POETS Day! Some Sonnets with 14 Lines
The “little song” can be corrupted only so much.” So, a bit of liberty here or there, but don’t push it.
Author: Ben Sears
POETS Day! Comparing Apples and Rossettis
As best I can tell, this is the entirety of an unfinished poem written between 1869 and 1886 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
POETS Day! William Cowper
I can’t imagine anything more irrational than, when assured of eternal damnation, acting to immanentize that fate.
POETS Day! The Transcendent Shades Cahaba
It’s a great word so I wouldn’t blame her, but more time was spent on transcendental chapters of that text than any of the novels on the syllabus.
POETS Day! Liking Robert Browning
He thinks Browning has a point to make but is too hard to understand, is a possibility. He could be dense. The problem is that Browning wasn’t just a shower.
POETS Day! Philip Larkin and Narrative
Philip Larkin is brilliantly acerbic. He cuts cruelly because he cuts directly when mockingly describing habits and rituals of life he finds silly or undignified.
POETS Day! GK Chesterton Was a Merry Old Soul
Chesterton got roped into a production of Old King Cole and it roused his muse.
POETS Day! Arnold on Dover, Hecht on Arnold
Matthew Arnold’s literary personage stands in contrast to his father’s upright example. And then it doesn’t. And then it does again.
POETS Day! A Bit of Light Verse
What’s an otherwise famous dead English poet named Jonson to do when the Doctor hogs the name in such an un-Christian manner?
POETS Day! Kingsley Amis with a Touch of Philip Larkin
I think Kingsley Amis is also showing us something sh**** and then showing us something he thinks is sh****ier. He’s making a point.
POETS Day! Jorge Luis Borges as Translated by Richard Wilbur
What I was reading before the encounter is on the back burner for a bit, but that’s okay. I like my stints in the Borges trap.
POETS Day! Moments in The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
When you read about Langston Hughes, you see adjectives like “melodic” and “rhythmic” tossed around. “Vibrant.” They’re apt.
POETS Day! Ovid’s The Amores
Christopher Marlowe’s translation of Ovid’s “The Amores” is fantastic. I think you have to say that, or no one will take you seriously.
Spring Lamb from a Once Noisy Rock
This is a recipe for Springtime. It’s lamb shank in a white wine vegetable braise; rustic osso buco. I’m a sucker for lamb shank
POETS Day! Paul Laurence Dunbar
It was during Paul Laurence Dunbar’s time as an elevator operator that he put together “Oak and Ivy.” A lot of his sales went to regular elevator customers.
Meatballs with Sausages: Breaking the Code of Silence
This post is about making meatballs, and how grandmothers are duplicitous, self-interested, conniving, and not to be trusted.
POETS Day! The Poetry of Ninth Grade English, Revisited
William Butler Yeats, R.S. Gwynn, Ellen Kay, and other selections from ninth grade along with an admonition to not get on my lawn
POETS Day! The Rape of the Lock
This week’s poem is “The Rape of the Lock” nods at Homer, Virgil, and Milton. Like ‘American Vandal,’ it’s a true crime send up.
Refire A Classic: Deconstructed Salisbury Steak
This is not the comfort food steam table stuff. This Salisbury steak is cleaner and satisfies a different hankering.
POETS Day: Crow, by Ted Hughes
This is what you do, Ted. You will never be loved. If Hughes was cruel, he was thorough.
