Poet Seers » Ono no Komachi Very little is known about this Japanese poetess, and most of it is legendary. She lived around 850 C.E. (b. 834?) What is certain about her, however, is that she was a major poet. I have sometimes commented on certain poems because the variations in translation are bewildering --- often changing the meaning of the original completely. KKS:1030 (Miscellaneous Forms) On such a night as this When no moon lights your way to me, I wake, my passion blazing, My breast a fire raging, exploding flame While within me my heart chars. KKS:113, OHI:9 (Spring) The flowers withered Their color faded away While meaninglessly I spent my days in the world And the long rains were falling. KKS:797 (Love) A thing which fades With no outward sign Is the flower Of the heart of man In this world! KKS:658 (Love) Though I visit him Ceaselessly In my dreams, The sum of all those meetings Is less than a single waking glimpse. KKS:656 (Love) KKS:623, IM:25 (Love) KKS:1104, IM:115 (Names of Things) KKS:552, IM:142 (Love)
untitled Admired in her time, this author fell quickly from view, but her genius is now being rediscovered. The literary star known as “L.E.L.,” pen name of the British poet, novelist, and critic Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838), rose to prominence around 1824. But after her death in 1838 in Africa, her fame went into occultation, and her works were largely lost from public view until the last two decades. Letitia Landon’s father, John Landon (1756-1824), of a Herefordshire family, had served in the British Navy and voyaged to the southern coast of Africa and to Jamaica. However, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1815, the family finances suffered from the decline of her father’s firm and the severe agricultural depression that developed during peacetime. In subsequent years, Landon published several more volumes of poetry: The Troubadour (1825); The Golden Violet (1827); and The Venetian Bracelet (1829). Landon came in for a large share of such criticism. Recommended Readings:
Great Poems & Greatest Books of All Time & Life-Changing Arts A selection of great poems from centuries of brillant authors and poets. Whether you are new to the world of poetry and wish to savor it, or a well-versed poetry connoisseur, either way you will probably enjoy the classics of world poetry. The poems are sorted by vote. To vote for a poem, click on the left of it. Voting is possible once per day. Votes PoemAuthor IfRudyard Kipling EchoChristina Georgina Rossetti If you think the best poem of all times is not even on this list, by all means, let us know which poem it is and why you think it should be added. Get inspired.. inspire others.. Back to Greatest Books of All Time
untitled Jennifer Hardner ’01Cedar Crest College A Biography of Landon using "Love’s Last Lesson" Letitia Elizabeth Landon was born in London in 1802. She had a younger brother and a younger sister. In her early teens, a neighbor, editor William Jerdan, discovered her verse, and she instantly was thought of as a child prodigy. Her verse became regularly published in the Literary Gazette, and her books soon followed suit. Being single, untitled, popular, and free-willed, Landon was the target of many poisoned darts. I have concluded that two factors led to the early demise of Letitia Elizabeth Landon: the men throughout her life, and the uptight views of the English. I think "Love’s Last Lesson" closely resembles Landon’s desires and frustrations, because it is not surprising that she wished to be able to forget all the rumors about herself, and the pain caused by the men in her life, "…forgetfullness will be/ A mercy to me." Works Cited British Authors of the Nineteenth Century. Writers.
If you were the sky and I were the sea. by Duck If you were the skyThen I'd be the seaAnd when you shined brightIt would reflect in me.When you're at restThen I am steady.If you wanna get roughI'm always ready.Past closing at the barsIf you show me the starsI'll open right upAnd cast them out far.And on the darkest nightIf you won't shine a light.Then I'm silent alongside youUntil you feel right.We'll meet at the horizonWhere lovers will stareAnd wonder with passionWhy they can't meet there.And you'll share me a kissAs bright as two suns.When they meet in the middleI'll know the days done.And I can tell that's your way of saying to me.Goodnight my love.If you were the sky and I were the sea.
untitled First the poem, then the discussion. Or really, if you have time, first the poem. Then a a few moments to think/grieve, and then the discussion. When We Two Partedby George Gordon, Lord Byron When we two partedIn silence and tears,Half broken-hearted,To sever for years,Pale grew thy cheek and cold,Colder thy kiss;Truly that hour foretoldSorrow to this. The dew of the morningSank chill on my brow—It felt like the warningOf what I feel now.Thy vows are all broken,And light is thy fame:I hear thy name spoken,And share in its shame. They name thee before me,A knell to mine ear;A shudder comes o’er me—Why wert thou so dear? In secret we met—In silence I grieveThat thy heart could forget,Thy spirit deceive.If I should meet theeAfter long years,How should I greet thee? Go on. Let's get the technical stuff out of the way: four stanzas, eight lines each, with an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme (the third stanza can also be read as ABABACAC). The power of this poem comes from multiple sources.
untitled The Sonnet form is one of the strictest and most difficult forms of poetry in the English language. But if done correctly, it can be one of the most beautiful pieces of poetic art, and many great poets have made it so. The first sonnets were written by the Italian poets. The form was probably invented by Giacomo da Lentini, head of the Sicilian School between 1230 and 1266 under Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor during most of that time. Another Italian poet, Guittone d’Arezzo, adopted the form and migrated it to Tuscany. While Dante Alighieri, Guidi Cavalcanti and other Italian poets wrote in the form, it was Francesca Petrarch who would build his reputation as a sonneteer. The Italian Sonnet, also called Petrarchan Sonnet after its most famous and prolific user, is characterized by its form and rhyme scheme. The octave is made up of two quatrains with the following rhyme scheme: abba. Another characteristic of this poetic form was the volta, or turn.
untitled Part Four, covering the period 1810-1815, was a crucial one for Southey’s career and reputation. It has, however, never before been fully documented or fully understood. By 1810 he was established in Keswick – a Lake Poet by residence if not by inclination and one whose interests and connections engaged him in global networks and exchanges. The years 1810-1815 were exceptionally busy ones for Southey. His output was, even by his own standards, prodigious and diverse, encompassing history, reviews, biography, polemics and chronicles of contemporary events. A productive time for Southey the prose writer, the period also saw the revitalisation of his poetic career with the publication of two long poems (The Curse of Kehama in 1810 and Roderick, the Last of the Goths in 1814), new editions of earlier works and plans for new verses aplenty. A distinctive feature of Southey’s shorter poems from this time is a move towards and investment in the contemporary.