Highlight Poetry (13)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

When You Are Old

by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

I read in this poem a plea from the narrator to his love to realize her mistake in overlooking his devotion and to change before she would regret it.  A little presumptuous, but romantic.  I love the progression from quiet repose to sorrow with each stanza, and the line "But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" such a beautifully constructed sentiment.  That line is my favorite of the poem.  I hope the lady in the poem did think twice!

Highlight Poetry (12)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

Life

by Charlotte Brontë

Life, believe, is not a dream

So dark as sages say;

Oft a little morning rain

Foretells a pleasant day.

Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,

But these are transient all;

If the shower will make the roses bloom,

O why lament its fall ?

Rapidly, merrily,

Life's sunny hours flit by,

Gratefully, cheerily,

Enjoy them as they fly !

What though Death at times steps in

And calls our Best away ?

What though sorrow seems to win,

O'er hope, a heavy sway ?

Yet hope again elastic springs,

Unconquered, though she fell;

Still buoyant are her golden wings,

Still strong to bear us well.

Manfully, fearlessly,

The day of trial bear,

For gloriously, victoriously,

Can courage quell despair!

I haven't featured an optimistic and upbeat poem I don't think.  Well this poem may be tinged with sadness, as it ends with a fight against despair.  But I enjoy thinking of this poem as a way to live your life, prepared to bear your trials and look to the silver lining.  I've tried to do that in my life, and God willing, it won't be too hard to continue on with that philosophy!

Highlight Poetry (11)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

"Loving in truth"

by Sir Philip Sidney

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,

That the dear she might take some pleasure of my pain,

Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,

Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,

I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe:

Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,

Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow

Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburned brain.

But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay;

Invention, Nature's child, fled stepdame Study's blows;

And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.

Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:

"Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write."

Sometimes when I have a review to write up for this blog, and I am having trouble starting, I just think of the last line in this poem.  And then I start with how the book made me feel while I was reading it and go from there.  It helps sometimes.  I first came across this poem through a quote of the last two lines, and had to look up the whole sonnet.  I love the idea that the words that you need are all inside your head and I think the imagery is fun - especially comparing your pent-up thoughts to pregnancy.  

Highlight Poetry (10)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

Dover Beach

by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;--on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Some poems (and songs) I hear or read one quote randomly and then I have to go back and read the whole original.  And then I end up loving the poem.  It started with the last stanza of this poem for me - I heard it recited in a movie and loved that:
A) it begins "Ah, love" - a soft request made with a sigh to love - Brilliant
B) The way that the first sentence is broken into two lines - "let us be true" seems in itself a complete thought, but it is too simple as the second part reveals that it is more imperative to be true to your other half than:
C) all the the ideals that are set up and then dashed by the last three lines.  Wow, devastating.
D) "Where ignorant armies clash by night"  Kind of a completely appropriate line in general when thinking of armies.

Just an all around beautiful, thoughtful poem.  And although I like the whole poem, I still really just love the last stanza!

Highlight Poetry (9)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

Annabel Lee

by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea:

But we loved with a love that was more than love--

I and my Annabel Lee;

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsman came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and me--

Yes!--that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we--

Of many far wiser than we--

And neither the angels in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Oh the cadence of this poem - probably the thing that strikes me the most - how fun it is to recite this poem aloud.  This has been a favorite of mine ever since I was young.  It is very melancholy and depressing isn't it?  I am sure I was not unhappy when I was a child (and she was a child).  I think the love that endures after death is haunting and beautiful and that might have appealed to me then.  I find the idea of angels being jealous of humans very interesting now - the very idea that angels can be jealous of humans at all - and romantic love as such a potent and desirable thing that all crave it.  

Highlight Poetry (8)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

No Coward Soul is Mine

by Emily Brontë

No coward soul is mine

No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere

I see Heaven's glories shine

And Faith shines equal arming me from Fear

O God within my breast

Almighty ever-present Deity

Life, that in me hast rest,

As I Undying Life, have power in Thee

Vain are the thousand creeds

That move men's hearts, unutterably vain,

Worthless as withered weeds

Or idlest froth amid the boundless main

To waken doubt in one

Holding so fast by thy infinity,

So surely anchored on

The steadfast rock of Immortality.

With wide-embracing love

Thy spirit animates eternal years

Pervades and broods above,

Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears

Though earth and moon were gone

And suns and universes ceased to be

And Thou wert left alone

Every Existence would exist in thee

There is not room for Death

Nor atom that his might could render void

Since thou art Being and Breath

And what thou art may never be destroyed.

Thought-provoking poem once more! God is with us so we should have no fear.  It's difficult to not get into some sort of religious/philosophical conversation over this poem, because when I read it, that is exactly what is going on in my head. But I also feel like the interpretation of it can mean many things for different people because it is so deep.  It's such a beautifully crafted poem.

Highlight Poetry (7)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

The Fly

William Blake

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

This is such a short, simple seeming poem, but so thought-provoking.  I first came across this poem in an Agatha Christie novel (Endless Night, which featured another poem I love - that will come later) and it works perfectly with that novel which is also thought-provoking and quite different from the usual Agatha Christie fare.

The idea that we can be just as insignificant as a fly for a higher being is quite humbling; that we have life should be a great gift. Life can be fleeting and the end unpredictable.  And also I think equating our lives to even the most seemingly insignificant life forms on Earth helps one to remember that having life and dying will be the same for every living thing.  In a very broad, metaphysical sense. Unfortunately, this poem doesn't make me like flies. :)

Highlight Poetry (6)

  Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.
Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns

Oh my Luve's like a red, red rose
 That's newly sprung in June;
 Oh my Luve's like the melodie
 That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
 So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
 Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
 And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
 I will luve thee still, my dear,
 While the sands of o' life shall run.

And fare thee well, my only Luve
 And fare thee well, a while!
 And I will come again, my Luve,
 Tho' it were ten thousand mile.



Well this is technically a song, but is often published as a poem so... I'll allow it. :D  It gives me an excuse to add some singing John Barrowman to this post.  I fell in love with this poem because of the Barrowman song and how beautifully soft and romantic it is.  It reminds me of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, a wonderful time travel romance (the Scottish influence of course helps).  There is such a timelessness in the way the author of the poem describes his love, and poignancy in the end that he has to say farewell.

Highlight Poetry (5)

  Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.
Farewell
by Lord Byron

Farewell! if ever fondest prayer
For other’s weal availed on high,
Mine will not all be lost in air,
But waft thy name beyond the sky.
’Twere vain to speak, to weep, to sigh:
Oh! more than tears of blood can tell,
When wrung from guilt’s expiring eye,
Are in that word—Farewell!—Farewell!

These lips are mute, these eyes are dry;
But in my breast and in my brain,
Awake the pangs that pass not by,
The thought that ne’er shall sleep again.
My soul nor deigns nor dares complain,
Though grief and passion there rebel;
I only know we loved in vain—
I only feel—Farewell!—Farewell!

I looked up this poem because it was used as the song Blanche Ingram sings in the 2011 Jane Eyre film.  There are reasons why this was a fantastic choice for that scene in the film, as a nod to the scene in the book (by Lord Byron from The Corsair) but I love this poem as a precursor to what happens in the book/film.  Jane has to leave Mr. Rochester and though her "grief and passion there rebel" she will leave, and I feel like the whole poem shows how Jane feels perfectly.

Highlight Poetry (4)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

by John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away, 
And whisper to their souls, to go, 
Whilst some of their sad friends do say, 
'The breath goes now,' and some say, 'No:' 

So let us melt, and make no noise, 
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; 
'Twere profanation of our joys 
To tell the laity our love. 

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears; 
Men reckon what it did, and meant; 
But trepidation of the spheres, 
Though greater far, is innocent. 

Dull sublunary lovers' love 
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit 
Absence, because it doth remove 
Those things which elemented it. 

But we by a love so much refin'd, 
That ourselves know not what it is, 
Inter-assured of the mind, 
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss. 

Our two souls therefore, which are one, 
Though I must go, endure not yet 
A breach, but an expansion, 
Like gold to airy thinness beat. 

If they be two, they are two so 
As stiff twin compasses are two; 
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show 
To move, but doth, if the' other do. 

And though it in the centre sit, 
Yet when the other far doth roam, 
It leans, and hearkens after it, 
And grows erect, as that comes home. 

Such wilt thou be to me, who must 
Like th' other foot, obliquely run; 
Thy firmness makes my circle just, 
And makes me end, where I begun.

 I studied this poem in my Senior AP English class, and at first read through, you get the gist - two lovers who must part for a time, and the man wants their parting to be quiet and intimate and only for themselves to know.  But then you really read all the imagery and metaphor in this poem - all the ways John Donne compares their love and/or quiet parting to: the death of an old man/earthquakes/molding gold/ and (my favorite) a math compass, and wow, this poem is so rich and detailed and perfection! 

Love described by a math compass - so unexpected, but it works so well!

Highlight Poetry (3)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

Sonnet 61 - "Is it thy will thy image should keep open"
by William Shakespeare

Is it thy will thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenure of thy jealousy?
O no, thy love, though much, is not so great,
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake,
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake.

For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, with others all too near.


"Do you love me, as I love you?"  A line from a song ("In the Still of the Night") that this sonnet reminds me of.  That song and this sonnet captures this irresistible (to me) poignant sadness in an all-consuming love.  And the heart-breaking uncertainty that the other person doesn't feel quite the same as you feel.  I think that tension is romantic, but of course, were I reading this in a story, the other person would have to love them back just as much or I won't be satisfied with the story!

Highlight Poetry (2)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

My second favorite poem!  And another depressing one.  Tennyson was inspired by one line in a Shakespeare play (Measure for Measure) 'Mariana in the moated grange.’  Melancholy, Mariana waits for her tardy lover and wishes for death. The imagery keeps building as the house and Mariana are undone and she reaches her most desperate moment.  I find it interesting that until the last two stanzas, you get a feeling that there is no one around her, she is so lifeless, until the end where there are "old faces" and "old voices" about, but it is too late for Mariana.  I think the writing in this poem is gorgeous and I love the flow of the words, and how some lines are repeated, with the final lines of each stanza subtly changed until it is clear Mariana has lost all hope.

"She said; she said" makes me think of the Beatles song as well, though I know that song wasn't at all inspired by this poem *cough*LSD*cough*.  

Mariana

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

With blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the peach to the garden-wall.
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, "My life is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"

Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
After the flitting of the bats,
When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, "The night is dreary,
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!"

Continue reading →

Highlight Poetry (1)

Highlight Poetry is a meme created by Lace & Lavender Hints to celebrate a poem once a week.

I'm not much of a poem reader generally, but there are poems that I adore, having come across them randomly and I love the beauty of a well-turned phrase, so I often will come across a quote from a poem and have to read the whole thing so I can fully appreciate it.  I thought this meme would be fun to share some of my favorite poems and talk about what I like about them.  

Lucy 

by William Wordsworth

She dwelt among the untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove,

A Maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!

Fair as a star, when only one

Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be;

But she is in her grave, and oh,

The difference to me!

This is part of a longer poem by Wordsworth, but this is my favorite part, and probably my favorite poem period.  It's so sweet and melancholy and the devotion of the speaker for Lucy who seems to be an ordinary beauty is so romantic.  It's nice to read a poem where the beauty of a woman is not overhyped and the only reason to love her!