Poem of the Day (May 28)

[Anonymous No.20434381]

What are your thoughts on this poem, /lit/?

The Enkindled Spring by D. H. Lawrence

Yesterday's poem >>20429355

[Anonymous No.20434382]

>D.H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930), novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist, was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, on September 11, 1885. Though better known as a novelist, Lawrence's first-published works (in 1909) were poems, and his poetry, especially his evocations of the natural world, have since had a significant influence on many poets on both sides of the Atlantic. His early poems reflect the influence of Ezra Pound and Imagist movement, which reached its peak in the early teens of the twentieth century. When Pound attempted to draw Lawrence into his circle of writer-followers, however, Lawrence decided to pursue a more independent path.
>He believed in writing poetry that was stark, immediate and true to the mysterious inner force which motivated it. Many of his best-loved poems treat the physical and inner life of plants and animals; others are bitterly satiric and express his outrage at the puritanism and hypocrisy of conventional Anglo-Saxon society. Lawrence was a rebellious and profoundly polemical writer with radical views, who regarded sex, the primitive subconscious, and nature as cures to what he considered the evils of modern industrialized society. Tremendously prolific, his work was often uneven in quality, and he was a continual source of controversy, often involved in widely-publicized censorship cases, most famously for his novel Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928). His collections of poetry include Look! We Have Come Through (1917), a collection of poems about his wife; Birds, Beasts, and Flowers (1923); and Pansies (1929), which was banned on publication in England.

[Anonymouṡ No.20434424]

>>20434381
>Tremendously prolific, his work was often uneven in quality
His work wasn't prolific. *He* was prolific.

Anyway, the poem is good enough, I guess, but 'good enough' isn't really good enough. There's too much poetry out there for that.

[Anonymous No.20434441]

>>20434424
>His work wasn't prolific. *He* was prolific.
That's what it says.

[Anonymous No.20434447]

>>20434424
there's no such thing as a prolific work

[Anonymous No.20434448]

Sad that this thread is so dead. There should be a /poetry general/
Anyway, r8 my poem.
It is set from the perspective of an American M1 Abrams tank crewman engaged in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Title: "War isn`t all that Reddit said it would be"

There was supposed to be more pomp and flair,
White gloves and shined boots,
like the processions in D.C.,
Or dusty faces and screaming heroes,
like the war films on T.V.,
But at the tip of the spear,
the bhearna bhaoil*,
There was not mud,
nor stormclouds,
nor onslaught of hail,
And one two zero,
mils of power,
Were not so different from uncle`s rifle,
except for only,
a nation louder,
And with a flash of yellow,
it was just the same sharp bellow,
when a Russian hit their powder.

*the bhearna bhaoil = line from the Irish national anthem (I`m Irish), roughly translates as "the breech of battle"

[Anonymous No.20434463]

>>20434448
Not the worst but nothing to do with the thread

[Anonymous No.20435169]

Bump

[Anonymous No.20435191]

Wow, that is amazing. I love it. It feels so dense, not only in terms of imagery, but also in sound, like when I read it aloud it feels like I'm exercising my mouth or something, and the rhymes work perfectly but aren't showy. And the whole idea of a blaze of vegetation is just so exciting, flames of greenery, vines, flowers. One of my favourites that has ever been posted I think.

[Anonymous No.20435324]

>>20434448
Make a poetry general

[Anonymouṡ No.20435863]

>>20434441
No. That's what it's trying to say. It isn't succeeding.

>>20434447
Exactly. That's why what I quoted was nonsense, written by someone who can't write.

[Anonymous No.20436105]

i need to read more of Lawrence. It's too late for the novels tho, i tried reading those and found them ridiculous but the poetry is quite fine.

Is it me or is this quite a hissy poem? lots of 'sh' sounds and similar sounds. Generously i'd say it mimics the sounds of rushing water, but thats bull and i know it.

[Anonymous No.20436165]

>>20436105
yes it is very sibilant, especially the first line which hisses on almost every word. love it.

[Anonymous No.20436285]

>>20436165
He is going for an archaic sound, right?
I dont remember the books sounding old fashioned, but then again It's often the case with experimental novelists, that their poetry aims at convention. Just look at Joyce .

[Anonymous No.20436315]

>>20436285
It doesn't sound old-fashioned to me, really. The only bit I think does sound old fashioned is the inversion of the adjective in the first line: 'bonfires green'. Why do you think it sounds archaic?

[Anonymous No.20436347]

>>20436315
well 'enkindled' is not exactly new, and If google is to be trusted is more of a 1830 word.
But it also just has old sound to it. ' My spirit is tossed' , 'what fountain of fire am I among ', to me it sounds intentionally old and nostalgic. Also the romantic 'i have a feeling and it's about that tree over there' was long out of fashion by then

[Anonymous No.20436389]

>>20436347
I don't fully agree with all of your examples, but I see your perspective clearer now. I haven't read much Lawrence myself, just a few short stories really. The little bio here >>20434382 does mention his tendency towards naturalism as a theme, and he was a Victorian Englishman, after all. It doesn't sound very old to me though, really, there is something modern to it all for me. I'm surprised he died in 1930, actually, I thought he died much later, he was very young when he went.

[Anonymous No.20436503]

>>20436389
I think he is a much better poet then novelist. Larkin thought so too. There was quite a bit of him in that anthology he edited for Oxford.

[Anonymous No.20437631]

Bump