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…
The Despot, by Joseph Ashby-Sterry
Category: Poetry
La Fille aux cheveux de lin, par Leconte de Lisle
Le poète français Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894) est considéré comme un chef de file du mouvement parnassien en poésie ; en réaction au lyrisme subjectif et sentimental du romantisme, celui-ci prônait un art impersonnel et la recherche de la beauté formelle, des poèmes ciselés comme des sculptures, préfigurant le slogan de « l’art pour l’art ». 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…
Les sept sceaux (deuxième version)
Les pélerins du paradis d’amour doivent ouvrir sept portes, et pour chacune briser le sceau qui la maintient fermée. 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…
Fleurs Sauvages (deuxième version)
Estelle, Estelle, se dandinant comme un canard, joyeuse à ma rencontre. Estelle, Estelle, sautillant les pieds joints et chantant « Cho — cla, cho — cla, cho — cla ! » 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…
Fleur de lune
Estelle et Robert se rejoignent sous la lune. Le cœur de la jeune fille déborde de questions auxquelles le sage devra répondre. 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…