by beatriceotto | Jul 21, 2017 | poetry mojo, writing & writers |
First, the unusual simile, I never thought of a lamb’s bleat as free or lawless. Then the idea that a true poetic sentence is free and lawless. I found several similar comments in Thoreau, and something about them gave me a sense of liberty. I was once...
by beatriceotto | Mar 16, 2017 | a quote to note |
Humility comes through Keats’ letters, though he was also quietly conscious of having something the future would acclaim, even when subjected to scathing reviews (who remembers the reviewers now?). ‘I am three and twenty with little knowledge and middling...
by beatriceotto | Mar 16, 2017 | a quote to note |
When Laurie Lee was starting out in life, and was far from being yet an ‘author’, he had some poems published. This was the appreciative reaction of his landlord. ‘Is it really you?’ he asked fastidiously. ‘I wasn’t aware you had such beautiful...
by beatriceotto | Nov 15, 2016 | triologisms |
An odd image this. Gleaming helmets topped with bobbing plumes of beautiful birds can create mirages of battlefield glamour, building the height and perceived power of the warrior. But vultures feed off dead bodies and have a hungry, predatory look to them. You...
by beatriceotto | Nov 15, 2016 | triologisms |
Here we have Helen’s cuckolded husband Menalaus screaming at God in the most colourful terms. I like the idea of those lazy gods hanging out in heaven with too much time on their hands and being therefore sworn at as ‘time-free trash’. Or is it just that, being...
by beatriceotto | Oct 6, 2016 | a quote to note, poetry mojo |
This lovely comment by one of America’s finest and most beloved poets, Robert Frost, on the origins of poems – not in thoughts, but in feelings. ‘A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It is never a thought to begin...
by beatriceotto | Oct 6, 2016 | a quote to note, poetry mojo |
Wine as a perfect metaphor for poetry, with the same nature, alchemy and effects. Both can make you heady, or be heart-warming, comforting, or rousing. I don’t think poetry makes people fall over, however. ‘Wine and poetry are quite alike in their natures and their...
by beatriceotto | Oct 4, 2016 | a quote to note, poetry mojo |
What is freedom? Options? Room for manoeuvre? Time? Carte blanche and blank cheques? Absence of censorship? Self-mastery? Purpose? Recently I’ve had time and cause to think about leadership, and self-mastery has emerged as a front-runner at least as a necessary...
by beatriceotto | Oct 3, 2016 | a quote to note, poetry mojo |
I am interested in ideas about the role and nature of poetry, and have featured a number on WritingRedux. Featuring them doesn’t mean I fully agree with them, or consider them to be definitive. The poet’s role is sometimes to shed tears and feel sympathy for the...
