Monday 12 March 2012

Fools rush in? Almost April Fools...

Next Meet-up:Thursday 5th April @ Six Eight Kafe 6.30pm

(We will be returning to the last Thursday of the month - apologies for the changes to schedule)


As suggested by Tessa, the next meet-up will be in honour of All Fools Day...


The nine poems we will be sounding out and discussing are:
  1. Symposium by Paul Muldoon
  2. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - An Excerpt by William Blake
  3. Llyr, by Gillian Clarke
  4. 'Thou blind fool love' Sonnet 137 by William Shakespeare
  5. 'since feeling is first' by e.e. cumming
  6. The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot
  7. You're by Sylvia Plath
  8. The triple fool by John Donne
  9. The Fool By The RoadSide by William Butler Yeats
(I will provide copies of the poems at the meet-up.)

          The Triple Fool
                          BY JOHN DONNE


I am two fools, I know,
      For loving, and for saying so
          In whining poetry;
But where's that wiseman, that would not be I,
          If she would not deny?
Then as th' earth's inward narrow crooked lanes
    Do purge sea water's fretful salt away,
I thought, if I could draw my pains
    Through rhyme's vexation, I should them allay.
Grief brought to numbers cannot be so fierce,
For he tames it, that fetters it in verse.

      But when I have done so,
      Some man, his art and voice to show,
          Doth set and sing my pain;
And, by delighting many, frees again
          Grief, which verse did restrain.
To love and grief tribute of verse belongs,
    But not of such as pleases when 'tis read.
Both are increased by such songs,
    For both their triumphs so are published,
And I, which was two fools, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fools be.

2 comments:

  1. It's a very interesting idea: to meet to discuss about poems!! It reminds me the film "The Jane Austen Book Club" (very nice film especially for a Jane Austen lover like me!!) It's a pity I live so far from you (and maybe don't speak english as well enough to discuss poetry... but this could be a way to improve my knowledge): I live in Bergamo, in the north of Italy. Ciao!

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  2. Hello - thank you for your warm comments;-) Haha I'm no Jane Austen fan but I do like her films;-)

    I've let this blog lapse...we did have another meetup in May which was lovely.

    I'm thinking about reviving the group - will keep you posted. Bergamo to Birmingham. Could we translate some Italian poetry?

    Ciao and good wishes
    Saba

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