Friday, March 26, 2010

Spring Poetry Throughout the Ages


In the spirit of this week's theme, today we will "reuse" some poetry by the masters. Notice the way e.e. cummings "reduces" his use of captial letters and punctuation marks.

Tu Fu
750 A.D.

Though a country be sundered, hills and rivers endure;
And spring comes green again to trees and grasses
Where petals have been shed like tears
And lonely birds have sung their grief.
...After the war-fires of three months,
One message from home is worth a ton of gold.
...I stroke my white hair. It has grown too thin
To hold the hairpins any more.

Sonnet 98 by William Shakespeare
1609 A.D.

From you have I been absent in the spring
When proud-pied April, dress’d in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh’d and leap’d with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem’d it winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

in Just- by e.e. cummings
1920 A.D.

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

Do you have a favorite springtime poem? How about a spring image or memory?

6 comments:

  1. That was a very pleasant way to start a new spring weekend. Thanks Dina and Lisa for your work on this and a pleasant end to our Recycle theme.

    I really look forward to poetry day at the Inkwell.

    congratulations to the Golden Heart and Rita winners!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deb, I'm glad to hear you like poetry day. How about the rest of you out there? Is poetry day a good thing. Do you like once a month? We're working on the summer schedule right now, so it's a good time to have your voice heard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning! Thanks so much for finding the poems. And the pictures were so sweet. Nice job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely! I do like looking at wonderful springtime pictures. Spring is so wonderful especially since it leads to summer! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the images in the e.e. cummings poem of the world being mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. The picture goes so perfectly with it.

    I have written my own spring poem. I didn't realize until today how similar it is to the e.e. cummings poem. Must have been subconciously patterning it after this one. Mine is called "In Lightly Spring." I use normal capitals and puncatuation, but I make up words from sounds, set up the lines like his. I'll look and see if I can find it. I've never submitted it anywhere, because it's more of an early 1900's style, which isn't popular anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooo, I like that one by ee cummings. "mudluscious" what a great word! I like one called, "Such Singing in the Wild Branches" by Mary Oliver.

    ReplyDelete

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