| A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896. |
| II. Loveliest of trees, the cherry now |
This spring has been worth waiting for hasn't it? The blossom is terrific. I can't but agree with Houseman, though I haven't fifty springs to look forward to, it is the loveliest of trees when in full blossom.
I've always liked 'Carpe Diem' poetry. We should seize the day whenever we can. The most famous must surely be Andrew Marvell's (1621-1678) To His Coy Mistress, a poem I first heard when a teenager and have returned to and often quoted since. (Times winged chariot seems to be frequently at our backs in this house). The delightful Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) with its subtitle (To The Virgins To Make Much of Time), is another favourite. I'd forgotten this poem by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) - not a poet who is well known these days but we all know the phrase at the start of the second stanza. The title is not Days of Wine and Roses, but the rather more erudite:
Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam (The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long - Horace)
Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
by Ernest DowsonThe brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our path emerges for a while, then closes Within a dream.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.uTEJ8Tv8.dpuf
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate;
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
Love and desire and hate;
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
Dowson also gives us the wonderful line 'I called for madder music and for stronger wine' in his poem Cynara.
If you were thinking 'Carpe diem' poetry has gone out of fashion since the Cavaliers, the Metaphysicals and the languid Victorians, Robert Frost and this lovely poem by Sara Teasdale (amongst others) take us into the 20th Century. But the contempory poem that set me off on this train of thought is here It's called You Can't Have It All by Barbara Ras. It won't paste from that site but do go and read it if you've time
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
Dowson also gives us the wonderful line 'I called for madder music and for stronger wine' in his poem Cynara.
If you were thinking 'Carpe diem' poetry has gone out of fashion since the Cavaliers, the Metaphysicals and the languid Victorians, Robert Frost and this lovely poem by Sara Teasdale (amongst others) take us into the 20th Century. But the contempory poem that set me off on this train of thought is here It's called You Can't Have It All by Barbara Ras. It won't paste from that site but do go and read it if you've time
And when adulthood fails you,
you can still summon the memory of the black swan on the pond
of your childhood, the rye bread with peanut butter and bananas
your grandmother gave you while the rest of the family slept. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15239#sthash.5nX1WXlz.dpuf
you can still summon the memory of the black swan on the pond
of your childhood, the rye bread with peanut butter and bananas
your grandmother gave you while the rest of the family slept. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15239#sthash.5nX1WXlz.dpuf
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstacy
Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstacy
Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstacy
Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf
Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
by Ernest DowsonThe brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our path emerges for a while, then closes Within a dream.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf
Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
by Ernest DowsonThe brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our path emerges for a while, then closes Within a dream.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf
Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam
by Ernest DowsonThe brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace
They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after We pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Our path emerges for a while, then closes Within a dream.- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf
10 comments:
For some reason, I feel very refreshed after reading this post. Not just because of the images on the page, but the images now in my mind.
Thank you so very much for posting it.
Enjoy the long weekend.
thank you, I really enjoyed all the poems!
What a literary feast....many thanks.
Thank you. I'm glad you all enjoyed my brief foray into scholarship - despite the spelling mistake I only just noticed!
I came to say thanks for leaving your comment on my piggy post and have been heaven-sent by these beautiful pics and poems- just like toffeapple above I feel incredibly refreshed by the images in my mind too!
Wish I had taken those photos. I always try to capture what a cherry tree in bloom REALLY looks like, and I never quite succeed. I really think you have done it.
Have to own up. Only the last was taken by me, the others were taken by a friend. There are old cherry orchards locally, but I haven't had time to drive out and look this year
That Dowson one always gets me. So melancholy and so true - especially for him, too.
Lovely photographs. And you posted the whole relevant verse of the Houseman. I could only remember the first two lines when I posted the same on my blog. Subsequently I found the Collected Poems of AE Houseman in an Oxfam shop in Oban, so now I should revisit.
Still think your pictures are much better than mine, though.
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