Lucy Crispin – Page 7 – lucy crispin, poet

the condition of music

Dec 10, 2020 #art, #Auden, #ballad, #content, #experience, #folk tale, #form, #innocence, #lyric, #meaning, #Pater, #Philip Larkin, #reader response, #Walter Pater, #WH Auden by Lucy Crispin

Walter Pater says somewhere or other, I forget where, that “All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music”. He continues, “For while in all other kinds of art it is possible to distinguish the matter from the form, and the understanding can always make this distinction, yet it is the constant effort of art to obliterate it.” What I take from this is something about the relationship between form and content: how in the best poems the equation is not form plus content = meaning, but form times content = impact/connection/experience. And this week’s poem seems to me to be one which ‘aspires’ successfully. Have a read of ‘As I Walked Out One Evening‘ by Auden, and see what you think.

poetry appreciation

splendidly silly

Dec 3, 2020 #Ancient Music, #autumn, #Ezra Pound, #grumbling, #humour, #mediaeval, #parody, #Pound, #Sumer is Icumen in, #winter by Lucy Crispin

It’s always good to have something to raise a smile. On a day like today—it’s dreich and the light has never been off, even at noon—this poem has been doing that for me, its repetitions and rhythms forming the soundtrack for my drippy, muddy morning walk. Join me in delighting in Pound’s delicious parody of ‘Sumer is Icumen in’, simply titled ‘Ancient Music‘.

poetry appreciation

just part of the deal

Nov 26, 2020 #grief, #grieving, #in blackwater woods, #losing, #loss, #love, #loving, #Mary Oliver, #Oliver, #oodgeroo of the Noonuccal, #song, #wisdom, #wise by Lucy Crispin

The author of today’s poem, Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal, was born on the 3rd November 1920. We’re just managing to squeak in this wonderful poem of hers at the end of her birthday month. Join with me in delight in the lightly-worn wisdom of the unpretentious and wonderful ‘Song‘.

poetry appreciation

difficult thoughts

When times are hard, is it helpful or appalling to read something and realise that times have been hard in the same way before (and therefore probably will be again)? Mostly, as you’ll know by now, I tend to think it’s helpful to read and know you are not alone; but when today’s poem presented itself for duty in my head, seeming apt for the times, resonant and gloomy, I did initially feel a bit droopier than I already had been. So, see what you think: do you feel droopier when you read ‘The Leaden Eyed‘ by Vachel Lindsay? (Note: in versions I’ve seen in print there is a stanza break between lines 4 and 5, which doesn’t appear in this online version.)

poetry appreciation

the joy of autumn

Nov 12, 2020 #academia, #autumn, #change, #crispin, #Lucy Crispin, #November sends me a postcard, #peace, #possibility, #renewal, #rest, #seasons, #spring, #the blue nib, #winter by Lucy Crispin

I don’t know if it’s because one way and another I ended up spending a ridiculously long time in the academic system—schoolchild, student (several times!), lecturer, then student again—but to me autumn has always felt much more like the beginning of things than spring. The changes in light and landscape always wake in me a quiet excitement, a sense simultaneously of possibility and openings and yet also, with the longer evenings and nights, the opportunity for peace, retreat, renewal. That probably sounds paradoxical, I know. But it’s true. So that’s what this hymn to November is about.

poetry appreciation

temporarily moving in the same direction

I love being on trains; or I did, BC. Like everyone else in the world I’ve crossed out many trips and treats from my diary over the last 8 months, and it seems such a long time since I enjoyed that licence-to-drift which train travel affords. So I was delighted to discover ‘Poem for Passengers‘ by Matthew Zapruder. It really captures the experience for me. See what you think.

poetry appreciation

autumn beauty

Oct 29, 2020 #ageing, #autumn, #beauty, #inspire, #melancholy, #poems, #poetry, #school, #swans, #teacher, #The Wild Swans at Coole, #time, #trees, #WB Yeats, #woods, #Yeats by Lucy Crispin

This was one of the three poems that changed the course of my life. That sounds rather dramatic, but it’s true. We “Did” Yeats for A-level and I was blessed with one of those teachers whose capacity to inspire you feel at the time without really realising what’s going on. Without Stevie I don’t know if I would have “got” literature and followed it as student, teacher, writer, throughout my life. So this is a very important poem for me. Here it is: ‘The Wild Swans at Coole‘ by Yeats.*

poetry appreciation

thank you

At the moment, the world is offering us lots of reminders that life is short and time’s winged chariot is always hurrying near. It’s easy to get sucked into fear, anger or sorrow about this. They’re all around us (as well as inside us). So I was particularly delighted to discover this poem which suggests a different and beautiful response to intimations of mortality. Here it is: ‘Thank you‘ by Ross Gay. Read it and be refreshed. (You can also hear him read a couple of bits from a recent book here.)

poetry appreciation

now, what was that thing…?

Oct 15, 2020 #ageing, #Billy Collins, #Collins, #comedy, #comic muse, #forget, #forgetfulness, #forgetting, #Larkin, #magic eye, #Philip Larkin, #remember, #remembering, #sad steps, #thalia by Lucy Crispin

Do you remember those Magic Eye pictures? I thought they were a craze in the 80s but according to their website it was the 90s (I seem to have mislaid a decade somewhere or other). The pictures came to mind this morning when I was trying to remember a name I’d forgotten: something about the way I had to stop striving to see the 3D image in order to be able to do so made me think of what it can be like these days trying to retrieve something from long-term mental storage. And that made me think of ‘Forgetfulness‘ by Billy Collins. If you can bear not to read it straight away, do click the red arrow by the title to hear the author reading it. It’s a great way to meet the poem.

poetry appreciation

strangeness making sense

Oct 8, 2020 #alone, #aloneness, #belonging, #comfort, #home, #isolation, #Larkin, #loneliness, #lonely, #Philip Larkin, #poem, #poetry, #relationship, #society, #solitude, #The importance of Elsewhere, #Vers de Societe by Lucy Crispin

The other poem in my head while I was on holiday was one I almost always hear in there when I’m away from home: Larkin’s ‘The Importance of Elsewhere‘. The experience of being where no-one knows your name (apologies for the echo of the Cheers theme tune which may have just drifted across your mind) can feel safe or frightening, liberating or paralysing, and I’ve always loved Larkin’s exploration of these facts in this poem.

Author: Lucy Crispin