She cried, “Laura,” up the garden,
“Did you miss me?
Come and kiss me.
Never mind my bruises,
Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices
Squeez’d from goblin fruits for you,
Goblin pulp and goblin dew.
Eat me, drink me, love me;
Laura, make much of me;
For your sake I have braved the glen
And had to do with goblin merchant men.” – Christina Rossetti
Yesterday I told you about the first six of my favorite poems, listed in alphabetical order by poet; today we’re going to look at seven more, for a total of thirteen. As I pointed out yesterday, I have a particular fondness for literature of the Romantic Period, which ran from the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries; only three of today’s selections were written later, and one of them (#12) shows a strong Romantic influence. As y’all have noticed by now my taste in poetry is for traditional (if sometimes unconventional) rhyme and meter; it’s probably the main reason I don’t care for modern poetry, which generally eschews both except in song lyrics. That brings up an important point: a song is really just a poem set to music, and one of these poems (#10) is nearly always performed as a song. So one of these days I’ll probably do a column on my favorite songs…but that’s going to take a lot of thought, so it’ll probably be much later this year.
7) “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (1819) by John Keats
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
“I love thee true.”
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill’s side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
This haunting poem about a knight who makes the terrible mistake of dallying with a Faerie woman displays a common theme in Faerie lore; everything about the Fair Folk, from their persons to their music to their food, is so woven with enchantment (or to use the old word, glamour) that a mortal who partakes of it pines forever after, sometimes unto death. The motif appears again in “Goblin Market” below, in my own story “Faerie Tale”, and in the Electric Light Orchestra song “I Can’t Get It Out of My Head”.
8) “The Female of the Species” (1911) by Rudyard Kipling
Long-time readers may remember that I’ve not only quoted this one, but actually based part of a column on it. And since that’s already available, I’ll otherwise allow the poem to speak for itself.
9) “Disobedience” (1924) by A.A. Milne (HM “Buckingham Palace” and “The King’s Breakfast”)
In my considered opinion, Milne’s nonsense is second only to that of Carroll; both cloaked incredible wit and brilliant wordplay in literature ostensibly intended for children, but which (like the old Warner Brothers cartoons) can only really be appreciated by adults. This is true in the Pooh books, but much more so in his poetry, which marries a Victorian flair for whimsy with a 20th-century willingness to play with form and meter (as displayed perfectly in all these selections). And though Milne didn’t intend it that way, try reading “Disobedience” with the topic of the nanny state in mind.
10) “The Minstrel Boy” (1806) by Thomas Moore
The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death ye will find him;
His father’s sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;
“Land of Song!” said the warrior bard,
“Tho’ all the world betray thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!”
The Minstrel fell! But the foeman’s chain
Could not bring his proud soul under;
The harp he lov’d ne’er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said “No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!”
This is actually a song, which you can hear performed by the famous Irish tenor John McCormack in the provided link. However, it’s often included in collections of poetry and the tune is a traditional Irish one called “The Moreen”. My Irish and British readers and those who live in traditionally-Irish communities in the US are probably quite familiar with this one, which is probably the simplest and most conventional of all my favorites.
11) “The Raven” (1845) by Edgar Allen Poe (HM “Eldorado” and “The Bells”)
Poe was one of the rare writers who excelled equally at prose and poetry, and “The Raven” is his masterpiece; it’s also the longest poem I ever committed wholly to memory (one stanza at a time over several weeks in high school). People are still arguing about its exact meaning, and its repeated refrain of “Nevermore” is so linked with the poem I daresay most English-speaking adults can scarcely hear the word without thinking of it. Poe’s language is incredibly musical, and he had a gift for working polysyllabic words into his meter with enviable ease; nowhere is this more perfectly showcased than in “The Bells”, which is best appreciated when read aloud. Bonus: “The Raven” inspired one of my favorite movies, and here’s a hilarious parody of the poem as recited by Bullwinkle.
12) “Goblin Market” (1859) by Christina Rossetti
This incredibly sensual, overtly sexual fairy tale poem draws on the pining motif (see #7 above) to present a disguised protest against Victorian repression of female sexuality (including, as will be obvious, lesbian sexuality); more specifically, it rebukes the doctrine that a “fallen” woman could not be redeemed. What Rossetti seems to be saying here is that it’s abstaining from sex which harms a woman, not embracing it in the context of a loving relationship; and for a woman of her time, that was positively radical. It’s the longest of my favorites, but please don’t let that length deter you; it’s really a quick read and worth your time. NB: This illustration was done by the poet’s brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
13) “Ozymandias” (1818) by Percy Byssche Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
“Ozymandias” is the Greek name for Ramses II, but that really isn’t important to the meaning of this meditation on the fleeting nature of power and fame, and the futility of the excesses men commit to obtain them. The cruel irony of the inscription, which now means exactly the opposite of what Ozymandias intended it to mean, is one of the most striking in English poetry.
One Year Ago Today
“Projection” discusses the people who use whores as scapegoats by projecting their own twisted needs and self-loathing onto us.
Wow. I had never even heard of “Female of the Species”, but I gave it a read and it articulates PERFECTLY the things I’ve learned about women in my 50 years of life.
It especially articulates the things I learned LEADING women while in the Navy. In fact, I’m not sure I ever did actually LEAD a woman – more like “channeled” or “harnessed” her energy – and that always took some work in figuring out her motivations, which were always different than men. Men are so easy to lead – which is probably one of the reasons I’ve always felt we are like a two-dimensional version of the human model while women are the three-dimensional.
Sooooo … I don’t normally read poems but THANKS for that one!
Now … “Goblin Market”? Whoa … I read it just now and it will take several hundred “reads” for me to even come close to “getting” that one! 😛
I’m glad I got you to read it, though; I figured the promise of lesbian sex would do it. Did you read “Christabel” yesterday? “Kubla Khan”?
Honestly Maggie – I will have to read the poem several times before I get the lesbian sex in it. 🙁 Didn’t see it the first time through.
The part about “sucking on fruit” got my attention as thought fruit was a metaphor for something else – but I’m sure I’m prolly wrong on that part!
But it does seem like a very nasty poem for Victorian era stuff. 😛
I’ll check the other two out – I haven’t read them yet.
I’m not very knowledgeable about poetry, only what we read in school. But I do like Rossetti’s work.
That confession makes me feel sooooo much better – because I’m a complete dunce when it comes to poetry. I’d almost rather program one of the old VCR’s than attempt a poem! 😛
Being as uneducated as me shouldn’t make you feel better!
Shhh … you.
Don’t make me start playing a round of “Who’s Stupider” … I will beat you like a rented mule!! 🙂
I think being a product of the British school system (which I have some experience dealing with) makes you far smarter than I!!
I only went to British schools until I was 13. After that, I got a year and a half of American schooling. Still, I read.
Still, you are a graduate of the University of Knocksville – like me! 😀
Semper Fi !!
One more thing- Even when I was in school, Kipling was hopelessly non-PC, he was an apologist of empire, and so wasn’t taught. I only knew of him through the Jungle book and other things.
Kipling was actually controversial even while he was still alive; one of my favorite authors, Edgar Rice Burroughs (who is often labelled a “racist” these days for actually having just as many black villains as white ones) wrote a parody mocking “The White Man’s Burden” as racist soon after it was published.
Indeed, there are still several competing theories of why he was never knighted. My guess is it’s because he wrote “Walk wide of the Widow of Windsor…”
A sad indictment of the politicisation of education.
The head and upper torso of Ozymandias were being shipped to London when Shelley wrote the poem; the statue is now in the British Museum.
The one poet I’d add to that list is T.S. Eliot. Prufrock and the Wasteland are two poems I can recite parts of from memory.
I like the stanzas toward the end of Childe Harold’s Pilgrammage where Byron talks about his young daughter Ada. She, of course, grew up to invent computer programming.
Dean Clark
Tom Moore is almost forgotten today, though he was as famous in his day as, say, John Lennon was in his. And despite the patriotic nature of “The Minstrel Boy” — it was written in the aftermath of the ’98 — I’d still go for “The Last Rose of Summer”. And where is “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”?
Even though I have a degree in Literature, I was never keen on poetry. Still I’m glad you’ve included some of the greats, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Jabberwocky, Ozymandias etc…
I had no idea the pied piper was one of the fair folk.
There are a few hints; the first one is that his dress is very old-fashioned (because he’s that old and hasn’t kept up with changing styles). Another is that he leads the children into a hidden land under the mountain (the sort of place Faeries are wont to live).
I think you might want to know about this.
Law and Order: SVU’s new episode, Rhodium Nights. you can watch it on hulu.com
It’s about escorts, and is probably the most outrageous fictional representation of that profession ever.
Sex trafficking is one thing but this is insane. There’s this war between escort agencies and the two agencies are targeting each other one’s clients.
An underage escort is murdered at a client’s party.
A former governor who is a client is murdered and the star escort of one agency is murdered and put in a bed with one of the main characters.
And apparently all the super powerful clients are cool with all the murdering and framing.
Ow.
In a sort of arse-backward way, that’s good; every professional I know whose profession has ever been depicted on that show, from lawyers to forensic pathologists, has told me that they got it ludicrously wrong. So you might say that for a change, we’re not being treated any worse than anyone else.
Kissing and licking and sucking all over a woman’s body always brings me out of the doldrums.
There was a roller coaster built, called “The Raven.” The idea was that people would get off the ride and walk shakily away, saying, “Nevermore!” The poem has also been recited, in part, by First Officer Spock.
Burroughs’ parody of “White Man’s Burden” is worth reading.
He also recited a part of “The Tyger”. 🙂
I didn’t remember that. I do remember
Saturn’s rings around my head
On a road that’s Martian red,
Sorry Ma’am I was late by a few days…. Better be late than never. Love Ozymandias… I hope you like a Whitman or two….
I featured a Whitman poem in “Ruined Maids“. 🙂
I like “Goblin Market” a lot also. Between my Junior and Senior years of high school I was in a summer college prep program. I took a lit class and this was one of the things we read. We also read Doctor Faustus.
“Is this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”
Marlowe was amazing; just imagine what he could have done had he lived past the age of 29!
One of my favourite poems:
“The Lady of the River passed downstream on her boat, her red hair fanned about her in wild array, curled waves gleaming in the sun, as the water her hand trailed upon.
“Ah Lady”, said the goat with the violin, “what is it that you came to seek here on the River of Life?”. The goat tilted his shaggy head and gazed lovingly at the Lady.
The Lady drew a deep, deep breath, gathering her fractured inner balance. “My dear old goat, I came to the River after he shattered my heart, burned my core to ashes and cast them on the waters! I am looking for the ashes so that I may heal my heart again.”
The goat contemplated this for a time, playing a sad tune on his violin to match the inner pain the goat knew only too well.
“Lady, why then do you kiss all the handsome Frogs that pass by on the Lilypads in the River? What is it that you hope for from these choices?”
The lady patted the goat’s leg absentmindedly and said “I am hoping that one of these handsome Frogs is, in truth, a Prince, the One, a True Knight.”
The goat looked across the River, seeing that the Frogs had come to the Lilypads to chase the glittering mayflies that danced prettily near the water. The goat sighed; none of the glittering mayflies compared in any wise to his chance companion on the boat.
“Lady,” said the goat “how can you find a Prince of Frogs without the magic belief in your lost heart? It is your heart, now a dusting of ashes on the water, that allows you to see the prince when he is before you, is it not?”
“Yes, it is so, Goat. Your’re a good wise friend. I am hoping to heal my heart and gather the ashes as we float downstream.”
The Goat’s tune became deeply melancholy as a tear rolled down his shaggy beard. “Ah lady, would it not be better if you accepted a heart from a willing soul, to stand in stead of yours that was so cruelly used?”
The Lady shook her head ruefully, saying, “Who could I truly trust to give me their heart? These beautiful frogs who chase the vainglorious mayflies?”
The Goat looked into the Lady’s eyes, ugly and wire-haired as he was, and spoke in whisper “No, Lady, not the frogs.”
Where did you find the illustration of the “El Dorado”? I believe it was in a poetry book I had as a child and am trying to find it. Any help you may provide would be greatly appreciated!!!!