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I-Like-Rhymes

Hi,
I am an aging Brit whose has developed an interest in poetry since I reached my 'half century'.
I help out with the running of the oldpoetry site in a variety of ways and am always on the look out for willing helpers.

  • Last seen 5 hours ago. Member since February 7, 2006.
  • I am a 55 year old man from (England)
  • When I'm not writing, I'm Reciting.
  • I help out as a moderator manager
  • I am in the groups Moderators
  • I have 597 comments, 6 columns

My other items

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  • Column: Poetic Licence at allpoetry
    When I was young and reading and writing was a chore I had to endure I would encounter ideas and phrases that I would never meet in ‘real’ life. Phrases such as “look-ed o’er” instead of the more prosaic overlooked; “treads the fields of Elysium” instead
  • Column: POETS LAUREATE part 1 at allpoetry
    Poets Laureate.
    Who are they? What are they? read on...
  • It's no longer "ALL" POETRY at Allpoetry at allpoetry
    We’ve all heard it said a thousand times Poetry isn’t just stuff that rhymes.

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  • on The Hero of Rorke's Drift by William Topaz McGonagall, on May 8
    A remarkably brief account by McGonagall's standards. he only mentions a couple of the VC recipients from that day's action. There were 11 (not counting those present who won a VC at later date) There might have been more had posthumous VCs been awarded in those days.
    It seems that McGonagall is determined to record as many facts as possible and without regard to continuity, clarity or rhythm. He does however strive for a constant rhyme pattern no matter how much he has to force the words to fit.
    Yet despite these failings, or perhaps because of them, McGonagall's works are an icon of the times and have been remembered and preserved longer than some of the offerings from technically superior poets of his generation.

    . Rewarded 8

  • on The Wonderful Fish by Jasper Mayne, on May 6
    The variety of reference to aquatic creatures, (remora, sea horse, crocodile, dolphin etc) is possibly a reference to so-called false gods rather than the Christian god (The fish has long been a symbol of christianity).
    The final reference to the constellations again is a reference to the false gods after which many constellations and stars are named. The final line
    "This fish, none else in heaven had been."
    Is yet one more reference to one Christian god in place of the many false gods. Heaven here is a deliberately misleading double-entendre. [IMHO]

  • on The Perfect Citizen by A P Herbert, on May 6
    This is another tongue in the cheek piece for which APH was justly famous, especially in his poems for Punch.
    The poem is peppered with references to wartime regulations.
    The respirator or gas mask case (and content) being kept in good condition.
    The torchlight being dimmed or cloaked and kept pointing down in the blackout.
    The anti littering, not dropping tram tickets
    The keeping of secrets about the whereabouts of soldiers. Montgomery refers to Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery.
    Not buying black market poultry when meat was rationed
    and happily paying the taxes that helped pay for the war that caused all that suffering.
    After 5 years of war the civilian population were getting lax and this was APH's way of pointing it out. [IMHO]

  • on The Bull Moose by Alden Nowlan, on May 6
    Is the poet deliberately making a metaphor or recording events where the crowd unwittingly replay events of 2000 years ago.
    The teasing with alder switches or scourging
    the booze instead of water mirroring the vinegar
    the cap of thistles for a cap of thorns.
    There is one definited difference though. The poet writes of the moose "perhaps, aware
    there was no place left to go"; that cannot have a parallel with the crucifixion.