tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post3113708965533231657..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: Other WorldsStephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-84361159380319224182014-09-23T02:31:47.372-07:002014-09-23T02:31:47.372-07:00Wim Grundy: Thank you very much for the kind words...Wim Grundy: Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm pleased that you found your way here, and I hope that you'll return.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-11307135102469888822014-09-21T22:15:13.271-07:002014-09-21T22:15:13.271-07:00I am newly retired from a life well-lived. Coming ...I am newly retired from a life well-lived. Coming to Hardy by way of Paul Fussell and Edmund Blunden as I study THE GREAT WAR. Yours is a creative and enlightened blog and I thank God for it.WIM GRUNDY!https://www.blogger.com/profile/07130564096108422061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-53503954587670478302014-08-31T14:48:47.063-07:002014-08-31T14:48:47.063-07:00Mr Docker: Thank you very much for the kind words,...Mr Docker: Thank you very much for the kind words, which I greatly appreciate. I'm happy to hear from you.<br /><br />Thank you for pointing out the variant versions of those two lines. As you probably know, the lines you quote occur in the original edition of Poems of the Past and the Present. Hardy altered the lines in the 1920 "Wessex Edition" of his complete works, which is the edition I was quoting from. I agree with you that both versions are lovely.<br /><br />Thank you again for your thoughts, and I hope I will hear from you in the future.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-39375524232325819292014-08-31T06:52:29.761-07:002014-08-31T06:52:29.761-07:00I loved the poem by Hardy although the version I h...I loved the poem by Hardy although the version I have has a different second verse - lines 3 and 4 are different:<br /><br />Thus meet we five, in this still place,<br />At this point of time, at this point in space.<br />- My guests parade my new-penned ink,<br />Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.<br />"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?<br />They know Earth-secrets that know not I.<br /><br />That said both versions are just lovely.<br /><br />May I just say that I have been lurking here and reading your posts for a long time now. The poetry (and the accompanying pictures) are just wonderful.<br /><br />KInd regards,<br /><br />Steven DockerSteven Dockerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12536569625079062909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-38555839390845732492014-08-30T20:01:23.646-07:002014-08-30T20:01:23.646-07:00Fred: Yes, alas, I'm afraid that's the ca...Fred: Yes, alas, I'm afraid that's the case, isn't it? But I try my best -- not always successfully, of course -- not to succumb. Another good reason for reading Chinese and Japanese poetry: it is clear-sighted and unsparing about humanity's foibles, while counselling non-attachment.<br /><br />Thank you for the follow-up thought.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-57185818976624319362014-08-30T19:53:45.759-07:002014-08-30T19:53:45.759-07:00Mr. Floyd: It's very nice to hear from you ag...Mr. Floyd: It's very nice to hear from you again. Thank you very much for Housman's poem: I agree that it fits well here. <br /><br />Yes, one would expect Housman to write such a poem, given that loss and longing are among his predominant themes -- perfect for late summer and autumn. But I completely agree with you: although we might expect it from him, this does not detract from the loveliness. Housman is what he is. And every poet has his or her own preoccupations.<br /><br />Thank you again. I hope you'll return soon.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-64869437786225455562014-08-30T19:41:53.335-07:002014-08-30T19:41:53.335-07:00Anonymous: Thank you for sharing Kunitz's poem...Anonymous: Thank you for sharing Kunitz's poem, which is new to me. It is very apt, isn't it? I particularly like: "the unloved year/would turn on its hinge that night" and "the disenchanted field."<br /><br />Your comment about how we become more keenly aware of these turning hinges as we age is well taken. That being said, as long as I can remember late summer and early autumn have evoked these feelings in me -- although now they indeed have more of an edge.<br /><br />Thank you again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-15722150061898377382014-08-30T14:12:58.679-07:002014-08-30T14:12:58.679-07:00Stephen,
When considering possible human behavior...Stephen,<br /><br />When considering possible human behavior, one can never be too cynical.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-3383487482153852052014-08-30T11:52:13.320-07:002014-08-30T11:52:13.320-07:00I doubt if any sedulous reader of poetry could ima...<br />I doubt if any sedulous reader of poetry could imagine A.E. Housman's not having something to say about the abdication of summer and the entrance of fall.<br />He does. His observations and evaluations, since we know Housman, do not surprise us, but it's of no matter, really, because the poem is superb.<br /><br />When summer's end is nighing<br /> And skies at evening cloud,<br />I muse on change and fortune<br /> And all the feats I vowed<br /> When I was young and proud.<br /><br /><br />The weathercock at sunset<br /> Would lose the slanted ray,<br />And I would climb the beacon<br /> That looked to Wales away<br /> And saw the last of day.<br /><br /><br />From hill and cloud and heaven<br /> The hues of evening died;<br />Night welled through lane and hollow<br /> And hushed the countryside,<br /> But I had youth and pride.<br /><br /><br />And I with earth and nightfall<br /> In converse high would stand,<br />Late, till the west was ashen<br /> And darkness hard at hand,<br /> And the eye lost the land.<br /><br /><br />The year might age, and cloudy<br /> The lessening day might close,<br />But air of other summers<br /> Breathed from beyond the snows,<br /> And I had hope of those.<br /><br /><br />They came and were and are not<br /> And come no more anew;<br />And all the years and seasons<br /> That ever can ensue<br /> Must now be worse and few.<br /><br /><br />So here's an end of roaming<br /> On eves when autumn nighs:<br />The ear too fondly listens<br /> For summer's parting sighs,<br /> And then the heart replies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bruce Floydnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-12596684523067397162014-08-30T10:03:40.200-07:002014-08-30T10:03:40.200-07:00The long-lived Stanley Kunitz saw many a summer co...The long-lived Stanley Kunitz saw many a summer come and go. I don't know for sure--sensibilities vary greatly--but it may be that as one ages, as the inevitable creeps nearer, the fading of summer, those tell-tale presentiments in the light, particularly the twilights of late August, yes, it may be that older eyes and older hearts sense that perhaps this time summer's slow seeping away, like a life-time friend, is saying good-bye for the last time. <br /><br />The young do not hear the worm lisp the song of the marrow-bones. Time will make their hearing more acute.<br /><br /> End of Summer<br /> By Stanley Kunitz <br /><br />An agitation of the air, <br />A perturbation of the light<br />Admonished me the unloved year<br />Would turn on its hinge that night.<br /><br />I stood in the disenchanted field<br />Amid the stubble and the stones,<br />Amazed, while a small worm lisped to me<br />The song of my marrow-bones.<br /><br />Blue poured into summer blue,<br />A hawk broke from his cloudless tower,<br />The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew<br />That part of my life was over.<br /><br />Already the iron door of the north<br />Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows<br />Order their populations forth,<br />And a cruel wind blows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-14773055563547932002014-08-30T08:04:27.602-07:002014-08-30T08:04:27.602-07:00Fred: that's a perfect thought from Joseph Wo...Fred: that's a perfect thought from Joseph Wood Krutch. Thank you very much -- it is new to me. You and I have talked about him before, and I do need to explore his works further.<br /><br />As for "Important Insects": I would say that it is definitely intended to refer to humans. Although perhaps I am being too cynical.<br /><br />As always, thank you very much for stopping by, and for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-70123233028460072192014-08-30T07:58:54.676-07:002014-08-30T07:58:54.676-07:00Mary: It's good to hear from you again. Thank...Mary: It's good to hear from you again. Thank you very much -- I'm pleased you liked the posts.<br /><br />Yes, "end of summer musings" may account for the similar themes of the two posts -- that, and the geese that keep returning on my walks.<br /><br />"Out There" is one of my favorites (both of Longley's and in general). I'm happy to have introduced it to you.<br /><br />Thank you again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-36307448324023156452014-08-30T06:57:02.546-07:002014-08-30T06:57:02.546-07:00Stephen,
Joseph Wood Krutch, a favorite author of...Stephen,<br /><br />Joseph Wood Krutch, a favorite author of mine, once said that it is wrong to see signs of human behavior in the other animals on this planet. Instead, those congruences are signs of the animal in us. The poem. "Important Insects," could easily be about humans. <br /><br />Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-82229137680466560042014-08-30T05:45:59.192-07:002014-08-30T05:45:59.192-07:00Thank you for today's post and, belatedly, the...Thank you for today's post and, belatedly, the octopus pot haiku in the last posting. The idea of these other kingdoms of the feathered,furred, and scaled has been on my mind lately. End of Summer musings? The Longley poem is new to me - thank you for including it. <br />Marymary f.ahearnnoreply@blogger.com