POETS Day! Stephen Crane
An adventuring war correspondent with a predilection for ladies of the night and a life-long love of dogs is endearing in our anti-hero age.
Author: Ben Sears
Ben Sears is a writer and restaurant guy in Birmingham, Alabama. He lives quite happily across from a creek with his wife, two sons, and an obligatory dog. You can follow him on Twitter and read his blog, The Columbo Game.
POETS Day! Skipwith Cannéll’s “Nocturnes”
I tried to give the new poem an unbiased look, but was bothered in the first sentence. “Iridescence” doesn’t act. It’s an effect.
POETS Day! Edward Thomas
It’s true that he didn’t enjoy writing much of what he produced, but the needs of his growing family required it of him.
POETS Day! The Author of “A Visit from St Nicholas” Again
It is not known how “A Visit from St. Nicholas” came to be published in The Troy Sentinel in December of 1823.
POETS Day! John Clare
John Clare’s reputation rises and falls. There are claimed instances of a revival, but dispersed over the years at regular intervals.
POETS Day! Richard Aldington
I’m reminded of the first principle of Imagism: “Direct treatment of the ‘thing’, whether subjective or objective.” Strip away everything, and there she is.
POETS Day! Thomas Hardy Learns About Dames
I’m not immune from the sort of self-flattery that arises when someone whose writing I respect enforces a gut felt but not fully considered opinion.
POETS Day! The Dreaded Poet Voice
The trick to a good reading of most poetry seems to be in courting but not abusing suspension of disbelief.
POETS Day! Horace: Ode III, XXX
The nose wiping comment has me thinking that Roman colloquialisms are beyond my ken, so I’m not reading as much into that as I could.
POETS Day! Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark runs right up to the edge of crossing formal sensibilities with little near heresies, but she never quite does.
POETS Day! William Faulkner’s Go at Anachronism
They are as youthful as cool spring grass. They also have the defects of youth—youth’s impatience, unsophistication and immaturity.
POETS Day! Why Is Tom Bombadil?
If you correctly type “semillon” the first result is the Wikipedia page for Tolkien’s Silmarillion. Good for Tolkien, but bad for Sauternes and trimmed sauvignon blanc.
POETS Day! Mirrors and Robert Louis Stevenson
That’s it. I just wanted to say “I don’t like change” so it had a double meaning. It’s not even a joke, really.
POETS Day! WM Praed and an Irishman
Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a respected wit and politician who died young, tuberculosis at thirty-six. There’s still a Praed Society at Eton
POETS Day! John Crowe Ransom
I like Tillinghast’s phrase: “major minor poet.” Ransom’s precise word choice and easy formalism are things of wonder.
POETS Day! At Home with Edna St Vincent Millay
I’ve had a great deal of trouble since reading that line considering anything she wrote to be genuine. That’s a frustration.
POETS Day! The Other Side of James Hogg
Wordsworth wrote that Hogg “was undoubtedly a man of original genius, but of coarse manners and low and offensive opinions.
POETS Day! Thoughts on Part IV of TS Eliot’s “Burnt Norton”
It’s not a comfortable position for me because it’s rare to be right in opposition to learned consideration.
College Football, and I Didn’t Know You Could Do That With The Game Clock
Lines Written a Few Feet Away from My Television As and After I Flipped Through College Football Games, My Alabama Bias Is Part of the Mix
POETS Day! Anthony Hecht
When Anthony Hecht’s unit liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp, he was ordered to collect stories and information. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.
