At the point of death, holding a child’s hand, watching her beautiful face, and listening to her footsteps is the poet’s last consolation. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Ere I go Hence, by Ernest Dowson
Category: English
Marvellous freedom
After two years and a half, Poets and Lovers is alive and going on, surrounded by hostile forces. It survived the persecution of its first website provider by the UK police, which finally led to closing down the websites that he hosted. We have now a new provider, aiming to host several art websites suffering from censorship, starting with those suppressed in the UK: Poets and Lovers, Pigtails in Paint, and the sites of Graham Ovenden and of Garage Press. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Little Girl, by Little Girl
MoonCCat is the pen name of Luc-Santiago Rodriguez, a poet, musician and photographer who finds his inspiration in the 19th century. He puts into music poems by 19th century French and English poets, defends the classical French alexandrine against contemporary “free verse,” and practices argentic photography instead of digital one. He is also a specialist in absinthe, the beverage celebrated by 19th century poets and artists, which was banned during most of the 20th century; at one time he managed an absinthe shop in Paris, Vert d’Absinthe. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Rondel, by Ernest Dowson
A charming poem about the love of a child. To admire her blue eyes is the poet’s bliss, to take her hands is the desire of his heart, and, as he repeats three times, her kiss will heal his pains. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
The Despot, by Joseph Ashby-Sterry
I present today my third and last selection from The River Rhymer. Near a river, at hay time in the sunny summer, a young girl captivates the poet, who remains at her feet. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Sonnets of a Little Girl, VIII, by Ernest Dowson
I present now the last of the 8 “Sonnets of a Little Girl.” This 8th one is not about childhood, there is no little girl in it; it rather tells about disappointment and death. A modified version of it, with the title “Epilogue,” appeared in The Savoy, No. 7, November 1896, page 87. With the title “A Last Word,” it was included as the last poem in verse in Dowson’s final collection Decorations: in Verse and Prose, published in December 1899, two months before his death. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Drifting Apart, by Joseph Ashby-Sterry
Another poem from The River Rhymer, about a loved girl seen rowing in a boat. The poet longs to join her in her canoe, but it is too small for two persons. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Sonnets of a Little Girl, VII, by Ernest Dowson
The poet wants to creep into a cavern, fall asleep and die; he feels unworthy of the child’s love, and asks for her forgiveness. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Drifting Down, by Joseph Ashby-Sterry
The poems from Boudoir Ballads that we presented have shown the persistent love of Ashby-Sterry for young girls. But the poet had another passion: rivers, boats and rowing. In 1913 he published The River Rhymer, a collection of verse on this topic.
Some of his poems combine both passions, for instance a few ones in Boudoir Ballads told about a young girl loved on a river. I have thus selected three love poems from The River Rhymer, here is my first one: CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
To a Child of Quality, by Matthew Prior
Matthew Prior (1664-1721) was an English poet and diplomat, whose poetry knew fame at the beginning of the 18th century. One of his most famous poems is “To a Child of Quality, Five Years Old, The Author Forty” (1704). Requested to write his love for a 5 years old little girl, he complies, but she cannot read his poems, she plays with the paper on which they are written; when she will reach an age where she can understand them, he will be too old for love. Indeed, as writes Prior’s biography by the Poetry Foundation: CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…