I would like to be a Romantic
who never combs her hair,
and dreams of sights
of which she writes
with passion bold and fair.
I would pass through ancient castles
with crenellated walls,
and then by rhyme
I would enshrine
the masters of those halls.
I might compose a symphony
of horns and winds and strings,
or weave a tale
where man prevails
against a mighty fiend,
but Ibsen took genius away,
and Ezra stole my passion,
and now I mourn,
bleak and forlorn,
in a cage of ink they fashioned.
Why must the Hollow Men arise
as victors of all battles,
where words contend
to garner men
as academic chattel?
Why can't the Silmarils ignite
the embers of creation
that yet remain
within men's brains
and wait for confrontation
with Candides and Chrysanthemums
that offer only nostrums?
For misery
is no remedy,
when misery is the problem.
Author notes
Evil angels are the best
username: ontarah
Option 1. This form is just ballad verse in which I've split the third line in each stanza and added internal rhyme. If this sort of semi-made up form poetry isn't what you were after than drop it.
I wrote this fueled mostly by abject hatred of Eliot, Pound, and the disillusionment in general. Give me the Romantics or the Inklings any day of the week. Yea, yea, Ibsen's a modernist and Steinbeck's a naturalist (or whatever) Fatalism the lot of it. I hate it. The one real exception here is Candide which I'm taking rather literally instead of satirically.
A contest entry
- Unsung Prewrites! by Justified Inc..
700 points, ended April 2, 68 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Best Prewrites! by movedon.
1750 points, ended May 8, 363 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Forms/Dirty Pretty by the evil angel.
400 points, ended May 10, 49 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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I'm thinking a no on the form. BUT your poem is wonderfully done. I want to thank you for showing this to me because it is honestly quite beautifully done.
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Lovely Cadence
I loved the rhyme! I also loved the comical satire. So fun to read and laughed a bit at a few lines.
You did so well with this! It is a great read!
Well done!
Bravo!
Justified Inc.
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