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Post by cato on Aug 10, 2018 12:42:22 GMT
To quote our beloved Health minister "O make it stop!"
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Post by cato on May 23, 2019 18:01:44 GMT
Has any one read the Australian poet Les Murray ? Rod Dreher at the American Conservative has been giving him a plug. I picked up a copy of his New collected poems today.
Towards 2000
As that monster the Twentieth Century Sheds its leathers and chains , it will cry
Automatic weapons ! I shot at Millions and they died. I kept doing it,
But most not ruled by uniforms are well In the end. And cool replaced noble.
Nearly every black-and -white Historic figure Will look compromised by their haircut and cigarette.....
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Post by Séamus on May 24, 2019 11:54:14 GMT
Has any one read the Australian poet Les Murray ? Rod Dreher at the American Conservative has been giving him a plug. I picked up a copy of his New collected poems today. Towards 2000 As that monster the Twentieth Century Sheds its leathers and chains , it will cry Automatic weapons ! I shot at Millions and they died. I kept doing it, But most not ruled by uniforms are well In the end. And cool replaced noble. Nearly every black-and -white Historic figure Will look compromised by their haircut and cigarette..... He would sometimes be quoted in the more conservative Australian publications but, as often happens, his importance to the country only came out of the woodwork at his recent death. One magazine- Quadrant- that I've often heard of, but never seen, keeps up things like poetry in Australia apparently. Perth stores are more likely to stock papers from other countries. Speaking of which, International Express prints a weekly FORGOTTEN VERSE column, a requested poem or ballad, the latest being 'The Plough Boy'(Peter Pears/Benjamin Britten)
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 24, 2019 11:57:21 GMT
I haven't read him, but I do like that poem.
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Post by Séamus on May 30, 2019 2:42:13 GMT
Has any one read the Australian poet Les Murray ? Rod Dreher at the American Conservative has been giving him a plug. I picked up a copy of his New collected poems today. Towards 2000 As that monster the Twentieth Century Sheds its leathers and chains , it will cry Automatic weapons ! I shot at Millions and they died. I kept doing it, But most not ruled by uniforms are well In the end. And cool replaced noble. Nearly every black-and -white Historic figure Will look compromised by their haircut and cigarette..... Prose is Protestant-agnostic, Story,discussion,significance, But poetry is Catholic: poetry is presence A young man has claimed that this four-lined poem,called Distinguo,by Murray eventually led to his conversion to Catholicism. Benjamin Drake of Brisbane had already decided on Christianity,becoming an adult convert Presbyterian,before his mother's love of Murray and Manley Hopkins led to this.
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Post by cato on May 24, 2021 11:34:56 GMT
Can anyone recommend a modern general introduction to the genre of poetry? I have Aristotle! I am not looking for an anthology but a good primer as our American cousins would say.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 24, 2021 12:03:59 GMT
Can anyone recommend a modern general introduction to the genre of poetry? I have Aristotle! I am not looking for an anthology but a good primer as our American cousins would say. I can't think of one. An Apology for Poetry by Sir Philip Sidney and A Defence of Poetry by Shelley seem to have attained classic status, but neither is modern-- except in comparison to Aristotle. I can't think of anything more recent.
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Post by cato on May 24, 2021 14:20:43 GMT
Can anyone recommend a modern general introduction to the genre of poetry? I have Aristotle! I am not looking for an anthology but a good primer as our American cousins would say. I can't think of one. An Apology for Poetry by Sir Philip Sidney and A Defence of Poetry by Shelley seem to have attained classic status, but neither is modern-- except in comparison to Aristotle. I can't think of anything more recent. Thanks Maolsheachlann. Of course historians define modern as post 16th century.....
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 25, 2021 1:27:37 GMT
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Post by cato on May 25, 2021 6:48:57 GMT
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Post by Séamus on May 20, 2022 11:33:15 GMT
"Bring me my spear,O Clouds unfold. Bring me my chariot of fire.."
The death of Vangelis might serve as a reminder that poetic creation can continue to germinate through different ages- in this case Blake's line inspiring into the synthesizer era.
Looking at the latest Picasso sale,a piece depicting a lover in apparent seamonster form,one wishes the "did He who made the Lamb make thee" mentality could have prevailed during the artist's wildlife dabbling.
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Post by Séamus on Jul 10, 2022 9:03:07 GMT
"The Bagdad-born minister said,'Larkin and Owen are two of our finest poets. Removing their work from the curriculum is cultural vandalism. As a teenager improving my grasp of the English language, Larkin's poems taught me so much about my new home." international express,issued when Boris was comfortable pm of Britain and Rishi chancellor
As Westminster politicians jockey for the top job, Nadhim Zahawi might get the first tick for his condemnation of an official examination body's removal of Keats, Hardy, Larkin, etc from their syllabus to make room for 14 'poets of colour',as well as a disabled poet and an lgbtq+ one(definately a man of letters,that one). Only a name like Zahawi might get away with it.
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Post by Tomas on Sept 5, 2023 6:39:00 GMT
Calling to mind a question in private setting around ten years ago, who are the Swedish writers you like best, now thousands pages poetry later I have several "new" candidates for the favourite seat. Trying in vain to find English translations on wikipedia some of them cannot be presented here. But one among the top ten might be this Finland-Swede, long gone yet living in fond memory through his temperemental portrayals of love for homeland and good old past: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertel_Gripenberg
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 5, 2023 8:29:29 GMT
Calling to mind a question in private setting around ten years ago, who are the Swedish writers you like best, now thousands pages poetry later I have several "new" candidates for the favourite seat. Trying in vain to find English translations on wikipedia some of them cannot be presented here. But one among the top ten might be this Finland-Swede, long gone yet living in fond memory through his temperemental portrayals of love for homeland and good old past: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertel_GripenbergI generally think poetry is what gets lost in translation, but I found some English translations of this fellow's poems and they look good, lyrical and romantic. Narcosis How sweet it is, how sweet it is to sleep! In dreaming’s darkness distant the bells ring, Tidings of rest so long yearned for they bring, A gospel telling of the gift of rest. Now each pang dies away, no torments sting, And quiet voices, whispering and muted, Promise the weary oblivion’s paradise. Now sorrow drowses; snapped, pain’s fetter-rings. And in the twilight nameless flowers shimmer, In the shadow green lights of glow-worms glimmer, On soft wings shy dreams go hovering. On a dark island out in sleep’s black flood, So far away from life that we sense death, Repose’s bells far distant, distant ring.
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Post by Séamus on Apr 7, 2024 11:44:04 GMT
This account of a visit to a Greek restaurant in the 1930s by HV Morton might be of interest:
' While Sophocles and I sat talking over the ruins of this romantic meal, the door opened to admit a thin, cadaverous man who had not shaved for some time. He regarded us with burning eyes. Silently he advanced into the room, half closed his eyes, and, stretching out an arm dramatically, began to declaim in a high, sing-song voice. "Who is he?" I asked."He is a wandering poet," whispered Sophocles. "He goes from tavern to tavern." " I cannot understand him. What is he saying?" "It is a poem he has made about the political situation. It is very clever. It suits both sides, so that no one can take offence at it." "He cannot be a Greek, then." "Oh yes, he is," said Sophocles earnestly. "I can tell from his accent that he is an Athenian." The poet finished, and asked me for a cigarette. He lit it and recited a poem in which life was compared to the smoke of a cigarette. He apostrophised the cigarette, blew clouds of smoke into the air, and at the end, with a terrific gesture of finality, he stamped the cigarette beneath his feet and ground the life out of it on the stone flags. ' cf In the Footsteps of St Paul
The Greek version of the craic.
Morton had already mentioned the high regard that Lord Byron was held with in Greece at the time. Perhaps a precedent can be made for Yeats being Ireland's greatest ever statesman- someone remembered for poetry first and politics second? It would be interesting to know what remains of the wandering pub-poets in today's Greece? Can there be comparative analysis with the health the Irish seisiún scene?
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