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Poetry Circle, August


Guest ii

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Okay, so most of my poetry books are already in boxes, and as I didn't want to burden you with a Shakespeare sonnet, I had to go with Wilde...

 

Camma

(to Ellen Terry)

 

As one who poring on a Grecian urn

scans the fair shapes some Attic hand hath made,

God with slim goddess, goodly man with maid,

And for their beauty's sake is loth to turn

And face the obvious day, must I not yearn

For many a secret moon of indolent bliss,

When in midmost shrine of Artemis

I see thee standing, antique-limbed, and stern?

 

And yet - methinks I'd rather see thee play

That serpent of old Nile, whose witchery

Made Emperors drunken - come, great Egypt, shake

Our stage with all thy mimic pageants! Nay,

I am grown sick of unreal passions, make

The world thine Actium, me thine Anthony!

Edited by ii
typo in the title, the only thing I DIDN'T check twice!
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Clever - the reference to Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn" is so obvious it becomes subtle again, one could say, and very well handled.

 

I particularly like the second stanza though, I'm not sure if there's any actual direct quotage (I read "Antony and Cleopatra" only once, three years ago) but what with the mentioning of stages and pageants I doubt the Shakespeare allusion is just in my mind - especially as the power that theatre has to immortalise love is so often found in Wilde's appraisals of Shakespeare (see: "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.").

 

Very powerful last two lines, to the poet the recreation of a love affair historical but immortalised in fiction seems more real than the parody of emotions so often expressed by men.

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I have to say this poem was completely unknown to me before I posted it here. I am not, at all, familiar with Wilde's poetry. But this seemed interesting, so I thought I'd let you all take a swing at it as well.

 

I think one almost problem one has with this is that there's so much to take hold of, there's so many points you want to comment and explore.

 

Personally, what got my attention right away, was the reference to Artemis. I love the Greek mythology with a passion, so naturally this intrigued me. Artemis, who was the virgin goddess of hunting, wilderness and wild animals, and the protector of young girls. While she was a protector, she was also responsible for bringing upon the girls and young women disease and sudden deaths.

 

And that's just what echoes the word 'Artemis' carries. Like I said, it's like the poem is too full to get a grip of, or is it just me?

Edited by ii
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I've always struggled with poetry and have to say, I agree with you ii when you say it is too much - too much to think about and many references, some of which are lost on me

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I've always struggled with poetry and have to say, I agree with you ii when you say it is too much - too much to think about and many references, some of which are lost on me
Which is why, in my opinion, annotated editions are a thing of marvel. After four solid years of English Lit degrees even I am sometimes at a loss, and that is when footnotes can come in extremely useful. I reccommend these (I'd say Oxford World's Classics are the more accessible; Longman's Annotated Poets series is rather magnificent but a bit more academic in its intended audience) as I'd hate to think that people are missing out on the joy of poetry - and it is a joy - because they cannot get past the references.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I love the 'classic' feel to this poem, both in it's structure and it's points of refernce.

 

In many ways it reads as a glowing homage to Ellen Terry, the commentray evoking images of Gods, Godesses and all manner of goodly people, yet he completes the first verse with,

 

' I see thee standing, antique-limbed and stern.'

 

Antique-limbed suggests advanced age, despite the reference to Artemis, a Goddess associated with vitality and fertility.

 

The second verse appears to refer to Cleopatra with,

 

'That serpent of old Nile,'

 

Wilde concludes the poem with no / 'Nay', I don't want all this acting / 'I am growing sick with unreal passions' .

 

Let me be your faithful servant, willing to fight for you, and lose if it be so. /

'Make the world thine Actium, me thine Anthony'. Withthis final line speaking of the battle of Actium where, spurred on by Cleopatra, Mark Anthony was defeated and later commited suicide.

 

Overall it is a strong poem, and you get a sense of Wilde's admiration for his strong minded and able actress friend.

Edited by Chrissy
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  • 2 months later...
Okay, so most of my poetry books are already in boxes, and as I didn't want to burden you with a Shakespeare sonnet, I had to go with Wilde...

 

Camma

(to Ellen Terry)

 

As one who poring on a Grecian urn

scans the fair shapes some Attic hand hath made,

God with slim goddess, goodly man with maid,

And for their beauty's sake is loth to turn

And face the obvious day, must I not yearn

For many a secret moon of indolent bliss,

When in midmost shrine of Artemis

I see thee standing, antique-limbed, and stern?

 

And yet - methinks I'd rather see thee play

That serpent of old Nile, whose witchery

Made Emperors drunken - come, great Egypt, shake

Our stage with all thy mimic pageants! Nay,

I am grown sick of unreal passions, make

The world thine Actium, me thine Anthony!

 

Great poem. First I've heard of it. I'd love to analyze it further. I'll think more about it, learn more about the historic and literary references, and post a response later on.

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Great poem. First I've heard of it. I'd love to analyze it further. I'll think more about it, learn more about the historic and literary references, and post a response later on.
I like your attitude :welcome2: look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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  • 2 months later...

So, I read the Wikipedia description of Oscar Wilde, and read the Ellen Terry's bio. Very interesting stories. The reference to Keat's Ode on a Grecian Urn as great. http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/urn.html

 

I also read Tennyson's short tragedy The Cup on which Camma is based. Very easy read but interesting story. It gave a good background to this piece. http://telelib.com/words/authors/T/TennysonAlfred/play/cup/index.html

 

Found Plutarch's On the Bravery of Women: XX which describes Camma. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Bravery_of_Women*/B.html#XX

Edited by Capture
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  • 6 months later...

Ah, I've just trawled back through the forum and found the first Poetry Circle thread, so that answers my questions.

 

If you are going to have a separate thread every month, might not an explantion of the purpose of Circle in the first post each time be useful, especially a year or two down the line?

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