Photo by Yousef Salhamoud on Unsplash One of the things that caught my eye as I recently read The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak were the references to other authors and poets. Lawrence Durrell and C. P. Cavafy in particular. It turns out that Durrell spent some time in Cyprus from 1952 where he took up … Continue reading C.P. Cavafy | The City #poem
Photo | Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash Anna Akhmatova was a Russian modernist poet (11th June 1889 Odessa - 1966 Moscow). She was part of the Acmeist group of poets in Russia from about 1910, 'their ideals were compactness of form and clarity of expression' (wikipedia). Other Acmeist poets were Nikolay Gumilev (Anna's husband for a while), Sergei Gorodetsky, Osip Mandelstam, … Continue reading A Poem For a Thursday | Anna Akhmatova #RUSpoem
[Kumquat] Photo by Tina Xinia on Unsplash During Poetry Month, I find that poems pop up everywhere. In chapter 10 (Furnishing the Capitol) of Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse, Edith, our charming but ageing protagonist recites a couple of stanzas of John Shaw Neilson's poem, The Orange Tree. She is inspired to do so after eating a cumquat … Continue reading The Orange Tree | John Shaw Neilson #poetrymonth
East Gippsland panorama | Image source Native-Born, according to Wikipedia, regularly appears in Australian anthologies. However I had never come across it until an article in The Conversation last year when Donna Mazza^ referenced it. Mazza declared that, Native-Born...is still startlingly relevant to contemporary ecofeminism by subtly linking the discovery and cremation of a dead … Continue reading Native-Born | Eve Langley #AWWpoem
Based on John Edward Lloyd's History of Wales, Vol I and Koch's Celtic Culture Gwerful Mechain (c. 1460–c. 1502) is considered to be one of the first female Welsh poets. She wrote about female sexuality and the domestic issues of medieval women. Her parents were Gwenhwyfar and Hywel Fychan from Mechain (a medieval cantref or land division), in … Continue reading Cywydd y Cedor | Gwerful Mechain #Dewithon22
Last month I feature a few of the prayer/poems from Carmen Bernos de Gasztold's collection called Prayers From the Ark. These simple French poems had been rediscovered by Rumer Godden and then translated into English during the 1960's. The second collection of poems, The Creatures' Choir (1965), errs more on the side of poetry than prayers. … Continue reading The Creatures’ Choir | Carmen Bernos De Gasztold #poetry
For those of you who know me well, you will know this is not my usual fare. But, I do like to research poems that have been used as epigraphs in the books I'm reading, or by authors I'm curious about. Obviously I am curious about all things Rumer Godden, at the moment. Rumer Godden … Continue reading Prieres Dans L’Archen | Prayer’s from the Ark #poems
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash Last week I read Sally Rooney's new novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You? (review to come). Her book title was inspired by the 2018 Liverpool Biennial statement, which came from a line in an 1819 composition by Franz Schubert (D677), which he based on stanza from the 1788 Friedrich Schiller poem, The Gods of Greece (Die … Continue reading The Gods of Greece | Friedrich von Schiller #poem
Lady Wroth with archlute. Unknown artist.From the collection of Viscount De L'Isle. I recently read Mrs March by Virginia Feito. It was a terrific read, full of curiosities and strange behaviours. One of which came from the author herself - a second epigraph inserted towards the end to preface the final two chapters of the … Continue reading Crowne of Sonnets Dedicated to Love | Mary Wroth #poem
Image: iStock | George Marks I have just started reading Mrs March: A Novel by Virginia Feito. Her epigraph is the first two lines of a Dylan Thomas poem from 1932. Thomas was only 17 when he wrote this poem. It wasn't published until after his death in Dylan Thomas: The Notebook Poems 1930-1934 edited … Continue reading The Gossipers | Dylan Thomas #poem
Portrait of a girl, previously thought to represent Sappho the ancient Greek poetess, with tablets and pen. She is also known as Meditation. Italy. Roman. c 75 AD. Pompeii. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images) I'm a book behind already in Nick's Master and Commander four year readalong of the series. I knew it … Continue reading Midnight Poem | Sappho #poem
This week was the Winter Solstice in Australia. On the 21st June the Southern Hemisphere celebrated the shortest day of the year; whilst the Northern Hemisphere celebrated the longest (in terms of daylight hours). Scientists and astronomers consider the solstice to be the beginning of winter (or summer). Because they use the solstices to mark … Continue reading The Winter Solstice Book | Gao Pengcheng #poetry
Henry VIII | Meynnart Wewyck circa 1509 Turns out King Henry VIII wrote some poems in his spare time. Or to be more precise, lyrics, as most of his poems were also designed to be sung and played. Some of the lyrics were collated in the Henry VIII Manuscript circa 1522 along with other court … Continue reading Alas! what shall I do for Love? | King Henry VIII #poem
There is nothing new or surprising about sharing such an iconic poem at this time of year. But it has been on my mind the past few weeks. Every time we drive to the mountains, I find myself saying 'tis the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' under my breath, combining two popular seasonal lines … Continue reading To Autumn | John Keats #Poetry
The final chapters in Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the War by Francesca Wade are devoted to Virginia Woolf. Her time in Mecklenburgh Square was right at the end of her life. 37 Mecklenburgh Square was Virginia and Leonard's last London home before they retired completely to their country home, Rodmell, after … Continue reading A Poem For a Thursday
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