The Vulgar Eclectic

Tag: poetry

  • Alone by Megan E. Freeman

    I just finished reading Alone (2021) by Megan E. Freeman, a young adult novel in free verse. It is narrated by a young girl, 12 years old in the beginning, who finds herself in a very serious survival situation after waking to find herself completely cut off from human contact. It is an extremely compelling…

  • Morning

    A crow on the sidewalk, reflected in the rainAn auspicious signSo the gods, if I listen, whisper

  • The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems by Michael Ondaatje

    I just finished reading The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems (1970) by Michael Ondaatje. It is a combination of poetry and prose poetry; it’s often referred to as a novel in verse. Most of it is written from the fictional perspective of Billy the Kid. Some sections are written from the…

  • Su Tung-p’o: Selections From a Sung Dynasty Poet

    The following is an old book jot from December 2021: I just finished reading Su Tung-p’o: Selections From a Sung Dynasty Poet, translated and with an introduction and notes by Burton Watson (1965). This book is a selection of poems by Su Shi, also known by his literary name of Su Tung-p’o, and contains poems…

  • Chatsky (or The Misery of Having a Mind) by Alexander Griboyedov

    I finished reading Chatsky (or The Misery of Having a Mind), a play in verse written in 1823 by Alexander Griboyedov (translated by Joshua Cooper). It’s also known as Woe from Wit in some English translations. It is a satirical look at Russian society, especially the prejudices and preoccupations of the aristocracy. Although humorous, there…

  • Journey of the Magi

    Here are a few lines from a wonderful poem by T. S. Eliot: At the end we preferred to travel all night,Sleeping in snatches,With the voices singing in our ears, sayingThat this was all folly. Read the full poem here: poets.org

  • Echoes

    A world forsooth where wrong and right are blent,A world that teems with war, a world that reeksWith countless crime, where evermore the ploughLacks its due honour, and the hind is forcedFar from his desolate fields, and reaping-hooksAre straightened into swords. -Virgil, The Georgics (translated by Lord Burghclere)

  • The Poetry of Thomas Hardy

    I have been dipping into this great selection of poems by Thomas Hardy. I have loved his poetry for years and this is a great volume to have at one’s disposal. Long ago, I read A Trampwoman’s Tragedy while traveling in Hardy’s homeland. I remember reading The Convergence of the Twain in a college class.…

  • The soul’s dark cottage…

    I am trying to create a habit of reading a poem every day. I just this evening read Of the Last Verses in the Book by Edmund Waller (1606-1687). Here is an excerpt, a line I particularly enjoy: “The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed,Lets in new light through chinks that time has made.”

  • Sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley

    I read a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley today. It was unfamiliar to me; I came across it in the book Five Hundred Years of English Poetry: Chaucer to Arnold edited by Barbara Lloyd-Evans. The text I read in the book does not include the word ‘painted’ in the first line, but all the examples…