Category: Poetry

Maid of Athens, ere we part, by George Gordon Byron

A.E. Chalon, H. T. Ryall, C. R. Cockerell - The Maid of Athens
Painted by A.E. Chalon, engraved by H. T. Ryall, from the picture taken at Athens in 1813 by C. R. Cockerell – The Maid of Athens (1848) – From The Poetical Works of Lord Byron

In 1809–10, the poet George Gordon Byron briefly resided in Athens. He fell in love with the 12 years old Teresa Makri (Τερέζα Μακρή), in whose mother’s house he lodged. In a letter to Henry Drury he said to be “dying for love of three Greek Girls at Athens,” “Teresa, Mariana, and Kattinka.” Before departing for Istanbul, he wrote for Teresa the poem “Maid of Athens, ere we part.” It was first published in Childe Harold in 1812. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Requiescat, Oscar Wilde’s tribute to his sister Isola

An envelope containing strands of Isola Wilde's hair, found among Oscar Wilde's possessions when he died
An envelope containing strands of Isola Wilde’s hair, found among Oscar Wilde’s possessions when he died – Photograph: Merlin Holland Picture Archive

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, the second son of William Robert Wills Wilde, a famous otolaryngologist and ophthalmologist, and Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee, a poet and supporter of the Irish nationalist movement. His mother wanted a daughter, and as a toddler, Oscar was raised and clothed as a little girl. The feminine and intellectual way in which she educated him must have contributed to his sensitive and aesthetic temperament, quite opposed to that of his father. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Annie, by Aleister Crowley

Léon Perrault - Petite fille au bouquet de fleurs
Léon Jean Bazile Perrault – Petite fille au bouquet de fleurs (1896)

Rosa Mundi, and other love-songs is a collection of 28 numbered poems, first published in 1905. It starts with a very long poem, itself called “Rosa Mundi.” Poems numbered 4 to 13 are titled by names of girls. The most charming is the fourth, where a boy secretly offers three flowers to a girl, but in return she has only one secret flower to offer him. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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L’influençable, par Minou Drouet

Roger-Viollet - Minou Drouet
Roger-Viollet – Minou Drouet (1957) – provient de Paris en Images

Dans ce poème dédié à Lucette Descaves, son professeur de piano qu’elle appelait « mon Amour », Minou Drouet lui retourne avec beaucoup d’humour le reproche que cette dernière lui avait fait d’être influençable. En fait, dit-elle, toute la nature est influençable, comme la mer qui porte le reflet du soleil. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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