sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Greek Interpreter

scfrankles.livejournal.com posting in

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.

Death

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Note from Rachel: This poem speaks to me of Paul Kratides, the long silence through which he resisted his captors, and the tragic end to his life.

Modern Declaration

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Note from Rachel: For Mycroft Holmes, I like this poem because it seems to me that his love for his brother is one of the aspects of his subtle, political, complicated life that has always remained steadfast, simple, and true.

Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the Tyburn. (The link takes 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, florette, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, In Memoriam stanza, 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 Greek Interpreter in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

A captive from Greece on our shore,
Interpreter caught in this war –
But the strangest of all
Is the way you recall
A brother not mentioned before!

From:

laurose8.livejournal.com

Quite right! Thanks for this elegant summary.

From:

debriswoman

A good point, well made:-)

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

Central
Locale
Pall Mall
Old pal
Mycroft’s in a central locale so
Let us now to Pall Mall, old pal, go!

(Look - I’ve had a very busy week ^^”)

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

Very true ^_^ It's almost surreal: "I know we've been living together for some years, but I've just never seen the need before to mention the brother I see regularly about cases and who resides close by."

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Aloft
Awaft
Made-soft
Mycroft
Scent of fresh bread aloft, awaft slays
Iron routine. Made-soft Mycroft strays.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

In honour of the last time we met Mycroft: http://sherlock60.livejournal.com/544387.html
To the tune of the theme song of ‘Thomas and his Friends’ (cartoon)

They’re two, they’re two, they’re one, they’re B.
Solving puzzles, drinking tea.
Clever, witty, brave and kind.
Knots and tangles to unwind.
Friends and foes with roles to play.
Round London-town or far away.
‘pon the moor and round the bends
Sherlock and his friends.

Sherlock, he’s the brainy one.
Watson’s ready with his gun.
Yarders help from time to time.
[Mrs.] Hudson fights the crime o’ grime.
Mycroft though he knows his stuff
Never wants to huff or puff
From hall to Mall he never strays
But to kip down D’og’nes way!

They’re two, they’re six, they’re eight, they’re four.
Solving puzzles, crimes and more.
Nabbing Greeks and cursed gems.
Bodies floating in the Thames
(Whether) Vengeful thugs or scheming profs,
greedy squires or silly toffs,
Evil means will meet their ends
(With) Sherlock and his friends.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Very good point in the last lines. No word of Mycroft for years and then oh, let's pop round and oh he just happens to have a case.

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

Ah. A loafer tempted by a loaf! :P

Very clever ^__^

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

I'd completely forgotten about the discussion that developed underneath my 60 ^_^ I'm so proud to have indirectly helped with inspiration.

Oh, crikey - this is wonderful. Favourite lines:

They’re two, they’re two, they’re one, they’re B.
‘pon the moor and round the bends
[Mrs.] Hudson fights the crime o’ grime.
Mycroft though he knows his stuff/ Never wants to huff or puff
Evil means will meet their ends

I also loved the rhyme of 'profs' and 'toffs' ^^ And there's just something so entirely (and amusingly) inappropriate about 'Bodies floating in the Thames' being sung to such a cheerful tune ^__^

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Oh centr-ahl :) might go with thomas song

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

With one son called Sherlock
And Mycroft the elder brother
One has to consider
That madness had seized the mother

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

Yes, but who's bothered about a brother?

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

It would take something special to steer him from his path.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

I have been thinking about this since last round. Thank you! Yeah quirky. I like those lines too.

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

Why does everyone blame Mama?
Just 'cos brother doesn't rhyme with Pa.

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

It might at that ^_^

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

And now you see why I didn't try it ;)

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

I can rather see Mycroft writing a note for one of the Diogenes' servants instructing them to fetch some for him.

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

I think this is very sweet - although possibly not what ACD had imagined ;)

From:

debriswoman

Impressive word wrangling:-)

From:

debriswoman

Clever and apt:-)

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Hee, hee. In this case it's Mother Doyle. Very nice.

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

But papa thought it easier if the names
Were each and everyone exactly the sames
So mama said she wasn't calling them all James

From:

debriswoman

Wonderful:-)

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

I fear names were never the strong point of the narration.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Yes or some clever charades.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

I think going off the known lexicon is the only way to make it work for me.

From:

debriswoman

A good question...

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

No probably rolling over in his grave but I suspected he does a lot of that.

From:

okapi1895.livejournal.com

Thank you!

From:

thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com

Indeed :)

From:

scfrankles.livejournal.com

Very tactfully put ^__^

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

You're welcome

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

Ah, the vagaries of serial fiction. "Whoops, forgot to tell you about my long-lost brother for the past 10 years. My bad."

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

"Wow. It's almost like we're being written by someone who has no sense of continuity, James."

"John."

From:

gardnerhill.livejournal.com

Sadly, Doyle's spirit inspired whatever braindeads wrote STAR TREK V - giving Spock a long-lost older brother never mentioned for 35 years and never mentioned again.