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Saffron 
Masters
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Posts: 462
Gender: 
Location: Purcellville, VA
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 Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:29 am Post subject:
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Penelope wrote:
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| t is so life affirming....and death affirming....there are not many poems which are 'death' affirming. |
Penelope,
Here's the opposite sentiment from Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. Although, I'm with you and Stevenson. I think to embrace death is to embrace life.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave a close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lighting they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
A little more Stevenson for Penny & Will and everyone else:
The Flowers
All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Land's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.
Fair places, fair things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames --
These must all be fairy names!
Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!
Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all. |
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Indigo
Eligible to vote!
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 23
Gender:
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:20 pm Post subject:
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| ralphinlaos wrote: |
| I like it very much, but am not familiar with O'Hara's works; does anyone else read him? |
I posted "Why I Am Not a Painter" on page one of this thread actually.  Frank O'Hara is one of my favorite poets, although I've not read as much of him as I would like. |
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Indigo
Eligible to vote!
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 23
Gender:
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject:
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| Penelope wrote: |
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately Pleasure-Dome Decree
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns - measureless to man,
Down to a Sunless Sea.
I think this is wonderful....but....
I might be very, very wrong....but I think the poem goes downhill from here.
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Just curious--what makes you feel that way?
I can't seem to find it online, but Coleridge published an author's note with the poem, explaining that it came to him in a dream, but that he was unable to record all of it before the dream fled from his mind, so the poem remains unfinished. I had always kind of ignored this story, but we had a rather interesting discussion about it in one of my lit classes freshman year. My professor suggested that perhaps "Kubla Khan" was a poem about writing poems and the fickleness of inspiration. Something I'd never thought about before.... I always just liked the way the poem sounded when read aloud. 
Isn't that one of the best things about poetry, though, that it is meant to be read both silently and out loud, and then different things come to light in each type of reading? |
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Indigo
Eligible to vote!
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 23
Gender:
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:
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| Penelope wrote: |
| Does anyone else love Eliot's 'Prufrock'? |
I missed this when I posted about Coleridge, but I wanted to respond! I was amazed in my modern poetry class to find how much I enjoyed T. S. Eliot's work. His descriptions are so jarring and original and his moods so darkly complex. I'm quite a fan. |
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Indigo
Eligible to vote!
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 23
Gender:
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:37 pm Post subject:
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Haha okay, one more post, since we're talking about "death-affirming" poems. I'm not sure if this fits the category exactly, but it's one of my favorite poems, and certainly my favorite about death.
suppose
Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.
young death sits in a cafe
smiling, a piece of money held between
his thumb and first finger
(i say "will he buy flowers" to you
and "Death is young
life wears velour trousers
life totters, life has a beard" i
say to you who are silent.--"Do you see
Life? he is there and here,
or that, or this
or nothing or an old man 3 thirds
asleep, on his head
flowers, always crying
to nobody something about les
roses les bluets
yes,
will He buy?
Les belles bottes--oh hear
, pas cheres")
and my love slowly answered I think so. But
I think I see someone else
there is a lady, whose name is Afterwards
she is sitting beside young death, is slender;
likes flowers.
- e. e. cummings |
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Penelope
Stupendously Brilliant
Silver Contributor
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 735
Gender:
Location: Cheshire, England
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject:
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Right, I just want to impress you all!!!!
About the time that Coleridge was writing Kubla Khan...
Algernon Charles Swinburn was also writing poetry...with the romantics.
I am related to him......we share the same great great grandfather.
My great grandfather was his Uncle.....so work that one out.
I was ever so proud of my relationship to Algernon Charles...until they showed the Victorian Romantics on TV some years ago.....
It seems that he was an absolute nutter.....and a heroin addict.
Still, he did write some great poetry. So what the hell.....I am still boasting. AND - my son, Dan....the man who trains birds of prey....also writes poetry........and has done since the age of about 14 years.
AND....he has been published.
Arty Farty lot we are here in Cheshire. But my husband, Danny's Dad, is an engineer......not the least bit arty farty....despairs of us all.....
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Penelope
Stupendously Brilliant
Silver Contributor
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 735
Gender:
Location: Cheshire, England
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:17 pm Post subject:
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OOOh - Saffron - Dylan Thomas - the naughty...wonderful, gifted....
I love 'Memories of a Child's Christmas in Wales' and I have books and recordings of 'Under Milkwood' by the man himself.
We live close the the Welsh Border.....in fact we have been to Bangor in Wales today......
The Welsh are annoying.....all the roadsigns are in English and in Welsh language.......and Dylan Thomas didn't even speak Welsh.
But they are a wonderful spiritual people....in fact I believe that they are the true ancient Brits.
Do not go Gently......makes me cry....so I don't read it so often. I have a recording of Dylan Thomas reading it himself and that is just.......too much to bare too often.  |
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ralphinlaos
Intern
Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 161
Gender: 
Location: Thakhek, Laos
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:55 pm Post subject:
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Well, since we're on the subject of death and dying, I want to get this in before everyone loses interest. This is my very favorite:
RICHARD CORY
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked,
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace;
In fine we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer's night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Edwin Arlington Robinson
To be read (and remembered) whenever we feel envious of someone else.
Ralph |
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Penelope
Stupendously Brilliant
Silver Contributor
Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 735
Gender:
Location: Cheshire, England
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:56 pm Post subject:
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Oh Ralph in Laos....don't....that is a disturbing poem.
I think I prefer Yeats:
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress...
This reminds me of Kalil Gibran.....(and how often I have passed his book 'The Prophet' on to others) I do commend him.
Does anyone know the Indian poet - Rabindareth Tagore? I have, I think, all of his books. I think the word 'sublime' is a true description of his work.
But, I also think Bob Dylan's songs are poetry and I love Noel Coward....though humorous.....he helps.....to confront what we don't always wish to confront. And maybe that is why I don't care for the rest of Kubla Khan.....maybe I am still a bit too shallow.
Do you like this? Noel Coward......Englishman lampooning the English.
There are bad times just around the corner
The are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
And it's no use whining about a silver lining
'Cos we know from experience that they won't roll by...
With a scowl and a frown, We'll keep our peckers down
And look forward to misery doom and dread.....
We're going unpack our troubles from our old kitbag
And wait until we drop down dead. |
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Indigo
Eligible to vote!
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Posts: 23
Gender:
Location: Baltimore, MD
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:
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| Penelope wrote: |
| This reminds me of Kalil Gibran.....(and how often I have passed his book 'The Prophet' on to others) I do commend him. |
Since you mention it.... How's this for death-affirming as life-affirming?
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
[and near the end]
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
from "On Death," in The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran |
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