of late…but just curious and the clarification might help others. I hope to be more active in the near future when I have more time…hopefully april.

Meanwhile, i must tell you both, mr.no and mr. bum, your entries were both superb. Mr. bum, was that to the tune of an irish pub tune? Fun. Carry on. I'm following and enjoying.

[YesNo]

I think that is what we are doing. I don't know if anyone is judging it, but perhaps there doesn't need to be a judge.

[Melanie]

I like that idea yesno…no judge and to go with any tune of one's choice. The freedom should generate more participation. All good.

[Hawkman]

Mr. bum, was that to the tune of an irish pub tune? Fun. Carry on. I'm following and enjoying.

It's Gilbert and Sullivan, Menalie, "I am the very model of a modern major-general..." from The Pirates of Penzance.

[Pompey Bum]

…so, are we just picking random tunes to write to and post randomly? is this still going to be a poetry contest with someonejudging/someonewinning? I'm fine either way, especially since I'm not actively participating of late…but just curious and the clarification might help others. I hope to be more active in the near future when I have more time…hopefully april.

Well, the decline into anarchy didn't actually produce a lot more participation. I don't care one way or another. Anyone want to organize a competition?

Meanwhile, i must tell you both, mr.no and mr. bum, your entries were both superb. Mr. bum, was that to the tune of an irish pub tune? Fun. Carry on. I'm following and enjoying.

You are too kind, Melanie. But no, the tune is only tangentially Irish in that it written by the Anglo-Irish composer Arthur Sullivan. And as Hawkman has anticipated, my verses follow lyrics by the great English lyricist, W.S. Gilbert. There is actually a minor cottage industry for poems that imitate this song--usually about one's own occupation. They're a hard (but fun) to write because Gilbert was such a master at cramming an insane number of syllables into a happy and smoothly running tune (which of course Irish pub songs do as well). I actually wrote this version several years ago (when my Greek and Latin were less rusty).

Here's Gilbert's version. He was mocking the new breed of gentleman officer, whose liberal education sometimes outshone his preparedness for military command.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wYZM__VdEjk

[Melanie]

Oh yes, I remember seeing one a few years ago from a mother's perspective to the tune of the William Tell Overture, but yours is brilliant.
I found a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE6EkAvV4-Y