tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post8542048562915961153..comments2024-03-23T20:37:37.891-07:00Comments on First Known When Lost: MillenniaStephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-2398990008947038832015-07-17T08:32:41.239-07:002015-07-17T08:32:41.239-07:00Anonymous: Thank you, I wasn't aware of that....Anonymous: Thank you, I wasn't aware of that.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-37869636816033638282015-07-17T03:05:52.371-07:002015-07-17T03:05:52.371-07:00The Heath-Stubbs poem appeared in 'The Watchma...The Heath-Stubbs poem appeared in 'The Watchman's Flute', 1979.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-60589642015155316772014-01-28T21:51:08.561-08:002014-01-28T21:51:08.561-08:00Bob: thank you very much for the poem by Heath-Stu...Bob: thank you very much for the poem by Heath-Stubbs: wonderful! And far more realistic than Flecker's, I'm sorry to say. I don't know when Heath-Stubbs wrote it, but the world he describes sounds like ours. But the last stanza moves beyond our world to a fundamental truth (I'm afraid) about those of us who love poetry: "born . . . a deal behind your time" sounds exactly right.<br /><br />As ever, thank you for stopping by.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-92101363064506731092014-01-28T21:45:16.985-08:002014-01-28T21:45:16.985-08:00Mr. Guirl: thank you very much for your kind words...Mr. Guirl: thank you very much for your kind words about the blog -- I appreciate your taking the time to visit.<br /><br />As for Finzi: I am fortunate to have a number of readers (such as Mr. Richter) who know infinitely more than I do about composers who have set poems to music. Thus, over the past few years I have been introduced to a great deal of music of which I was ignorant, including that of Finzi. I am always surprised and pleased to discover that so many of the poems I like have been given musical settings, particularly in the first half of the 20th century in England.<br /><br />As for ebooks, etc.: I fear that I sounded too curmudgeonly and churlish. Obviously, someone who maintains a blog is being a bit hypocritical when picking on other technologies! I don't judge others for using them, mind you. I just don't like their feel and look. But that's just me. Also, I don't possess your power of concentration: I need to find my way to a favorite chair or sofa beneath lamplight in order to focus my attention.<br /><br />Thank you very much for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-91855202639887931242014-01-28T16:54:20.699-08:002014-01-28T16:54:20.699-08:00Gads, I wrote "Finzi" when of course I m...Gads, I wrote "Finzi" when of course I meant "Flecker." Feel free to edit or add this correction.<br />Robert J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12937384579138400443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-51123576052710068792014-01-28T16:49:59.843-08:002014-01-28T16:49:59.843-08:00Finzi has a few gems, and certainly many fine line...Finzi has a few gems, and certainly many fine lines. And since to inspire parody one must first be an important writer (for only an important writer's work would be recognized in the parody), I offer in compliment to Finzi, John Heath-Stubbs’ “To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence”:<br /><br />I who am dead a thousand years<br />And wrote this crabbed post-classic screed<br />Transmit it to you—though with doubts<br />That you possess the skill to read,<br /><br />Who, with your pink mutated eyes,<br />Crouched in the radioactive swamp,<br />Beneath a leaking shelter, scan<br />These lines beside a flickering lamp;<br /><br />Or in some plastic paradise<br />Of pointless gadgets, if you dwell,<br />And finding all your wants supplied<br />Do not suspect it may be Hell.<br /><br />But does our art of words survive—<br />Do bards within that swamp rehearse<br />Tales of the twentieth century,<br />Nostalgic, in rude epic verse?<br /><br />Or do computers churn it out—<br />In lieu of songs of War and Love,<br />Neat slogans by the State endorsed<br />And prayers to them, who sit above?<br /><br />How shall we conquer—all our pride<br />Fades like a summer sunset’s glow:<br />Who will read me when I am gone—<br />For who reads Elroy Flecker now?<br /><br />Unless, dear poet, you were born,<br />Like me, a deal behind your time,<br />There is no reason you should read,<br />And much less understand, this rhyme.Robert J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12937384579138400443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-7275774550952448952014-01-28T13:16:07.261-08:002014-01-28T13:16:07.261-08:00I was delighted to see Gerald Finzi's name men...I was delighted to see Gerald Finzi's name mentioned in the comments. He is on my short list of favorite 20th century composers.<br /><br />While I, too, appreciate the sensuous pleasure of a book in hand, I am completely sold on e-book readers. Carrying a 7-ounce NOOK reader allows me to read anywhere, anytime--in line at the grocery store, waiting in an office for an appointment, while sitting on a bench on a forest path. <br /><br />Stephen, my thanks to you for your always-enjoyable blog. <br /><br />Tim GuirlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-61500597292029292702014-01-26T21:46:32.508-08:002014-01-26T21:46:32.508-08:00Mathias: thank you very much for that thought-prov...Mathias: thank you very much for that thought-provoking piece of information, and for the link to the recording of Finzi's setting. As a result of your comment, I did some quick research on "the Lydian mode," but, given my musical ignorance, I'm not sure that I grasped much! <br /><br />Nonetheless, your observation is lovely to contemplate: if Finzi intended to emphasize the Homeric/Lydian/Greek element, it is a wonderful touch by him. And, even if it occurred by chance (subconsciously), it is equally wonderful.<br /><br />As always, it is a pleasure to hear from you. Thank you very much for stopping by.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-66653286213269029292014-01-26T14:46:07.482-08:002014-01-26T14:46:07.482-08:00Dear Stephen,
You made a point about Flecker’s po...Dear Stephen,<br /><br />You made a point about Flecker’s poem which let me reassess the celebrated early song by Gerald Finzi. Stephen Banfield, his biographer, remarked that Finzi set the word “English” in “our sweet English tongue” with a Lydian inflection. I don’t want to bother you too much with musicological detail but the Lydian mode is an ancient scale with a raised fourth degree. This has a magic effect, as Banfield remarks. <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egcSZNaI7II" rel="nofollow">Listen</a> esp. at 3:30<br /><br />Now, the name refers of course to the ancient kingdom of Lydia. I can’t help but think that Finzi may have intended this strange element as a bridge to reach from old Greece to modern England or, as you said, “to readers of poetry, in any tongue.”Mathias Richterhttp://andrew-young.de.tl/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-30772088809007179852014-01-25T11:19:59.359-08:002014-01-25T11:19:59.359-08:00Fred: I'm glad you liked the poems. I lean to...Fred: I'm glad you liked the poems. I lean towards being a Luddite as well, although I do carry a cell phone. (In the event of a dead battery in my car or a stroke while I'm out for a walk! At least that's how I rationalize it.)<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-21130935703798878032014-01-25T07:09:32.591-08:002014-01-25T07:09:32.591-08:00Stephen,
Great poems, both of them.
"But h...Stephen,<br /><br />Great poems, both of them.<br /><br /><br />"But have you wine and music still,<br />And statues and a bright-eyed love,<br />And foolish thoughts of good and ill,<br />And prayers to them who sit above?"<br /><br />That's humanity.<br /><br />By the way, I have only a desktop PC. I'm such a Luddite that I don't use a mobile phone, for I want some time alone.<br />Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.com