ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I love the shape poem Maureen. ,

Dave Emo lent me a book on the late George Finey who was one of the old Sydney newspaper cartoonists. George Finey was a very well known eccentric character, he used to write his published poems in hand-writing. Sometimes he made shape poems with the words, or wrote the words in a writhing pattern like a river current, sometimes he drew shapes, like boomerangs or stars or snakes etc, then wrote the words inside the decorated shape.

His poetry was very good, by the way.

I have just realized that all this time I've spent trying to learn Bush Poetry and stumbling over Rhyme & Rhythm Punctuation etc was wasted; turns out I a natural free verse writer and didn't realize it.

Terry

Hello again David,
Dare I have the arrogance to suggest that......

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling o'er the floors of silent seas......

sounds better to me?

It's very clever as it stands, but I just thought that up for some obscure reason.

Hi Glenny

Interesting thought, and I can only make a couple of guesses as to why the lines are written this way. The poem as a whole is a dramatic monologue about isolation and indecision. It was first published in about 1915 and depicts a weak, vain man struggling through a sterile life in a bleak city. "O'er" probably wouldn't fit with the general language and style of the poem. Eliot may also have used "across" to maintain the hard "s" sounds preceding in "scuttling" and following in "silent seas". It's one of those poems that can be analysed endlessly as it's jam-packed with fascinating imagery. Two more often-quoted lines that I love (maybe because of advancing age!) are:

I grow old...I grow old...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Cheers
David

I see what you say David. With only 2 lines to go on, the 'Iambic' in them rings my Iambic ear & hears the stress falling upon the 'ling' in scuttling....which gives me hives.....why not 'over' floors of silent seas?......I reckon you're right. It seems all because of the 's' thing. Interesting. Moreso when you describe the theme. What is the work's title please?

Thanks heaps for contributing here David. You're a treasure for us all.

Cheeers
Glenny

Glenny

It's called ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’...you'll find several versions of it on the net if you google 'Eliot' and 'Prufrock'.

Cheers
David

'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ is in my new modern poetry book and I love it.

Heather

G'daaay Heather. I just saw your sig. Well THAT'S where I've been going wrong. Loving's a damned sight easier to get from men than understanding.....whoopee. The secret of Life!!

Many thanks David. I'm orf to Google.

Oscar Wilde was very wise... for a man!

But then again, he was more in touch with his feminine side than most men!

With a name like Oscar he would have to have a feminine side !!!


Bob