crumbled ruins:
once a fine home,
occupants long gone
did their voices
resonate into stone,
trapping something
of their existence:
some subtle indication
that there was life here...
Long Lost [Free Verse]
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Category Archives: Poetry
BOOKS: “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth LongfellowMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Project Gutenberg edition
This epic poem borrows from American Indian folklore and legend to build a fictional life story for the protagonist, Hiawatha. (There was an actual Hiawatha, but his life story apparently in no way resembles that of Longfellow’s Hiawatha, which is good because the fictional one had to deal with ghosts, tricksters, and deities.) The poem is part hero’s trials, part love story, and part tale of the supernatural, blending real world type tragedy with an otherworldly form.
The choice of trochaic tetrameter makes the poem rhythmically readable, while evoking a drumming sound that contributes to atmospherics.
When the poem came out in the mid-19th century, it faced some controversy. It was claimed that it was a knock off of the Kalevala of Finland. Longfellow’s reply was that he was influenced by that poem’s rhythm (the Kalevala is also trochaic,) but that all the plot events where from his conversations with American Indians and researchers, thereof, (or, presumably his own imagination,) and that any coincidence of events was owing to the broad brushstrokes of them both being heroic tales.
I enjoyed reading this poem and would highly recommend it for poetry readers and lovers of American Literature.
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“All overgrown by cunning moss,” (146) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
All overgrown by cunning moss,
All interspersed with weed,
The little cage of "Currer Bell"
In quiet "Haworth" laid.
This Bird -- observing others
When frosts too sharp became
Retire to other latitudes --
Quietly did the same --
But differed in returning --
Since Yorkshire hills are green --
Yet not in all the nests I meet --
Can Nightengale be seen --
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After the Flood [Haiku]
“Meditation” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]
A wise man,
Watching the stars pass across the sky,
Remarked:
In the upper air the fireflies move more slowly.
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Drowned Dry [Haiku]
“A Glimpse” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
A glimpse through an interstice caught,
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-
room around the stove late of a winter night,
and I unremark'd seated in a corner,
Of a youth who loves me and whom I love,
silently approaching and seating himself near,
that he may hold me by the hand,
A long while amid the noises of coming and
going, of drinking and oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together,
speaking little, perhaps not a word.
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The Gray [Haiku]
on a hilltop,
neighboring hill in clouds:
its dwellers in gray.
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Pond Waves [Haiku]
“Cicada’s Cry” by Matsuo Bashō [w/ Audio]
the stillness --
soaking into stones
cicada's cry
Translation from: Higginson, William J. 1985. The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku. Tokyo: Kodansha Int. p. 11
Tiger Riding for Beginners 