sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Resident Patient

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then be inspired 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.

This week my featured form is lyric poetry.

Dictionary.com gives this definition of lyric poetry:

A type of emotional songlike poetry, distinguished from dramatic and narrative poetry.

Word Origin: Greek lurikos 'for the lyre', from verses sung to a lyre.

It was the doctor’s reference to Scylla and Charybdis that turned my thoughts towards this noble Greek artform, and I realised I needed to find the English equivalent. Something with equal gravitas, sense of tradition and artistic worth...

And so I decided to put new lyrics to the music hall song “Joshu-ah!”

I never go to the music hall myself but Mrs. Turner occasionally attends, and she was the one who taught me this song by George Arthurs & Bert Lee. (It is perhaps a little near the knuckle in its humour but that’s Mrs. Turner for you.)

Here is my example poem:

Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes
Please put away your piles of tomes!
You may like to know
I have stubbed my toe.
Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes
Chaos is in your chromosomes.
I’ll put up signs saying: Danger Zone!
Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes!

As always, this is simply something to consider for the future. 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, blackout poetry, call and response, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, concrete poetry, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, epigram, epulaeryu, fable, ghazal, haiku, limerick, lyric poetry, palindrome poetry, riddle, sedoka, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triolet, tyburn, villanelle

Please leave all your poems inspired by The Resident Patient in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson