My Thoughts: The Virago Book of Wicked Verse edited by Jill Dawson

I picked up this poetry collection a few months ago from a charity shop meaning to get started on it straight away, but, typically of my relationship with poetry, this got popped onto the shelf doomed for dust and years of unlove. The Colver, Bee and Reverie poetry challenge prompted me to make a grab for this collection and I've managed to read a handful each evening. I've found that by making it part of my routine, I read it each night in the bath, I managed to sustain my interest and get through the whole collection.
The poems in this collection are written by women from all corners of the world and centuries gone by. The poems themes simply had to be considered 'wicked' in some way. There is plenty of feminism, jibes at men, tales of parenthood, friendship, religion and sex. I found that many of the poems had a comic edge to them, and I certainly was made to smile in many places. I'll admit, of course, there were some I skipped after a few lines and some which I was baffled by - generally the ancient chinese proverbs.
I've finished the collection and now have a handful of female poets to check out in more depth, these poets may be being read and reviewed soon:Sylvia Kantaris, Ann French, Ann Ziety and Mary Elizabeth Coleridge.

The Little Things in Life: A story, and some poetry and fables.

This week I've read a few bits and pieces which aren't big enough to have a post each but I thought I'd like to share them with you.



The Star Above the Forest by Stefan Zweig this has to be the most wonderfully written short story that I have ever read. Zweig depicts the moment that a waiter falls passionatly in love with a lady who he can never tell of his love let alone have. Knowing that she will soon leave and he won't get sight of her again he sets out to commit suicide.
Zweig's language is stunning, the suicide is wonderfully and subtly portrayed showing the mans deep desire to die for love of another rather than the love of himself. I have copied part of a paragraph
so you can see how beautiful the language is:

"... it was one of those seconds in which thousands of hours and days of rejoicing and torment are held spellbound, just as all the wild force of a forest of tall, dark, rustling oak trees, with their rocking branches and swaying crowns, is contained in a single tiny acorn dropping through the air."

This story is to be found in Amok and Other Stories, published by Pushkin Press.



Whilst browsing poetry in the Oxfam bookshop I came across this miniscule book of poems, and had to have it for its size and the little sketches and poems contained within. The 'Parson and Poet' is a tiny, both in size and page numbers, collection by Robert Herrick, a seventeenth century British poet. This tiny 18 page book is filled with verse, epitaphs and odd lines of poetry. The main themes seem to center around the idea that life is short so enjoy it while you can.
An example of the poetry contained:
To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time



Polish Fables: Bilingual Edition by Ignacy Krasicki (trans. Greard T. Kapolka). I grabbed this from the library the other day when I was searching out poery. The fables are similar to Aesop's Fables in many ways, although apparently many can be read as a response to the first partition of Poland (about which I know nothing). Despite this it is clear to say that the messages often focus on the strong taking advantages of the weak.
Ignacy Krasicki published these poems in their original form in 1779, yet it is interesting to see how many of them still relate to the modern world.
Here's a taster:

The Flattering Mirror
When she looked in the mirror at her reflection
The girl was pleased that it lightened her complexion
When her friend came by, much plainer than she,
She saw that it made her less ugly.
That the neighbor was pleased just gave the girl fits,
So she shattered the flattering mirror to bits.

The Sunday Salon: New Challenges.

Here I was just mindlessly going through my Googlereader and I came across 2 of Eva's posts and now I'm signed up to two new challenges!
Clover, Bee and Reverie: A Poetry Challenge, how could I resist with a brilliant name like this! I may have a degree in English Literature but I always avoided poetry as much as possible at university and I've read very little since I finished university. But, I do enjoy reading poetry and teaching it. I love the selection which I teach for the GCSE pupils, a mix of multicultural poems, a selection by Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage and a handful of pre 19th century poems added in to boot. I think the reason I struggle to read poetry at home is because I feel I can't really get a feel for the individual poems if I read a collection in one sitting, but if I try dipping in and out I soon forget that the book is sitting there.
There are 4 levels of participation, and I'm going for the hardest one the 'Sonnet' in which you have to read 14 collections of poems, which includes completing two badges (2 collections which are connected in some way), and one at expert level (4 books which are connected in some way).
I'm thinking that my two badges will be Modernist (Ezra Pound, T.S Elliot or H.D - an area I'm comfortable in as I've studied some of the key poems and wrote my dissertation about the wonderful 'The Wasteland'), and something by The Beat Poets who I've always meant to read but never got around to.
For the expert level I'm looking at reading poets from around the world, hopefully at least one from 4 different continents (this would probably be completed using anthologies so I get a real feel for a place).
I'm hoping to revisit a few favourite writers such as T.S Eliot, Ezra Pound, Carol Ann Duffy, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Les Murray and Thom Gunn.
And I also want to try a few of these who I've always meant to get to: ee cummings, WH Auden, Philip Larkin, Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickenson.
Poetry Read:
1. Robert Herrick
2. Polish Fables
3. The Virago Book of Wicked Verse, ed. Jill Dawson





I'm also joining The World Religion Challenge 2010, as my knowledge of religion is minimal and this is going to be a steep learning curve. This challenge also has different 'paths' and I'm going for a toughy, The Universalist Path which requires reading about the 5 main religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and more books about any or all of the following: Shintoism, Animism, Taoism, Confucianism, Wicca, Mythology, Atheism, Occult, Tribal Religions, Voodoo, Unitarianism, Baha'i, Cults, Scientology, Mysticism, Rastafarianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zorastrianism, Agnosticism, Gnosticism, Satanism, Manichaeism, Deism, Comparative Religion, Religious Philosophy, Jungiansim, Symbolism, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc., etc. etc. (you may also read about another aspect of one of the 5 Biggies)
Any type of book is valid whether it is fiction, non-fiction, poerty or a religious text (I may even read the Bible, something I've always meant to do). You are also encourage to find out more through movies, attending a service, taking part in a celebration etc.
I'm not really sure where to start with this in terms of books to choose, I think it'll be a case of looking at other people's choices and recommendations and sitting in the library and flicking through some books to get a feel for the way the texts are written - I don't want anything to academic. I'm really interested in reading about religions such as Wicca, Scientology and Mysticism as well as learning more about the main religions.