Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Beryl Coronet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

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, is this week’s suggested poem to read—a suggestion inspired by the themes and subjects in this week's story. Hopefully you will enjoy the poem, and perhaps it 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.


To A Friend Estranged From Me

by Edna St. Vincent Millay


Note from Rachel: This poem conveys some of the feelings toward Miss Holder that I imagine her cousin and uncle felt, having loved her so much but knowing she ultimately abandoned and betrayed their trust for the sake of her lover.



Thank you to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the curtal sonnet. (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, villanelle


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



Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A crown in trust, twisted apart.
Betrayal that strikes to the heart.
The bad boy accused
And the good girl was used –
There’s much restitution to start.

Mary's curtail sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

How blind are men to woman’s petty truth!
To be all things, to meet all needs, but mine,
.A life-long sentence to be carried out.
How blind, the banker, scorned beau, Boswell, sleuth!
Alone, a coinless girl will learn to shine
As moon, not sun, reflecting light about.

A cousin’s tonic? Uncle’s proxy bride?
A maid unpaid? A stricken, sicken’d nurse?
Portend my story’s doom, but tell me how
A fleeting stint as whore at villain’s side
Is hardly any worse!

Rachel's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I think it does a good job of expressing the men's outrage and anger at the way they perceive they were treated.

Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

There is something about a man
Who hurries through the snow
One assumes he has a plan
Or somewhere he must go
For he is running very fast
And sometimes takes a spring
And so he stops at last
To Holmes his case to bring

Re: Limerick

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yes, Holder has got a lot of making up to do.

Re: Mary's curtail sonnet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

So true - no-one looked at what she wanted, every one of them saw her as to her position for them.

Re: Rachel's poem

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

To me it spoke of the son being hurt by his father.

A curtal sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. His name is Francis Prosper."




A ruined gambler betrays his host and his friend,
Corrupts and uses the sheltered niece.
You might think he would receive his due.
But he keeps his freedom in the end
(Loses to Holmes but avoids the police).
Keeps the money from selling the beryls too.

A pretty young maid almost serves to take the blame
Though she’s the real innocent in the piece
And her hardworking sweetheart’s loving and true.
Why do the dishonest always prosper at this game?
While the Prospers never do.

Re: Rachel's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I can see that, too. There's a lot of hurt going around in this story.

Re: Rachel's poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That last line makes me shiver: You have done wisely to invite the night before the darkness came. It seems to make more explicit what Holmes says: “I think that we may safely say,” returned Holmes, “that she is wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punishment.” You can't help but feel pity for Mary, despite her actions.

Re: Limerick

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

There were a lot of assumptions going on in that story...

I really like lines 3 & 4 - the parallel between the "bad boy" and the "good girl". Both suspected and both innocent.

Edit: I've just realised that the "good girl" is of course Mary ^^" (I was thinking of the maid.) That's even better as a parallel of course - the bad boy innocent and the good girl the thief.

Re: Mary's curtail sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

This story is creepy to me. I mean the uncle's in love with her but for respectability reasons he can't have her, so he puts his son forward as a proxy for himself, even though the son's a loser. So she sees her ticket out of a situation and it's not great, but at least she doesn't have to be housemaid and liver tonic to a pair of ninnnies.

I'd love it if she played the whole lot of them and came out on top on her own and ran off with Lady Francis Carfax.

Re: Limerick

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I like 'trust, twisted apart' nice parallel of the emotions and the coronet.

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee. I think the Watson voice is very good here. I can see him jotting this in his private journal.

Re: A curtal sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

'Here lies Frankles. The puns finally did her in.'

Re: Mary's curtail sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I love "To be all things, to meet all needs, but mine,/ A life-long sentence to be carried out" and "Uncle’s proxy bride".

You have got to pity Mary - her life and choices were so limited. But I do wonder if she wasn't as much trapped by her own personality as her uncle's and society's expectations. For example, Holmes is surprised that Mary chooses not to go out and meet people and enjoy herself. He doesn't expect her to stay demurely at home.

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Note next to poem in another hand: Stick to the prose, Watson. S.H. (:P)

Re: Mary's curtail sonnet

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I agree that being orphaned she didn't have any choice but to suck up to a rich uncle. But how much of demure is her playing a part to survive and how much is her 'personality'? She might be what her uncle expects her to be but balks at being prostituted to her own cousin for his lecherous vicarious thrill.

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Probably as well if it goes no further than his journal ;)

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The reply read:

"I am practising for writing verses for greetings cards. We may be in need of all the income we can get if you continue to cause damage to our rooms at your current rate."

Re: A curtal sonnet

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

*Buys tomatoes from the honest green-grocer for throwing purposes*

Re: A curtal sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

:P

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

"Holmes--Mrs. Hudson has just given us a card with the inscription: 'All best wishes for your new home.' We've been here in Baker Street for three years."

"Yes... I rather think Mrs. Hudson is humorously making reference to our next home. Now come and help me put the curtains out."

Re: Dr Watson on Alexander Holder

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

And...another plot bunny is hatched. Watson's Greeting (and Calling) Cards: when you care enough to send the very best (of three continents)!

Re: Mary's curtail sonnet

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

She might be what her uncle expects her to be but balks at being prostituted to her own cousin for his lecherous vicarious thrill. It's interesting you interpret the relationship in such a dark way. I must admit I don't see it in that way. I would agree Holder is treating Mary as a pseudo-wife, but not in a sexual way. He's lost his wife and his son is refusing to act as an adult - I think Holder is lonely and sees his niece as an ally. And I think he wants Mary to marry his son simply because he doesn't want to lose her.

I agree that being orphaned she didn't have any choice but to suck up to a rich uncle. I think Mary wouldn't have had any choice about where to go after her father died. And she'd be careful of her behaviour perhaps in her uncle's household. But Holder spoiled his own son after his mother died and he seems to adore Mary - I'm not sure Mary would have needed to "suck up" to him. I think he would have automatically wanted to be kind to her and Mary would have been aware of this.