Welcome once again to my poetry page!
I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then go on to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.
And here, courtesy of my housemaid Rachel, are this week’s suggested poems to read—suggestions inspired by the themes and subjects in this week's story. Hopefully you will enjoy the poems, and perhaps they may give you some ideas for a poem of your own or allow you to look at Dr. Watson's story in a new way.
Critics and Connoisseurs by Marianne Moore
Note from Rachel: "Critics and Connoisseurs" seems to me to encapsulate Mr. Holmes's early attitude toward Scotland Yard. I imagine him comparing the inspectors to animals he observed during his college days—a territorial swan that Mr. Holmes could only prod into movement by feeding it a steady stream of morsels; an ant colony that patrolled in circles stubbornly waving sticks. "I have seen ambition without understanding in a variety of forms," the poet scoffs. I would love to hear your thoughts on Mr. Holmes's relationship with the official police and their interactions in these early years. The first stanza of this poem also serendipitously uses the image of a pup (perhaps Dr. Watson's elusive bull pup?) reaching for scraps at the dinner table. In contrast to the later stanzas, which describe Mr. Holmes's exasperation with the self-conscious parading of ambition, he finds himself oddly charmed by the ungainly, unself-conscious poetry of a new domestic life with Dr. Watson.
Fame is a Beeby Emily Dickinson
Note from Rachel: The story ends with Dr. Watson vowing that someday he will ensure that Mr. Holmes gets the credit he deserves from the public. We know that Dr. Watson succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, but Mr. Holmes has a vexed relationship with the Doctor’s writings from here on out, relying on them for publicity and employment but also disparaging their style and at times uncomfortable with the notoriety they bring. But in the end, he sees Dr. Watson as his biographer and Boswell, and would be lost without him. I thought Emily Dickinson’s short reflection might fit this Holmesian theme.
And to finish, my suggested form to revisit this week is the
englyn. (The link will take you back to a previous poetry page.)
But you do not have to use that form. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:
221B verselet,
abecedarian poetry,
acrostic poetry,
alexandrine,
ballad,
beeswing,
blackout poetry,
blues stanza,
bref double,
Burns stanza,
call and response,
chastushka,
cinquain,
circular poetry,
clerihew,
colour poems,
concrete poetry,
Cornish verse,
curtal sonnet,
diamante,
doggerel,
double dactyl,
ekphrasis,
elegiac couplet,
elegiac stanza,
elfje,
englyn,
epigram,
epitaph,
epulaeryu,
Etheree,
fable,
Fib,
found poetry,
ghazal,
haiku,
Italian sonnet,
jueju,
kennings poem,
lanturne,
limerick,
lyric poetry,
mathnawī,
micropoetry,
mini-monoverse,
palindrome poetry,
pantoum,
Parallelismus Membrorum,
poem cycle,
quintilla,
renga,
riddle,
rime couée,
Schüttelreim,
sedoka,
septet,
sestina,
sonnet,
tanka,
tercet,
terza rima,
tongue twister poetry,
triangular triplet,
triolet,
Tyburn,
villanellePlease leave all your poems inspired by
A Study in Scarlet in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!
Warm regards,
Mrs. Hudson![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
gardnerhill.livejournal.com
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}