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Viv Wigley
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Old friends

Blog Posted by Viv Wigley: 7/11/2015 8:53:00 AM

Greetings, one and all.

This website is a fine custodian for many superb works from across the globe, and

I'm sure that we all fave and gasp in awe at the current input, but I was sorting out my

bookshelf yesterday and looking at the poems that I return to again and again- my old

friends. I have many, but there are some that rise to the top of the froth that you can

rely on to keep you on an even keel, bolster your spirit and make you feel good about the world.

I  recently had a bit of banter with Kim Patrice Nunez about a poem she wrote about an ant, and

mentioned that she had not read a similar poem by Ogden Nash. She is now a fan of the mighty Ogden.

If you get the chance, check out his work. Which led me to post this about my favourite poems I've grown up with, and to comment on just a half dozen in less than four words. Here are my fave six- please feel free to add yours, and broaden our minds, in less than four words.

Abou Ben Adhem (Leigh Hunt) - My first listen, child

Warning (Jenny Joseph)- Rebellion

The Soldier (Rupert Brooke)- Classic

The Raven (Edgar Allen Poe)- Jackanory (research!)

 Dulce et Decorum est (Wilfred Owen)- bleak futility

Elegy in a Country Churchyard (Thomas Grey)- best first stanza- ever

Ok, seven; She walks in beauty (Lord Byron).

Oh, sod it- The Termite (Ogden Nash)- Makes me smile

 

Thanks for your forebearance, Viv x

 

 

 



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Date: 7/15/2015 11:51:00 PM
I have a bit different tastes I think, some of which is just fun stuff to read especially aloud Anything by Shel Silverstein but "Sick" Poe "The Bells" love the sounds and intonation. My Life Closed Twice..Emily Dickinson My Last Duchess.. Robert Browning..love the tounge in cheek tone and irony Most Like an Arch This Marriage...John Ciardi...perfect description To the Virgins to Make Much of Time...Robert Herrick..because this is a humorous proposition to loosing said virginity "Idylls of King" ..Alfred Lord Tennyson.. a great epic writer and its Arthurian legend. The Jabberwoky...Lewis Carroll..its a fun read John Donne. I like his wisdom and wit "Death of a Hired Man".. Frost
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/16/2015 1:11:00 AM
Thanks for contributing, Janet, plenty of old friends for us to chew on. Yes, Emily Dickinson- short but powerful, and enigmatic. Jabberwocky I've always found comforting, apart from it's entertainment value, it is my excuse for occasionally spouting gibberish (or should that be 'jabberish'? Viv x
Date: 7/15/2015 12:21:00 PM
Hi Viv: Just blowing through quickly this morning and read this whole blog. I am like you and Broken Wings in that I buy old tattered poetry books, dictionaries and language books from used book stores, library sales. I love all the poems you mentioned...learened Abu Ben Adam in school,,,May his tribe increase. and could recite Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Heart. I will come back later with my list of 8. That is a task in itself but I know it will include Rilke, Neruda and Gerard Manly Hopkins and Rimbaud and of Course Emily Dickenson. Great blog, SuZ
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Suzanne Delaney
Date: 7/15/2015 2:30:00 PM
ha ha Viv: I love acerbic wit and Ogden was a master of it. Working on my list and remembered on called Green which I think was by Ferdinand Pessoa....have to verify that first....I think when you love something you want to memorize it. That was rhymes first purpose so that we could remember the stories
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/15/2015 2:08:00 PM
Thanks for dropping by, Suzy. To say that I'm impressed with your ability to recite Thomas grey's Elegy is an understatement- my mental capacity nowadays would just about be able to manage Ogden Nsh's Ode to a baby- "A bit of talcum is always walcum". Looking forward to your old friends. Viv x
Date: 7/13/2015 12:42:00 PM
Hi, Viv. A while back a taught English Composition II which is all about argumentative writing. The poem by Owen was given as an example of an implicit argument against war. I was really moved by it, and it has stayed with me since. I do like Death, Be not Proud by Donne, one of my favorite poets. :)
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/13/2015 1:15:00 PM
Yes, I like that poem for it's comforting 'where is thy sting' approach, and Owen's is a household classic, safe to say. Hope you're feeling better, Eileen. If not, may I suggest the juice of a freshly squeezed bottle of Scotch- it won't cure you, but you won't care x
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Eileen Manassian
Date: 7/13/2015 12:45:00 PM
Oh...there are many more, but....I just gave you a few. I'm a bit weary. Just wanted to let you know I appreciate your visits to me today. I needed some cheering up, so I passed by here to let you know. Hugs
Date: 7/12/2015 4:48:00 PM
I love -She walks in beauty by Lord Byron too, I love 'Daffodils 'by William Wordsworth, 'Sonnet 18 ' by Shakespeare ,'Ode to a nightingale ' by John keats , I love 'If you forget me ' , and 'I can write the saddest verse ' by Pablo Neruda . I love many of Frost ,Burns, Rumi , and I so love all poems of Emily Dickinson . There are some maltese poets that I love too. Great blog.
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/12/2015 9:48:00 PM
Thanks, Charmaine I shall have to investigate the Maltese poets further. Viv x
Date: 7/11/2015 11:58:00 PM
Okay, should stay on topic. Off the top of my head: When I Am Dead My Dearest (Christina Georgina Rossetti) – requests of a soon to be dead ; Annabel Lee (Edgar Allan Poe) – undying love for the now dead beloved; She Walks In Beauty –(Lord Byron) – a classic ; Sonnet 29 (William Shakespeare) – depressed mode; comfort found in friendship ; The Raven (Edgar Allan Poe) –first exploration into dark poetry ;How Do I Love Thee – (Elizabeth Barrett-Browning) – eloquent, passionate declaration of love. Just realized that my list dwelled on death and love mostly, with one thrown in on angst. Fun blog!
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/12/2015 12:47:00 AM
A lovely bunch of old friends, Kim, and I wouldn't worry about the content- you can't separate death from love anyway. Viv x
Date: 7/11/2015 11:57:00 PM
Hmmn...I see my name up there and had I known I would have made a comment earlier (should make more effort to visit blogs more often). First, I LOVE your Bio especially your interests in "tap dancing for social ridicule,...learning to play the Pandemonium quietly...". Amazing really. About my recent ogdenanish exploration : Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer and Biological Reflection. :-)))
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/12/2015 12:46:00 AM
Glad to see that you're finding much enjoymentation from all things Ogdenashun, Kim. Viv x
Date: 7/11/2015 9:06:00 PM
Viv, love reading the poets of old, I am always dragging poetry books home from second hand stores, they inspire me a lot in my writing
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Constance La France
Date: 7/12/2015 5:25:00 PM
Viv, I am also addicted to dictionary's of all types, I have quite the assortment and some old and tattered and beautiful poetry books, I like the anthologies best where I can read about the poets life's and their poems, it is amazing the information to be found in second hand stores, my bookcase is bulging and I think I cannot fit another book but I do somehow . .
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/12/2015 12:43:00 AM
Yes, BW, it's nice to find a little gem for next to nothing- my last find was 'Ballads and ballad poems' , original publication from 1921, coincidentally from a Church fete at All Saints, the subject of my poem 'All Saints Church, Mackworth'. Viv x
Date: 7/11/2015 1:53:00 PM
ANYTHING WRITTEN BY Alun Lewis - Love ya, Alun... R.I.P.
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/12/2015 12:40:00 AM
Nice oldfriend, Julia, and I agree. 'All day it had rained' is an old friend, too. Viv x
Date: 7/11/2015 9:53:00 AM
I have read six of those you listed my friend. First two I have not read but will do so after this post. If I made a list of my fav poems it would be at least a hundred or more. Simply could not narrow it down more methinks. Great blog amigo.
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/11/2015 10:07:00 AM
Hi Robert, my books on the shelf would be similar to yours, but my old friends are these. I look forward to seeing your old friends. Regards, Viv. Ps- reasons for liking poems; only four words or less.
Date: 7/11/2015 9:40:00 AM
Abou Ben Adam - one of my faves too mum often recites it:-) read the Wilfred Owen as it is still a poem studied in our school and Lord Byron too:-) Hugs Jan and I too LOVE your hunourous bio:-)
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Viv Wigley
Date: 7/11/2015 10:10:00 AM
Thanks, Jan, it's a sort of 'desert island discs' blog, but if you think about it , we are cluttered with literate works, so it's an interesting exercise in paring things down, and probably says more about you than you would have thunk previously. Have a go. Love 'n hugs, fellow Abou fan, Viv x . Ps- four word precis max x

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