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Cafegroundzero

  • Last seen on Apr 13 8:57 PM. Member since February 14, 2006.
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  • on Black spring! Pick up your pen, and weeping... by Boris Pasternak, on March 25, 2007

    To have the Russian original included would greatly enhance this posting

    I am curious to know how the Russian sounds, what words would have been translated as "randomly" and "melting."

    Some of us do read Cyrillic. Is it possible to get a Cyrillic orginial posted below the English translation? Then again, who was the translator? I daresay B.P. did not translate his own poetry into English, did he?

  • on To R. B. by Gerard Manley Hopkins, on March 25, 2007

    I've only recently "discovered" G.M.H. for myself, and like his verse much

    Two things leap out to me, the assonance & alliteration. Then there's the element of riddle, or metaphor and mystery.

    "Sweet fire the sire of muse, my soul needs this;
    I want the one rapture of an inspiration."

    The elements of mysticism and passion are alive in these lines.

    Seems to be written mostly in iambic pentametre, but the poet doesn't keep within strict bounds of metre.

  • on Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord, If I Contend by Gerard Manley Hopkins, on March 25, 2007

    There is a spirituality here rarely found in modern poetry

    I think there's some background we could use to better understand this poem. Here's a link to an illuminating critical essay:

    http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1460569&lastnode_id=0


    One can see how G.M.H.'s celibacy and spiritual growth would have influenced his verse. I say, give it a chance, hellizacomin and others who might not find they relate to the topic of one's struggle with the passions. Think of this not as a poet by a priest, but for what it describes.

    I liked the verses:

    "Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes
    Now leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again
    With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes
    Then; birds build - but not I build; no, but strain,"

    I enjoyed the alliteration in the verse.

    If one is curious to know what a priest feels, this is worth reading. I think there is something to be learned from reading verse from people who are different than we.

  • on Song in the Manner of Housman by Ezra Pound, on March 25, 2007

    We need to have Houseman's poetry on here for comparison

    Apparently, Pound is satyrizing the verse of Houseman.