Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's interesting to see your photos, Boodi, but it's always sad to see land like that being "developed".

The poem from Love's Labour's Lost is very visual, Pete, and the sonnet reflective but resigned. As for 'Traffic Jam', it's great fun!

[pete9012S]

Another day, another 'pome'..

THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS BY ROBERT HAYDEN

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

[Boodi 2]

Don't worry Boodi - I'm sure we can get this thread back on topic.

Traffic Jam

Cars of silver, red, and blue
Motorbikes and buses too
Put them in your biggest pan
Stir them with a caravan

Measure sugar – half a cup
Next a lorry, broken up
Petrol, or perhaps some oil
Carefully begin to boil

Simmer for an hour at most –
Traffic jam to spread on toast!

Thanks Pete! That made me chuckle "Those Winter Sundays" is very thought provoking.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wow, 'Those Winter Sundays' works beautifully while depending on rhythm rather than rhyme. What a lot it says in just a few lines.

[Courtenay]

It does, doesn't it? Thanks for that, Pete.

[Anita Bensoussane]

After Sue mentioned in another thread that she had Enid Blyton's The Poetry of Earth - a Nature Anthology, I decided to buy a copy of the book so I could read some of the poetry that Enid herself enjoyed as a young woman. It contains some stirring stuff and I particularly like the following poem ('Wander-Thirst' by Gerald Gould), which speaks of a craving for exploration and adventure:

Beyond the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea,
And East and West the wander-thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like madness, dear, to bid me say good-bye;
For the seas call and the stars call, and oh! the call of the sky!

I know not where the white road runs, nor what the blue hills are;
But a man can have the sun for friend, and for his guide a star;
And there's no end of voyaging when once the voice is heard,
For the river calls and the road calls, and oh! the call of the bird!

Yonder the long horizon lies, and there by night and day
The old ships draw to home again, the young ships sail away;
And come I may, but go I must, and if men ask you why,
You may put the blame on the stars and the sun and the white road and the sky!


An extract from Mrs. Browning's poem 'Aurora Leigh' also caught my eye:

Earth is crammed with heaven,
And every bush afire with God,
But only he who sees
Puts off his shoes

I wonder whether Enid Blyton was echoing that (consciously or unconsciously) when she wrote in her poem 'April Day':

Now, let me stand and gaze -
But ah, so lavishly is beauty spread
These April days,
There is no place to tread.
Then I must choose
To put away my shoes
And kneel instead.


Incidentally, some of the poems quoted by Aunt Linnie and Cyril in Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm are to be found in The Poetry of Earth - a Nature Anthology.

[pete9012S]

That was most interesting Anita - many thanks for dipping into the book and providing those extracts for us.

[Courtenay]

Those are wonderful, thanks, Anita!

[Aussie Sue]

Anita, thank you so much for this information:-

'Incidentally, some of the poems quoted by Aunt Linnie and Cyril in Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm are to be found in The Poetry of Earth - a Nature Anthology.'

It really shows how much Enid loved these books and why she wrote so many great poems. I can't believe I have just skimmed over it and never got into it deeply as you did. I think I was just amazed and focused on the poems she wrote in the back.

So perhaps you would like to know the other Poetry book that belonged to Enid that is in my collection.

This I feel is even more special as it was presented to her at school and shows that she excelled in English and a second book was presented to her for Languages. That's why I get frustrated when her writing is criticised. She has always shown an aptitude for writing, even as a child.

1. Poems of Robert Browning published by Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press 1913, leather bound.
Presentation slip in the front is as follows:
St. Christopher's
Beckenham
Prize awarded to
Enid Blyton
for English
Form 6 (in roman letters)
1914-1915

2. Life of R. L. Stevenson published by Methuen, leather bound. Appears to have been very well used.
Presentation slip in the front is as follows:
St Christopher's
Beckenham
Prize awarded to
Enid Blyton
for Languages
Form 6
1914-1915

cheers
Sue

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks very much for that, Sue. It's lovely to hear about books that were presented to Enid as school prizes for English and Languages.

Enid was clearly multi-talented. We know that she was an excellent teacher before devoting herself to writing full-time and that she could also have had a career as a professional musician if she'd wished. Sketches and paintings of hers that still exist show that she had skill as an artist, and we also know that she was good at sport and was a keen and knowledgeable naturalist. What a pity that her father, who shared and encouraged many of her interests, didn't live to see her become such a successful author.

[Boodi 2]

I had no idea that Enid was also musical (deep shame!) so many thanks for that information. What instrument did she play?

[Boatbuilder]

Enid's father taught her to play the piano, Boodi.

[pete9012S]

I had no idea that Enid was also musical (deep shame!) so many thanks for that information. What instrument did she play?

In Barbara Stoney's excellent biography we read regarding poetry and music:

Often her father would quote extracts of poetry as they walked and
sometimes they would make up little rhymes of their own, laughing
over the nonsense of these when they finally returned for tea at the
well-kept house in Clockhouse Road.

Afterwards Thomas would take out his banjo and sing popular songs or nursery rhymes
to amuse his family and then, when the children were in bed, he would seat
himself at his much cherished piano and play long into the night.

For most of her life, Enid could never listen to certain sonatas by
Beethoven or works by Chopin, Liszt, Mozart and Rachmaninoff
without recalling the days of her childhood, when she would lie in
bed, almost asleep, listening to her father playing hour after hour
downstairs.

He gave Enid her first piano lesson when she was six years old
and, as with everything else, she was quick to learn. He
nevertheless insisted that she practise daily, and this she did
religiously.

Interestingly, in Enid's book 'The Story Of My Life' she makes no mention of the piano or even music at all.

Regards

Pete

[Boodi 2]

Thanks Pete and Boatbuilder, I had no idea that Enid played the piano and oddly enough music does not really feature in her books. The only references to music that I can think of are the music box and instruments in "Moon Castle" and Cyril saving up for a transistor radio in "The Six Cousins", at which Aunt Linnie admits that she also loves classical music. Have I missed something?

[pete9012S]

I think there's a radio in Five Go To Billycock Hill.

‘Well - let’s have some music, then,’ she said. ‘There’s the Pastoral Symphony on sometime this evening, I know, because I made a note of it. It would sound beautiful out here in this lovely countryside with that view spreading for miles in front of us. But softly, please.’
Julian fetched the little radio set and took it out of its waterproof case. He switched on, and a voice came loudly from the set. Julian lowered the volume to make it softer. ‘It’s the seven o’clock news,’ he said. ‘We’ll hear it, shall we?’