by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AM, BI, GA, LE, LO, LU, RO, SE
The next sonnet may offend some readers. If you think you may be offended, please do not read it. Plato Hated Poetry, Poor Thing First Sappho catalogued the symptoms of Tsunami wave emotions. Sickness like This malady has been treated as love By writers ever since. ...
by phillipw | Jun 19, 2020 | AN, LE
Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon The metre of ancient Greek poetry succeeds in “achieving a length and complexity that are unusual in the heroic verse of other literatures.” ~ Michael Grant, The Rise of the Greeks, 325, as quoted in Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 16....
by phillipw | May 22, 2020 | AR, GA, HE, Ho, HY, JA, JO, LE, ST
Herakles, the Greatest Greek Hero, Outshone His Junior, Jason (a Bright Star), in All Majestic Ways John Keats perverts the “bright star” image. First An ancient poet wrote that Jason shone, “A bright star,” such as one that brides would thirst For, brides-to-be,...
by phillipw | May 16, 2020 | CA, DA, KO, LE, LO, RO, SE
Only Lovers Cannot See Ahead Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem All kinds of lovers? Do we mean the sort Who love because of hot testosterone? Then maybe that is true. Such hormones thwart. The kind of...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | CO, DA, GE, LE, MA, OR, PE, VI
The Heart is Never Central Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The heart is never central. It is to The left and far too far above the base. The heart is not positioned for the true. It loves too much the...
by phillipw | Apr 26, 2020 | LE, MU, VE
Donna Leon I’m tired of Donna, not of Venice, though. Brunetti is still likeable enough And Paola’s improved a bit. The slow Starts to the crime plots make it tough For readers used to fiction of this kind, Detective novels. Some might think,...