Favorite lines of poetry

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Herrjaeger, loved the poem you shared, thank you!

 

 

 

First few lines of a peculiar, lyrical portrait of a room.

 

Lamy 1.5mm,

Mix of Pelikan 4001 Brown and RK Cassia.

[PaulS]

I think it is the melancholy and rather sad tone of Houseman that appeals, and much of Shropshire Lad is similar. For my money Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard might take the prize for perfection - he wrote other material, but nothing comes within light years of the perfection of wording and balance of sentiment of his Elegy. Again, rather serious and quite melancholy reflections on life and mortality, of which there were bucketfuls in the C18 - life was hard in the extreme.

 

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,

some pious drops the closing eye requires.

 

or

 

in many a mouldering heap the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep

 

or

 

far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife (part of which was presumably filched by Hardy for his best known story).

 

In the English language, the BBC book 'The Nations Favourite Poems' (the most popular 100 poems as chosen by public vote) contains those that are known and remembered by most of us, and well worth getting.

[Carrau]

I think it is the melancholy and rather sad tone of Houseman that appeals, and much of Shropshire Lad is similar. For my money Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard might take the prize for perfection - he wrote other material, but nothing comes within light years of the perfection of wording and balance of sentiment of his Elegy. Again, rather serious and quite melancholy reflections on life and mortality, of which there were bucketfuls in the C18 - life was hard in the extreme.

 

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,

some pious drops the closing eye requires.

 

or

 

in many a mouldering heap the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep

 

or

 

far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife (part of which was presumably filched by Hardy for his best known story).

 

In the English language, the BBC book 'The Nations Favourite Poems' (the most popular 100 poems as chosen by public vote) contains those that are known and remembered by most of us, and well worth getting.

 

Our taste is undoubtedly similar, Paul. Gray’s Elegy has always been a favorite. I love how he “empties” the landscape in the first couple of stanzas, so that he can contemplate his surroundings. He sees the graves and thinks about those contained within as perhaps people who, born in a different locale, may have achieved something different:

 

Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

 

He is careful, though, not to belittle them for being farmers and swains. The famous line used by Hardy is followed by lines I love as well, they are so well written and descriptive of country life and it’s simple pleasures:

 

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;

Along the cool sequester'd vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

 

How about a bit more Houseman, this time with some uncharacteristic humor from him:

 

"Terence, this is stupid stuff:

You eat your victuals fast enough;

There can't be much amiss, 'tis clear,

To see the rate you drink your beer.

But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,

It gives a chap the belly-ache.”

 

“Why, if 'tis dancing you would be,

There's brisker pipes than poetry.

Say, for what were hop-yards meant,

Or why was Burton built on Trent?

Oh many a peer of England brews

Livelier liquor than the Muse,

And malt does more than Milton can

To justify God's ways to man.

Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink

For fellows whom it hurts to think:

Look into the pewter pot

To see the world as the world's not.

And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:

The mischief is that 'twill not last.”

 

 

I particularly enjoy the memorable couplet invoking Paradise Lost, which is witty in the sense of Alexander Pope. Instead of his characteristic melancholy, this one is brimming with satire and irony. It’s interesting to me, that he wrote about country and small town English life, yet spent his life in the rarefied world of a Latin scholar. Reading anything by Houseman, Gray, or Hardy connects me with the feeling elicited by RV Williams’ music, as well. It’s as if he were composing the soundtrack for their writing. Of course, Butterworth actually did this in his song cycle A Shropshire Lad, a sample of which follows:

 

https://youtu.be/5U8z97pU_Gs

[ardene]

My favourite poem:

 

Ithaka

BY C. P. CAVAFY

TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

------ *** -------

That's what it looks like in the original.

Ιθάκη

Κ. Π. Καβάφης

Σα βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη,

να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος,

γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις.

Τους Λαιστρυγόνας και τους Κύκλωπας,

τον θυμωμένο Ποσειδώνα μη φοβάσαι,

τέτοια στον δρόμο σου ποτέ σου δεν θα βρεις,

αν μέν’ η σκέψις σου υψηλή, αν εκλεκτή

συγκίνησις το πνεύμα και το σώμα σου αγγίζει.

Τους Λαιστρυγόνας και τους Κύκλωπας,

τον άγριο Ποσειδώνα δεν θα συναντήσεις,

αν δεν τους κουβανείς μες στην ψυχή σου,

αν η ψυχή σου δεν τους στήνει εμπρός σου.

Να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος.

Πολλά τα καλοκαιρινά πρωιά να είναι

που με τι ευχαρίστησι, με τι χαρά

θα μπαίνεις σε λιμένας πρωτοειδωμένους·

να σταματήσεις σ’ εμπορεία Φοινικικά,

και τες καλές πραγμάτειες ν’ αποκτήσεις,

σεντέφια και κοράλλια, κεχριμπάρια κ’ έβενους,

και ηδονικά μυρωδικά κάθε λογής,

όσο μπορείς πιο άφθονα ηδονικά μυρωδικά·

σε πόλεις Aιγυπτιακές πολλές να πας,

να μάθεις και να μάθεις απ’ τους σπουδασμένους.

Πάντα στον νου σου νάχεις την Ιθάκη.

Το φθάσιμον εκεί είν’ ο προορισμός σου.

Aλλά μη βιάζεις το ταξείδι διόλου.

Καλλίτερα χρόνια πολλά να διαρκέσει·

και γέρος πια ν’ αράξεις στο νησί,

πλούσιος με όσα κέρδισες στον δρόμο,

μη προσδοκώντας πλούτη να σε δώσει η Ιθάκη.

Η Ιθάκη σ’ έδωσε τ’ ωραίο ταξείδι.

Χωρίς αυτήν δεν θάβγαινες στον δρόμο.

Άλλα δεν έχει να σε δώσει πια.

Κι αν πτωχική την βρεις, η Ιθάκη δεν σε γέλασε.

Έτσι σοφός που έγινες, με τόση πείρα,

ήδη θα το κατάλαβες η Ιθάκες τι σημαίνουν.

[PaulS]

thanks for the Butterworth link Herrjaeger - agree we seem to be a couple of old codgers with similar taste - RV Williams and Elgar are very complimentary when compared to this reflective poetry Probably rather obvious I suppose but life's hardships in former centuries seems to have been the driving force that created much of the monumental poetry that many of us now quote. Seems we need to have our backs against the wall in order for the creative juices to flow with originality. Nothing quite like man at the mercy of life to spout some good lines - though Dylan Thomas used booze instead and got the same effect.

 

Like ardene's homage to a journey through the Ionian Sea (at least that's how I think it reads) - a simple and humble wording which is how poetry should be.

[ardene]

 

 

 

Like ardene's homage to a journey through the Ionian Sea (at least that's how I think it reads) - a simple and humble wording which is how poetry should be.

 

 

It's about purposes in life and homecoming. Odysseus -Ulysses is the Latin version of the name- had a number of adventures in his attempt to return home to Ithaca from Troy.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

The gems I find in my anthology...

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[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Super famous verses, and for good reason. Listen to the musicality of the lines.

 

Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black.

[PaulS]

truly magical - thanks for posting that first verse. In the Penguin p.b. that I mentioned earlier, I forget now exactly where in the 100 favourite poems this one occurs, but for my money it beats hands down Kipling's 'If', which in fact took the No. 1 slot, not that I'm against Kipling, who of course wrote vastly more than Gray, who is of course remembered for a lot more than just poetry.

[ajoe]

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Magical verses, very evocative and emotional.

 

 

J. Herbin 1670 Anniversaire Rouge Hematite.

[ajoe]

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

First stanza of the spooky "Windigo."

 

Pilot Pluminix F,

Diamine Asa Blue.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

By the great Sir Walter Scott.

 

 

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Cult Pens Deep Dark Purple.

[AlohaLani787]

From Edgar A. Guest: (Montblanc Violet de Cobalt, OBB nib)

 

 

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Pilot Pluminix F,

Diamine Asa Blue.

 

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Let's go back to the Poet Laureate today. Tennyson received heavy criticism in youth and studied his predecessors assidously to sharpen his technique. Let's be as tenacious as he was.

 

Pilot Pluminix F,

Diamine Asa Blue.

[PaulS]

it's good to air lesser known works, whether from Poets Laureate or just the bloke who lives further up the street - have to say I'm not a great fan of Mr. T. and definitely not aware of this one - but of course that is to miss the point that poetry is all things to all men/women, and diversity is the name of the game.

In the U.K. at least and to the non-poetry reading public in general, this particular scrivener is notably remembered for his 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and, perhaps even more popular 'The Lady of Shalott'. At the time of writing the 'Charge' , he gained much popularity from the working classes ……. they saw his tale as support for what was even then seen as a massive balls up by the higher ranks for a very bad piece of military strategy that cost dearly the lives of so many soldiers.

Perhaps to escape the mundane and the drudgery of life there seems to have been much keenness in the second half of the C19, in the artistic world, to create fantasy - the Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his pals, and Tennyson too. Have to say I lack the stamina to read some of the longer poems in this Medieval vein, such as 'Lancelot and Elaine', Guinevere' and 'The Coming of Arthur', plus similar tales in the twelve books which form the 'Idylls of the King'

Oddly, perhaps, he has been given an airing in a recent popular English dialogue film (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), where part of his 'Ulysses' is offered up in support of meeting life's problems etc. - part of which runs:-

 

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honoured of them all;

And drunk delight with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'

Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!

As tho' to breathe were life. Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things ………………… etc,

Edited September 16, 2018 by PaulS

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Sometimes it's the simple things..

 

Wing Sung 618 (over-saturated feed so don't expect Matador to always look like this please),

Diamine Matador.

 

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

Lovely nostalgic poem.

 

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