Clik here to view.
"A Glimpse Of Immaculate Sand That Awaits Our Footprints"
Louis MacNeice's and Seamus Heaney's like-titled poems "The Strand" reminded me of the closing image of a lovely poem by Michael Longley, who has written many fine poems that are set along the margins...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"The Voice Of The Wind In The Night"
At this time of year, the wind often keens in the night. A cold wind out of the north Pacific, Alaska, and Siberia. And, occasionally, a warm wind out of the central Pacific, bringing heavy rain....
View ArticleClik here to view.
"He Tries To Climb The Wall Around The World"
I suppose that all of us have a Romantic streak in us. I am not speaking of "romantic" in the Hollywood-Valentine's Day sense. Rather, I am thinking of the Wordsworth-Keats-Bronte sort of Romanticism...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"You Like It Under The Trees In Autumn, Because Everything Is Half Dead"
The line "He likes the half-hid, the half-heard, the half-lit" in A. S. J. Tessimond's "Portrait of a Romantic" got me to thinking of a poem by Wallace Stevens. Given his belief that Imagination is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Walls
In "Portrait of a Romantic" (which I posted earlier this week), A. S. J. Tessimond describes a Romantic as one who "tries to climb the wall around the world." This image reminded me of a poem by C. P....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life As A Work Of Art, Part Three: "The Prologue Often, And Then No Play"
The theme of this series of posts is the poetic conceit that life is akin to a work of art. Perhaps the best-known instance of the conceit is the passage from Shakespeare's As You Like It: "All the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life As A Work Of Art, Part Four: "Heroes Of The Sub-Plot"
If Life is indeed a drama or comedy in which we are actors, I will hazard a guess that most of us see ourselves as the leading man or the leading lady in the entertainment. James Simmons's poem...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life As A Work Of Art, Part Five: "Grand Opera"
I have a confession to make. A confession that does not reflect well on me at all. Here it is: I have never been able to develop an appreciation for opera.For this bit of cultural ignorance, I beg...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"The End Of The Opera"
In my previous post, I confessed my cultural blind spot with respect to opera. I then remembered the following poem by Howard Nemerov, which makes me wish (wistfully) that I had a greater appreciation...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life Explained, Part Thirty: "The Human Condition"
Howard Nemerov's "The End of the Opera," which appeared in my previous post, may prompt one to think about the relationship between Life and Art, between the real and the imagined. (Warning to self:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"A Way Of Looking"
It is difficult to look at (or to see) the World without bringing yourself (or, your Self) into the activity. There are two ways (at least) in which this interference takes place. First, our minds...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"Not Ideas About The Thing But The Thing Itself"
Any exploration of how we look at (or see) the World should include a visit to the poetry of Wallace Stevens. For Stevens, a life well-lived is one in which there is a continual back-and-forth between...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blackthorn
Poets are wont to write about the blackthorn as it begins to bloom in late winter or early spring, particularly in connection with the chill winds that accompany the turning of the year. Straddling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blackthorn, Revisited
Charles Tomlinson is a close observer of the natural world, and his descriptions of that world are both precise and illuminating. The title of one of his earliest collections is Seeing Is Believing,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"The River Of Rivers In Connecticut"
My recent series of posts about looking at, or seeing, the World got me to thinking about one of my favorite poems. The poem is by Wallace Stevens, whose "Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"The Year's Awakening"
Perhaps I am rushing things, but any day now I expect to see the first crocus of the year. I know nothing about the movement of the spheres, but I have been watching as, week by week, the sun has been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter Into Spring, Part One: "Last Hours"
In my previous post, I noted the imminent arrival of the crocus. However, as I suggested, perhaps I shouldn't be too impatient. All in good time.This shoulder season of winter into spring does have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter Into Spring, Part Two: "Late Snow"
J. C. Squire (1884-1958) is now known (if at all) as a traditionalist who was opposed to the project of literary "modernism." Whether that reputation is blameworthy or praiseworthy depends upon what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter Into Spring, Part Three: "Thaw"
Edward Thomas wrote four four-line poems: "In Memoriam (Easter, 1915)," "The Cherry Trees," "When he should laugh," and "Thaw." "Thaw," as one might expect, fits well with my recent theme of Winter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four-Line Poems, Part One: "Things To Come"
My previous post, which included two four-line poems by Edward Thomas and Michael Longley, got me to thinking about four-line poems in general. There are, in fact, quite a few fine quatrain poems in...
View Article
