Book Nook Cafe discussion

Please share your favorite poems here. Heard any poetry news? Let us know. Heard of some new poetry books? Do tell !

Post here about all poetry !

Today I read a short blog post dealing with a poem by Christina Rosetti that I thought Deb would be interested in.

Here's the link at http://interestingliterature.com/2016...

Thank you, Shomeret. I liked what i read. Often I'm leery when a contemporary reevaluates old poems with what are "today's eyes" but this one seems quite adept at it. One wonders if these observations were in Rosetti's mind at the time. I'd really like to think so but don't know enough about her to be certain.

Regardless, it's a good piece, enhancing a poem i'd previously not given much thought. I'm always tickled when that happens.

On this day in 1845, “The Raven” was published in the New York Evening Mirror. It obviously follows that we should bring you a recording of Christopher Walken reading Poe’s poem.

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/20...

"The Raven" is one of the first poems i heard read. My aunt read it from an old American Lit book my mom had from high school. Spooky to a 10 year old. It hooked me on Poe. In that book he was named as one of 3 American Genius poets. The other two were Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.

I'm not in love with the Walken version but the music 1/3 into it added a neat element...then, it was gone. Years and years ago i heard actor Jack Palance read it. Chilling. His voice was perfect for it.

I find Walken scary so I was attracted to his version.

LOL--i can see that. Usually i expect a threatening voice with this poem, which is curious since it was my aunt who introduced me to it. Maybe her voice, taking on a scarier tone as she read, led me to that expectation? Walken is a good choice, even better, i suspect for one of Poe's other poem's my aunt read that day, "Annabelle Lee". Kinda scary but one can imagine the love with his voice.

Happy Birthday to Edna St.vincent Millay !



BIRTHDAY February 22, 1892
BIRTHPLACE Maine
DEATH DATE Oct 19, 1950 (age 58)


ABOUT
Became the third woman to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1923 for her work The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver.

BEFORE FAME
By the time she was fifteen, she was already having her prose published in magazines such as St. Nicholas, The Camden Herald, and the anthology Current Literature.

TRIVIA
Her poem Renascence was entered in The Lyric Year, a poetry content that evidently deemed her poem the fourth place finisher. It was believed among everyone, including the winners ahead of her, that her poem should have won.

FAMILY LIFE
She had two sisters named Norma Lounella and Kathleen Kalloch.

ASSOCIATED WITH
Richard Wilbur believed her sonnets to be some of the best of the 20th century.

deb, as you are a fellow May Sarton fan, when I saw this I had to share with you. :)

I could not agree more about that! The things i say now would never leave my mind even 15 years ago. Thanks, Alias.

:)

deb, you posted about May Sarton recently, so I posted the above photo/quote. It's funny how one suddenly sees something all over the place once it is mentioned.

Today I was reading the NY Times Book Review. In a review of the book, Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things That Matter by Diana Athill Sarton is mentioned. :)

The review in part:

More a series of ruminations than a memoir, Alive, Alive Oh! and other things that matter serve as a companion volume to Somewhere Towards the End an invitation to sit a spell with an intractable and witty friend who's pushed even further into what the poet May Sarton termed the "foreign country of old age."

Isn't it terrific when that happens? I think someone here mentioned the Athill book on this board. Or am i wrong? I remember looking it up on GR and making note of it.

It's not often I read a novel that contains poetry. However, my current read, The Summer Before the War does. So I thought I would share it with you.

Ode On Solitude

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.

Whose heards with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me dye;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye.

~~~ Alexander Pope

Here is a youtube reading

"Ode on Solitude" by Alexander Pope (read by Tom O'Bedlam)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X-ma...

I don't think that is the voice i associated with the poem. Interesting, i think i expected a peppy, upbeat voice, one of vigor. But the sexy one makes me want to rush there! ;-)

Another poem from the book I am currently reading.
The Summer Before the War

YouTube reading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrVgo...


1914

War broke: and now the Winter of the world
With perishing great darkness closes in.
The foul tornado, centred at Berlin,
Is over all the width of Europe whirled,
Rending the sails of progress. Rent or furled
Are all Art's ensigns. Verse wails. Now begin
Famines of thought and feeling. Love's wine's thin.
The grain of human Autumn rots, down-hurled.

For after Spring had bloomed in early Greece,
And Summer blazed her glory out with Rome,
An Autumn softly fell, a harvest home,
A slow grand age, and rich with all increase.
But now, for us, wild Winter, and the need
Of sowings for new Spring, and blood for seed.

~~~~ Wilfred Owen

It's sad to read good poetry from one who died during a war. It seems WWI had more than its share of soldiers who wrote impressive poetry. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Book Buzz: Poetry makes its mark on the list

Rui Ellie Miao and Mary Cadden, USA TODAY

milk and honey by Rupi Kaur


Milk and Honey stirs: Books of poetry are rare on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list so when Milk and Honey, a debut collection of poetry and prose by Rupi Kaur, makes the top 50 for not one, but three weeks, it’s a big deal. For perspective, the last time a collection of poems appeared in the top 50 was in 2011 when Shel Silverstein’s Every Thing On It debuted at No. 11.

Originally published in October of 2015, the book first cracked the top 150 in March and has steadily climbed the best-seller list before reaching its current rank, No. 34. "Obviously we are thrilled," says Kirsty Melville, president and publisher of Andrews McMeel Publishing, "It is one of those books that is selling by word of mouth."

And what is that word of mouth? "Rupi's poetry resonates with how young women, really all women, feel. It speaks to them in a way where they want to share with each other." And while it is the form that helps, "its simple and short and speaks to them," says Melville, "the message is stronger."

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing the article, Alias.

I was hoping you would see the post on Milk and Honey, deb.

It's terrific that a poetry book is on the NY Times Bestseller list.

Though I am not a big poetry person, I will keep an eye out for it at my library's new book shelf.

I've been reading some of the poems from this book which are offered online. Here the author is reading one of her own poems, "did you think i was a city"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxdG...

"I am not the whisky you want i'm the water you need."

madrano wrote: "I've been reading some of the poems from this book which are offered online. Here the author is reading one of her own poems, "did you think i was a city"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxdG3P..."

Wow ! I love to hear authors read their work.

I can see why her poetry speaks to so many.

madrano wrote: "I've been reading some of the poems from this book which are offered online. Here the author is reading one of her own poems, "did you think i was a city"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxdG3P..."

I love it! Thanks for sharing.

I'm glad you both appreciated it. There were a couple of videos with her but that was one i particularly liked.

Lucia Perrillo
1958-2016
Poet, author and Pulitzer Prize finalist

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

Julie wrote: "Lucia Perrillo
1958-2016
Poet, author and Pulitzer Prize finalist

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem..."

Thanks for sharing. So sad. Still so young. :(

Julie, I can't link to the page today (internet issues) but I read a poem by her soon after her death. It was about the day she learned about her MS diagnosis. It was very special. Thanks to your link i'll be able to read more.

Full poem
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/still-...

These are the best lines, imo. I first heard this poem in the Queen Latifa film Beauty Shop. As i recall it was Alfre Woodard's character who recited it. That was almost as good as hearing Maya Angelou read it herself.

I think someone mentioned this earlier on the thread but it is worth repeating. The poetry of World War I is so poignant that it lives on and on even though today many people don't know a lot about that war. Additionally, many of those young poets were killed in the trenches which just adds to the sadness. One of my favorite poems from that era (and I have many) is the following:

In Flanders Fields, by John McRae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Jill wrote: "I think someone mentioned this earlier on the thread but it is worth repeating. The poetry of World War I is so poignant that it lives on and on even though today many people don't know a lot about..."

Thank you for sharing that, Jill. It's very poignant.

Great poem. Thanks for reminding us of it, Jill.

Thus the poppies that are worn on Remembrance Day.

I thought so but wasn't sure. We used to watch Prime Minister's Question Time weekly and when November rolled around, it was a great reminder seeing the politicians wearing the poppies. I knew it was for Remembrance Day but wasn't sure which came first, the poem or the donning of the poppies.

The poem came first. The author was a physician who saw his best friend killed and wrote this in his memory but also in memory of all who died in that horrible war.

Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919,[1] the day is also marked by war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. ("At the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am.) The First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.[2]

The memorial evolved out of Armistice Day, which continues to be marked on the same date. The initial Armistice Day was observed at Buckingham Palace, commencing with King George V hosting a "Banquet in Honour of the President of the French Republic"[3] during the evening hours of 10 November 1919. The first official Armistice Day was subsequently held on the grounds of Buckingham Palace the following morning.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields" written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. After reading the poem, Moina Michael, a professor at the University of Georgia, wrote the poem, "We Shall Remember," and swore to wear a red poppy on the anniversary. The custom spread to Europe and the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth within three years. Madame Anne E. Guerin tirelessly promoted the practice in Europe and the British Empire. In the UK Major George Howson fostered the cause with the support of General Haig. Poppies were worn for the first time at the 1921 anniversary ceremony. At first real poppies were worn. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I; their brilliant red colour became a symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

Here in the U.S.
United States

Veterans Day is observed in the United States on 11 November, and is both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states. However, the function of the observance elsewhere is more closely matched by Memorial Day in May. In the United States, and some other allied nations, 11 November was formerly known as Armistice Day; in the United States it was given its new name in 1954 at the end of the Korean War to honor all veterans. Veterans Day is observed with memorial ceremonies, salutes at military cemeteries, and parades.

See link to see how other countries celebrate this day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembr...

Thank you, Jill, for the reply. It makes sense.

I vaguely recall Kurt Vonnegut using the "11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" in one of his novels. It set the date in my mind clearly. I can't recall the novel but would suspect it was Slaughterhouse-Five. Thanks for the additional info, Alias.

I was reading something and this poem came to my mind. Seems a fitting poem to end a disappointing 2016 and the start of 2017.


The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

~~~~ W. B. Yeats

Wiki
"The Second Coming" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats in 1919, first printed in The Dial in November 1920,
The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War[3] and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence that followed the Easter Rising, at a time when the British government was preparing to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland. Yeats used the phrase "the second birth" instead of "the Second Coming" in his first drafts.[4]
See more at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sec...

Outstanding poem. I know of two books that took their titles from this poem. The first is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, set in Africa. The second is not an exact wording, Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. Both are interesting books.

Thanks for putting the poem in context of this year, Alias. Well noted.

madrano wrote: The second is not an exact wording, Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion.

I've never read Didion. I am putting Slouching on my TBR list. I see from a check on Amazon that she puts the Yeats poem on the first page. Thanks for the recommending it.

Maybe I'll make a new years resolution to memorize the poem. I've always like the idea of memorizing poetry but never managed to do it. We shall see. ;)

Great poem Alias.

Ditto on memorizing poems. I think the last time i did it was 7 or 8 years ago. So much for that plan. This is the poem i memorized...

So I Said I Am Ezra
by A.R. Ammons

So I said I am Ezra
and the wind whipped my throat
gaming for the sounds of my voice
I listened to the wind
go over my head and up into the night
Turning to the sea I said
I am Ezra
but there were no echoes from the waves
The words were swallowed up
in the voice of the surf
or leaping over the swells
lost themselves oceanward
Over the bleached and broken fields
I moved my feet and turning from the wind
that ripped sheets of sand
from the beach and threw them
like seamists across the dunes
swayed as if the wind were taking me away
and said
I am Ezra
As a word too much repeated
falls out of being
so I Ezra went out into the night
like a drift of sand
and splashed among the windy oats
that clutch the dunes
of unremembered seas

Can you still recite it after all these years, deb ?

I can't even recall where I put my keys. So my hopes for poetry memorizing is slim.

When the new year starts I have all kinds of crazy "This year I Will" ideas. LOL. So far it's add jump rope to my exercise program, learn to knit, learn to play the piano keyboard, memorize The Second Coming poem and read 52 books.

Pretty good list, Alias. Learning new skills is something i've enjoyed doing in the past. In almost every case, after i learned the mechanics, i stopped. I think i just like the idea of learning a new activity. Knitting is one--i completed two projects and stopped. It just didn't call to me. Crochet, cross-stitch, macrame, candlemaking and on. In most cases i finished one or two projects, then never picked them up again. The only exception is candle making. Weird.

I can recite most of the poem to this day, Alias. The middle is where i get muddled. Curse those bleached and broken fields! :-)

madrano wrote: I can recite most of the poem to this day, Alias. The middle is where i get muddled. Curse those bleached and broken fields! :-) ..."

Good for you.

I was just talking to my sister the other day on the topic of memory. Both of us have horrible memories.

I noted that when it's set to music we remember. I gave her a few TV jingles and she of course knew them even though for some we never purchased the product or seen the commercial in some time.

For example. "Like a good neighbor......."
State Farm is there.

Snap , craclkle, pop ......
- rice crispies

"My balogna has a first name it O-s-c-a-r, My balogna has a second name it M-a-y-e-r Oh I love to eat it every day And if you ask my why I'lll saaaaaaay, Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with B-o-l-o-g-n-aaaaaaaaa"
Oscar Mayer

And yet I can't recall the daily things I want and need to remember ! I think my hard drive brain needs it's files cleaned up. ;)

On a serious note, I read an article that said Alzheimer patients frequently can recall songs from their youth. There is something about music that stores the info differently in our brains or maybe it stores them in more than one place.

I vaguely recall reading years ago that some very smart people put info they want to remember into a melody they already knew. It helped them years after the tests they were designed to aid were over.

My memory isn't great but, frankly, i used to not much care. Now that it's fading, i care more & can actually remember more than i thought. Um...where was i headed with this paragraph?...er....oh! However, the fact that i can remember the words to songs not heard for decades amazes me. In my teens i heard the song "Remember Me" by an Italian singer only a few times but i can still remember the darned lyrics! Why??

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/ri...

madrano wrote: "I vaguely recall reading years ago that some very smart people put info they want to remember into a melody they already knew. It helped them years after the tests they were designed to aid were ov..."

It is a odd quirk.

This article seems to think it has to do with repetition.
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/1...

Here is another interesting article on the topic.
I forgot that TV show called Name That Tune.
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedail...

Here is another one that answers a question I've often wondered about.
Why Do We Remember Countless Song Lyrics, But Not Our Studies?
https://figureoneblog.wordpress.com/2...

Alias Reader wrote: "Oddly, reading lyrics didn’t improve respondents’ accuracy in generating additional lyrics — and even hearing music and lyrics together didn’t help respondents predict the next part of the melody or lyrics better than music and lyrics alone...."

Actually, this quote is from the second article to which Alias linked. I quote it because this describes my mother well. She seemed to know the first line of almost every song she had ever heard but no more. Truly, it was seldom she could remember more than the first line (or, sometimes, the refrain). The hours i spent making fun of her is embarrassing. Even today, i try my Very Best to not sing a line from a song unless i know more than one line, lest i turn into my mom. lol

That was a bit off topic. On Topic, i find it interesting that others are as intrigued as we are about this. Who would have suspected studies were made of these? Well, i suppose educators funded them, hoping to find ways to reach more students. Thanks for sharing, Alias.

madrano wrote: Well, i suppose educators funded them, hoping to find ways to reach more students. Thanks for sharing, Alias. ."

You're welcome. Your comment about education made me think of School House Rocks and how they put history and multiplication tables to music.

Schoolhouse Rock: Multiplication - My Hero, Zero Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3huvv...

Elementary, My Dear Schoolhouse Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AilDz...

Schoolhouse Rock: Grammar - Conjunction Junction Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPoBE...

I should put this one on the Presidential thread. :)
Animaniacs - Presidents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy0w...

I was too old by the time the Schoolhouse series began but can still recall the "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?" tune.

This is the first time i've seen the Animaniacs video on Presidents. All sorts of inaccuracies but that's not really the point. Clever idea. Thanks for that smile-inducer, Alias.