sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: His Last Bow

And so I am back from my celebrations—Happy New Year and 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. (Though the story this week may not have been written by the doctor...) 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 the elegiac stanza.

The Encylopaedia Britannica gives this definition:

Elegaic stanza: in poetry, a quatrain in iambic pentameter with alternate lines rhyming. Though the older and more general term for this is heroic stanza, the form became associated specifically with elegiac poetry when Thomas Gray used it to perfection in “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751).

That is, it is a four line verse with the rhyme scheme abab.

Iambic pentameter is: te TUM te TUM te TUM te TUM te TUM

Here is my example poem:

An ending: and three agents join the fight.
Brave Martha? No, the lady isn’t me.
But reading, watching old friends reunite…
I think I would quite like it to be.

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, 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, englyn, epigram, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, Italian sonnet, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, mathnawī, palindrome poetry, pantoum, poem cycle, quintilla, renga, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triolet, tyburn, villanelle

Please leave all your poems inspired by His Last Bow in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

Von Bork played the game well. He mined
Four years’ worth of data – to find
That his maid sent the news
And his Yank friend a ruse…
When he finds out, Wilhelm won’t be kind.

debriswoman

A very neat summary:-)

Thanks.

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

Nope, Wilhelm will be not at all happy.

"Mein Herr, ich kann erklären-"

"Nein! Bleiminen!"

("Sir, I can explain - " "NO! To the lead mines!"

scfrankles.livejournal.com

I doubt it was much of a consolation to Von Bork that he lost the game to the best of them ^^"

Might be worth a few extra cigarettes in the salt mines: "Did I ever tell you about the time I was beaten by Sherlock Holmes?"

(deleted comment)

Sentimental maybe, but truthful as well.

Perhaps
Thank you

A lighthouse steady in a wave-lashed sea... It's interesting that Holmes uses the same metaphor for Watson that Watson used for Mary.

As we stand together in a star-filled light;
We are both prepared to face a long, cold night. And I found those lines particularly moving.

Thank you

This is the same man who stopped his investigation of the Naval Treaty to give a speech about how flowers are the proof of God's goodness. This is eminently believable, especially if Holmes knows (via Mycroft) exactly how horrifying that east wind will be, and what it may do to the two of them.

Yes...I suppose Holmes does have his sentimental side
Thank you

We mourn the loss of those who died
We who stand bare-headed before their stone
And yet, we too bear many signs
Of injuries to skin and bone
But still, far worse, are those who suffer
In mind, with terrors which remain unknown

Beautifully put.

Thank you.

But still, far worse, are those who suffer
In mind, with terrors which remain unknown So true.

Both for them and those around them.

Poignant. The single saddest Great War monument I ever saw in Britain wasn't the huge cenotaphs in London or Glasgow, but the rock in a tiny field in tiny Minstead (one-pub town, ACD's burial site) covered with the names of local men and boys who'd died.

And so many with the same surname too.

Very well done, ma'am:-)
And you would have done the situation proud:-)

And I am sure you were missed.

Thank you to you both. That is most kind.

“You look the same blithe boy as ever.” “I feel twenty years younger, Holmes. I have seldom felt so happy as when I got your wire asking me to meet you at Harwich with the car.”

“My thanks,” says Holmes, as they cover the miles.
“Afraid, dear boy, I cannot drive at all.”
But Watson gives the cheekiest of smiles:
“Not true—you know you drive me up the wall.”

How very true!

Starting to get jealous of your new icons now :P

Ha! You're welcome to share them, but please credit the maker.

Hee hee. How true!

In the 1980s Russian SH films, they go one better for their "Last Bow" - Watson rides a motorcycle (Holmes sitting in the sidecar).

Oh, that sounds brilliant ^^ I really must finally watch those films.

Excellent:-)

Thank you ^_^

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

60 word ficlets for the 60 ACD Sherlock Holmes canon cases

Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: His Last Bow

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags