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Mosaic Musings...interactive poetry reviews _ Fixed Form and Rhyming Poetry for Critique -> Herme's Homilies _ Emily

Posted by: JustDaniel Aug 18 20, 04:37

Emily

She's influenced the style of my verse
often epigrammatic and terse.
Nineteenth century poet of note
hardly published a thing that she wrote.

Amherst, Mass... 1830 she came
I get courage myself from her pen.
As I've splashed in her ink now and then
I've deLighted myself in the rain.

Brother Austin, Lavinia too...
how their bond with young Emily grew
Sisters both stayed at home all their life
and next-door Austin moved with his wife.

So austere in their Calvinist home
but from Dickinson-faith she would roam
yet a transcendent One would remain
at the heart of her soul's broad terrain.

She began writing verse in her teens;
all we have are sweet shared in-betweens
innovative, exuberant notes
of affection to friends. How she dotes.

Humor, anecdote, somber reflection
with inventiveness for their inspection.
Correspondents would not give her back
near as much as she gave; ‘twas a lack.

Then her poetry-friends introduced
Barrett Browning, whose "..Vision…" induced *1
her distinction, bloomed female ambition
maturing her own intuition.

Our fastidious writer withdrew
from most social engagements and grew
reticent when religious revival
pressured her more inside for survival.

Her love-interest secret, called “Master”
many letters, but quiet disaster.
Not succumbing to anguish, “The zeroes
taught us phosphorus.” She joins our heroes.

Forty booklets she gathered, by hand
sewn together and bundled, unplanned.
Death by stroke... they were found ‘neath her bed
or we’d not know what churned in her head.

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” she wrote;
“Are you—Nobody—too?” ends the quote. *2
All her loneliness words touch the masses
even more as poetic time passes.


Daniel's Personal Post Script:

Marshall Lee was my Dad’s name you see,
and my Mother would oft scream at me
“When your Dad’s home, you will get the dickens!"
… did, and kept it, so now the plot thickens:

Simmered Dad’s name and dickens” in stew:
I became M Lee Dickens’ son too!


© MLee Dickens’son 2020
Daniel J Ricketts


*1 https://genius.com/Elizabeth-barrett-browning-a-vision-of-poets-annotated

*2 https://poets.org/poem/im-nobody-who-are-you-260

Posted by: Psyche Sep 23 20, 18:02

QUOTE (JustDaniel @ Aug 18 20, 06:37 ) *
Emily

She's influenced the style of my verse
often epigrammatic and terse.
Nineteenth century poet of note
hardly published a thing that she wrote.

Amherst, Mass... 1830 she came[/size]
I get courage myself from her pen.
As I've splashed in her ink now and then
I've deLighted myself in the rain.

Brother Austin, Lavinia too...
how their bond with young Emily grew
Sisters both stayed at home all their life
and next-door Austin moved with his wife.

So austere in their Calvinist home
but from Dickinson-faith she would roam
yet a transcendent One would remain
at the heart of her soul's broad terrain.

She began writing verse in her teens;
all we have are sweet shared in-betweens
innovative, exuberant notes
of affection to friends. How she dotes.

Humor, anecdote, somber reflection
with inventiveness for their inspection.
Correspondents would not give her back
near as much as she gave; ‘twas a lack.

Then her poetry-friends introduced
Barrett Browning, whose "..Vision…" induced [size=1]*1

her distinction, bloomed female ambition
maturing her own intuition.

Our fastidious writer withdrew
from most social engagements and grew
reticent when religious revival
pressured her more inside for survival.

Her love-interest secret, called “Master”
many letters, but quiet disaster.
Not succumbing to anguish, “The zeroes
taught us phosphorus.” She joins our heroes.

Forty booklets she gathered, by hand
sewn together and bundled, unplanned.
Death by stroke... they were found ‘neath her bed
or we’d not know what churned in her head.

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” she wrote;
“Are you—Nobody—too?” ends the quote. *2
All her loneliness words touch the masses
even more as poetic time passes.

Daniel's Personal Post Script:

Marshall Lee was my Dad’s name you see,
and my Mother would oft scream at me
“When your Dad’s home, you will get the dickens!"
… did, and kept it, so now the plot thickens:

Simmered Dad’s name and dickens” in stew:
I became M Lee Dickens’ son too!

© MLee Dickens’son 2020
Daniel J Ricketts


*1 https://genius.com/Elizabeth-barrett-browning-a-vision-of-poets-annotated

*2 https://poets.org/poem/im-nobody-who-are-you-260


What a great poem about Emily Dickenson, Daniel. I'll return to comment tomorrow, hopefully, because I've just done all the word challenges and moved Denis's poems over here. Tired out, enjoy your visit to NJ, Sylvia

Posted by: JustDaniel Sep 29 20, 14:20

Thanks for your good wishes, Sylvia. My visit was a good one, and I was able not only to see one of my brothers probably for the last time but was also able to travel to Yakima, WA on the other side of Mt. Rainier (three hour drive through the only pass usable because of fires in the area) to spend time with my uncle and aunt on the occasion of their 65th wedding anniversary.

Thanks for your preliminary comments about my "Emily"... and I hope that you'll enjoy it's post-script for info on my pen name too! deLightingly, Daniel sun.gif

Posted by: Rhymer Sep 29 20, 14:37



Time ever moving on has a habit of catching us out later. Emily Lee is one I have read - briefly and had thought to read more of her work later, but time has marched on: I've grown older and I'm beginning to appear well worn - wearing out!! Eyesight faster than some of my other 'parts' and now 'reading' per se, is no longer a viable pleasure for me. With poetry books lining my shelves, I regret my leaving until 'tomorrow'. for there are others I had hoped to read and enjoy! Have to content myself with memorized works, earlier read and enjoyed. Poets such s Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Milton - his poem "On Blindness" very much in my thoughts these days. My own Dorset poet Thomas Hardy - have tried to emulate his style on occasion. More so when it comes to the Darzet Dialeck - Dorset Dialect. Have several of the movies - Jude, Far From the Madding Crowd etc., that were based and inspired by his stories - American producers what's more! I also have a copy of his complete works - poetry and stories. His story, Under the Greenwood Tree - was an oft repeated delight for me. Doubtless it dates me as an old timer? Still y0ung at heart. How goes that saying? The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? Mine? A little tattered today. Maybe there's a 'talking' book of her work? Possess the Complete Works of Shakespeare - all formats. Etc., etc.. Palgrave's Golden Treasury - our required book of Poetry at school - still adorns my bookshelf! Like me, it's a little tattered and well thumbed after travelling the world with me! But enough! Your offering has whetted me desires again Daniel, and maybe - with help from a magnifying glass, I can indulge a little 'reading' of her works - yet again? Ciao Denis.

Posted by: JustDaniel Sep 29 20, 22:19

Believe me, Denis, I can identify with your facing the reality that reading is no longer an enjoyable activity. It is the same for me, and I have to pick and choose what I read and in what kind of format, because it is just too daunting a task to take on, even though I enjoy reading. My blurred vision and dyslexia have gotten worse, and some nights I simply cannot make out what is said on a page of letters at all!

deLighting in your visit to my piece... and I do hope that you understood my postscript about my writing name, Daniel sun.gif

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