Bigelow Poets' Roundtable

We want to be sure Bigelow gets credit for the roundtable and all the participants

We disagree joyfully
“When the choice is between intelligence and compassion, choose compassion. The result willl be a higher intelligence.”

The next meeting will be from 1-2:30 on Thursday, January 21, 2016
Last meeting we discussed sonnets. I happened across a sonnet by a largely unknown British poet who ought to be better known if this poem, a sonnet, is any indication.

BIOGRAPHY
Charlotte Smith wrote Elegiac Sonnets in 1783 while she was in debtor’s prison with her husband and children. William Wordsworth identified her as an important influence on the Romantic movement. She published several longer works that celebrated the individual while deploring social injustice and the British class system.

On the Departure of the Nightingale

Sweet poet of the woods, a long adieu!

Farewell soft mistrel of the early year!

Ah! ’twill be long ere thou shalt sing anew,

And pour thy music on the night’s dull ear.

Whether on spring thy wandering flights await,

Or whether silent in our groves you dwell,

The pensive muse shall own thee for her mate,

And still protect the song she loves so well.

With cautious step the love-lorn youth shall glide

Through the lone brake that shades thy mossy nest;

And shepherd girls from eyes profane shall hide

The gentle bird who sings of pity best:

For still thy voice shall soft affections move,

And still be dear to sorrow and to love!

For more about Charlotte Smith go to:

Ekphrasis
Browse all terms
“Description” in Greek. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. A notable example is “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion:
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new. . . .
See W. S. DiPiero’s poem guide on Robert Browning for more on ekphrasis. Browse moreekphrastic poems.

The poem excerpted above may be read (and heard) in its entirety at Ode on a Grecian Urn.

Pick a favorite poem. Pick a line (not the first and not the last) from the poem and write your own poem beginning with that line.

This may be seen as an ekphrastic exercise although I didn’t think of it in that way. I have used this as a way to prime the pump fairly often in the past. I have also written a couple of lengthy poems in response to other long poems I read over several days or weeks.

“Being a dog and being treated like one” John Berryman
“When we were walking in the day’s light, seeing/the flight of bones to the stars,” Conrad Aiken
“She knows what you need, I know what you want.” Bob Dylan
“It’s too long that I have been alone” Allen Ginsberg “Message”

Friday, January 8, 2016