Poetry

[Padraig]

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Padraig - to delete a post :

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I think that's it - give it a try!

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I think you're right,v. Thank you.

[johncorrigan]

I think you're right,v. Thank you.

I hope you'll re-post the poem, Padraig - I found it very moving. I liked the use of Emily's dashes!

[Padraig]

I hope you'll re-post the poem, Padraig - I found it very moving. I liked the use of Emily's dashes!

I did not intend to clear the board, John. I'll get on to it right away. Give me an hour or so!

[Padraig]

Observer 06.06.21

George 1.8.19 - 1.8.19

how should we think of you - dear nephew
except in your entirety
you were not the small hook of a life
which didn't latch - nor the spark from a flint
which didn't ignite - nor the unwanted creature

smoked out of its burrow
you were complete and ready
arriving into the room
an already past-tense thing - lost before
you found your way into the ward

George - I'll tell you
what you'll never get to know
we think we're safe - we think ourselves secure
but life sometimes short-circuits - nature
comes knocking at the door

Andrew McMillan

'Emily's dashes' were necessary to keep the original spacing within the lines of the poem.

[Padraig]

The Unknown Citizen


(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

W. H. Auden - 1907-1973. 1939

Something I often read here keeps reminding me of this poem, which I thought was very modern and audacious when I first read it in the 50s.

[johncorrigan]

The Unknown Citizen


When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.


W. H. Auden - 1907-1973. 1939

Something I often read here keeps reminding me of this poem, which I thought was very modern and audacious when I first read it in the 50s.

That is a brilliant line in a great poem, Padraig. I must make a point of reading more W.H.Auden.

[Bella Kemp]

Thank you Padraig. The more I read of Auden the more I realise how much he helps us to understand.

[Padraig]

https://poets.org/poem/donal-og

This version of the poem Donal Og is the source for shorter versions, as a song, by various artists. You can hear the song on Irish Fridays.

[Padraig]

Whispered At The Church Opening

In the bran-new pulpit the bishop stands
And gives out his text, as his gaze expands
To the people, the aisles, the roof's new frame,
And the arches, and ashlar with coloured bands.

" Why - he's the man," says one, " who came
To preach in my boyhood - a fashion then -
In a series of sermons to working- men
On week-day evenings, a novelty
Which brought better folk to hear and see.
They preached each one each week, by request:
Some were eloquent speakers, among the best
Of the lot being this, as all confessed."

" I remember now. And reflection brings
Back one in especial, sincerest of all;
Whose words, though unpicked, gave the essence of things; -
And where is he now, whom I well recall? "

" Oh, he'd no touches of tactic skill:
His mind ran on charity and good will:
He's but as he was, a vicar still."

Thomas Hardy from Winter Words 1928

[LMcD]

I must thank the new host of 'Countdown' for reminding me that Philip Larkin was born 99 years ago today.
It so happens that my 2 favourite poems are both about trains - one being 'The Whitsun Weddings' and the other 'Adlestrop'.
During a recent trip to Yorkshire I took time out to photograph the sculpture of Larkin in Hull Paragon station. A couple of days later somebody had thoughtfully provided him with a mask.
I've never quite forgiven Jane Laportaire for Bowdlerizing the poem about parents during a fund-raising evening for a local charity.

[jayne lee wilson]

At my mother's funeral in 2018, I asked the celebrant to read "Cut Grass" and "The Trees" by Larkin, in between slow movements from Bach's Brandenburgs...

It made a lovely effect, haunting yet soothing, as we contemplated the fields, graves and trees outside....

[LMcD]

At my mother's funeral in 2018, I asked the celebrant to read "Cut Grass" and "The Trees" by Larkin, in between slow movements from Bach's Brandenburgs...

It made a lovely effect, haunting yet soothing, as we contemplated the fields, graves and trees outside....

'The Trees'is indeed a truly beautiful poem, which I always remember as Spring gets under way.
I have to confess that a lot of Larkin is far too difficult for me to even attempt to grasp, but some poems, such as 'Church Going', 'Going Going', 'Ambulances', 'An Arundel Tomb' with its memorable last line, and 'MCMXVIII' (have I got that right - it features in 'The History Boys') resonated the first time I read them.
(I mentioned Larkin to our tour manager in Yorkshire, and she said, yes, she'd read about the remake of the tv series (by which she meant The Darling Buds of May)

[Padraig]

[QUOTE=LMcD;857472
It so happens that my 2 favourite poems are both about trains - one being 'The Whitsun Weddings' and the other 'Adlestrop'.[/QUOTE]

One for your collection, McD.

Faintheart In A Railway Train

At nine in the morning there passed a church,
At ten there passed me by the sea,
At twelve a town of smoke and smirch
At two a forest of oak and birch,
And then, on a platform, she:

A radiant stranger, who saw not me.
I said, " Get out to her do I dare? "
But I kept my seat in my search for a plan,
And the wheels moved on. O could it but be
That I had alighted there!

Thomas Hardy from Late Lyrics and Earlier 1922

[Ein Heldenleben]

'The Trees'is indeed a truly beautiful poem, which I always remember as Spring gets under way.
I have to confess that a lot of Larkin is far too difficult for me to even attempt to grasp, but some poems, such as 'Church Going', 'Going Going', 'Ambulances', 'An Arundel Tomb' with its memorable last line, and 'MCMXVIII' (have I got that right - it features in 'The History Boys') resonated the first time I read them.
(I mentioned Larkin to our tour manager in Yorkshire, and she said, yes, she'd read about the remake of the tv series (by which she meant The Darling Buds of May)

I think it’s MCMXIV - 1914 . If I remember the poem is about innocence and joining up. You’re right all those poems are masterpieces - particularly An Arundel Tomb .

[LMcD]

One for your collection, McD.

Faintheart In A Railway Train

At nine in the morning there passed a church,
At ten there passed me by the sea,
At twelve a town of smoke and smirch
At two a forest of oak and birch,
And then, on a platform, she:

A radiant stranger, who saw not me.
I said, " Get out to her do I dare? "
But I kept my seat in my search for a plan,
And the wheels moved on. O could it but be
That I had alighted there!

Thomas Hardy from Late Lyrics and Earlier 1922

Thank you - I've just purchased Hardy's complete poems for my desktop Kindle so that I can reacquaint myself with them. Another of his railway poems was of course set by Britten - 'Midnight On the Great Western'. I recently read Claire Tomalin's excellent biography of Hardy. I get the impression that she sees him as a poet who also happened to write novels.