Category Archives: poetry

Byron – Occasional Pieces (1807-8)

Byron’s Hours of Idleness covers 1802-7, so far as I can tell, and is one of the most difficult books to read because it’s just so poor, not that it’s his fault, he was only learning the ropes, but it’s precisely what you’d expect someone in his position to write. Occasional Pieces of 1807 areContinue reading “Byron – Occasional Pieces (1807-8)”

poetry: Blake: Poetical Sketches (1783)

Bloom shows how elements of Poetical Sketches I’ve hitherto taken seriously are actually meant to be ironic, parodic of Augustan verse. Ohh. I didn’t recognize there was a history of “mad songs” nor was I quite sure what they were. It’s hard to separate oneself from some era and read its verse properly. What struckContinue reading “poetry: Blake: Poetical Sketches (1783)”

poetry: Byron: Hours of Idleness (1807)

Four selections from a book of poems I find a somewhat tedious read of sporadic quality: “Love’s Last Adieu”–I nearly didn’t make it through this, every line, I mean, was difficult to make sense of, even after spending the past hour working through Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis. Granted, it can’t be easy to write somethingContinue reading “poetry: Byron: Hours of Idleness (1807)”

poetry: Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis (1593)

I recall reading this in Northampton in the Haymarket, late one evening, at a small table, with my teapot, and a small dim light over my book, and I was waiting many hours for R—- to arrive, and nothing could keep my focus on this poem, though I tried with all my might to enjoyContinue reading “poetry: Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis (1593)”

poetry: Wordsworth: “An Evening Walk” (1793)

Wordsworth was doomed to be Wordsworth. Even at age 16 he was writing extensive descriptive poems of the places he’s seen, the every twig and feather seen on his walk. Of course, the words call to mind my own roving through his lake district, early in the morning, over misty hills, surrounded by sheep, andContinue reading “poetry: Wordsworth: “An Evening Walk” (1793)”

Sylvia Plath – The Hanging Man

Using various techniques of sound creation in “The Hanging Man,” Sylvia Plath easily can set the reader on edge. Alliteration occurs in the first line with the words “god” and “got,” both words sounding jabbing and cruel from the hard G’s and final T of “got.” These contrast with the fluid-sounding words “my” and “me,”Continue reading “Sylvia Plath – The Hanging Man”