Category: Uncategorized
“A word that shall echo forevermore”
(National Poetry Month, Day 18) Every year, I feel as though April 18 is something…but I just can’t remember what. This year, I remembered: the midnight ride of Paul Revere! The American Revolution seems so distant to me, in both time and space—but it really HAPPENED…and not too far away from where the Graceful Grammarian and many of her friends live. To bring Paul … Read More “A word that shall echo forevermore”
A Passion poem
(National Poetry Month, Day 17) During Holy Week each year, I like to read “I See His Blood Upon the Rose,” a poem by Irish nationalist poet Joseph Mary Plunkett. Plunkett was an eccentric character: a sickly young man who traveled around Dublin in medieval-esque costume. A leader of the Easter Rising in 1916, he was arrested by British troops and married his fiancée … Read More A Passion poem
One of the best poems you’ve never read
(National Poetry Month, Day 16) Patrick Kavanagh, a farmer-turned-poet of mid-20th century Ireland, created some really remarkable verse. His poetry has a refreshing quality. It’s unpretentious, exuberant, and earthy; it shows keen awareness of the physical experience of life on earth and of the Divine light that shines through even the most opaque substances. The bifocal view of the earthly and the divine, which … Read More One of the best poems you’ve never read
What do lilacs, Lincoln, and lightning have in common?
(National Poetry Month, Day 15) Today is the 149th anniversary of the death of President Abraham Lincoln, an event noteworthy in itself, and made more significant in American history because of Lincoln’s able and brave management of the tumultuous events of his day. Lincoln’s very unexpected demise inspired a battery of beautiful poems, some of the most renowned by Walt Whitman. … Read More What do lilacs, Lincoln, and lightning have in common?
Glancing Out Window on an Eclipse Night
(National Poetry Month, Day 14) Upon wanting to go outside to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse, but realizing that I have many, many papers to grade, and it’s already 11:10pm, I am reminded of a poem that my sister and I memorized as children, because our father recited it so often. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost … Read More Glancing Out Window on an Eclipse Night
A premature festival
(National Poetry Month, Day 13) Did you know that the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the United States is at Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey? While the cherry blossoms have just barely begun blooming at Branch Brook, the events of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival are practically all over. While we wait for the blossoms to flourish fully in the … Read More A premature festival
A 14-line sonnet lesson
(National Poetry Month, Day 12) One more poem about writing. Billy Collins’ “Sonnet”—he says it, and he means it. Very clever! All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now, and after this one just a dozen to launch a little ship on love’s storm-tossed seas, then only ten more left like rows of beans. How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan and … Read More A 14-line sonnet lesson
For its own sake
(National Poetry Month, Day 11) As we continue to enjoy some poems about language and writing, let’s read a poem about poetry. I guess we could call it a meta-poem. I admire Archibald MacLeish’s ability to conjure up a series of multi-sensory images, unrelated though they may seem, to convey the message that poetry is primarily meant to be appreciated, not … Read More For its own sake
Excavating by pen
(National Poetry Month, Day 10) Writing can be hard work, but its rewards are great—this can be said of many other types of work, too. “Digging” is one of my favorite Seamus Heaney poems. It covers gardening, potatoes, turf-cutting, family traditions, and time travel; what’s not to love? The best thing about this poem, in my opinion, is that we can actually hear the … Read More Excavating by pen
Fulfilling the assignment
(National Poetry Month, Day 9) Imagine that you are a second-semester English course in college. Your professor distributes a sheet with the printed assignment for the first paper you’ll write in the course. You expect to be told the length restrictions, format requirements, subject of the paper, and more. With eager anticipation, and perhaps a little bit of dread, you begin to read … Read More Fulfilling the assignment
A Mutability Canto
(National Poetry Month, Day 8) For the next few days of National Poetry Month, let’s explore some poems about language and writing. First on the docket: Languages by Carl Sandburg There are no handles upon a language Whereby men take hold of it And mark it with signs for its remembrance. It is a river, this language, Once in a thousand years Breaking a … Read More A Mutability Canto
Spring swinging
(National Poetry Month, Day 7) Yesterday was such a beautiful day in New Jersey, and although today is not quite as brilliant, I know that additional perfect spring days are on the way. Spring days are the best days for riding swings, I think. We have a glider on our front porch, and now that I think about it, that’s the only swing I’ve … Read More Spring swinging
The Graceful Grammarian 