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One of the main aspects about music I love the most are lyrics, and thus comes my fascination with poetry. So excuse my self-indulgence each week as I post a poem which I love.
This week I have chosen Sylvia Plath's Ennui. Plath describes longing and frustration with life as well as any other poet and Ennui is a fine example of this.
Ennui
Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe,
designing futures where nothing will occur:
cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she
will still predict no perils left to conquer.
Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight
finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard
of, while blasé princesses indict
tilts at terror as downright absurd.
The beast in Jamesian grove will never jump,
compelling hero’s dull career to crisis;
and when insouciant angels play God’s trump,
while bored arena crowds for once look eager,
hoping toward havoc, neither pleas nor prizes
shall coax from doom’s blank door lady or tiger.
Plath also influenced one of my favourite bands of last year, The Antlers. Here is a lovely song they wrote about her.
The Antlers-Sylvia (Live at the Orchard NYC)
As someone who knows nothing about poetry, this is very nice...
ReplyDeleteI think. Next time, more rhyming.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door,
"Tis some visitor" I muttered "tapping at my chamber door,
Only this and nothing more"
That came entirely from my braincase, without checking wiki. Have the Simpsons ever animated a Plath poem??? Cause they should.
My fave: "my father moved through dooms of love" by e e cummings. The first time I read it, my jaw literally dropped. It remains one of the most gorgeous things I've ever read.
ReplyDeletehttp://compendium.vuduc.org/aupoem114.html
I love this feature! So often in music poetic content is ignored for technique or style. This is a good counterpoint to the BEP song lyrics analysis as well. I recently found out one of my favorite lesser-known poets and author of my most beloved children's book (Delmore Schwartz) taught creative writing to Lou Reed.
ReplyDelete