Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Sign of Four, Chaps. 1-4

[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.



Alone

by Edgar Allan Poe


Note from Rachel: The reasons behind Mr. Holmes's indulgence in cocaine have puzzled many. The good Dr. Watson sometimes talks about his addiction as if it were a demon, a "fiend" that never dies but only sleeps. In this poem, a man looks back on his childhood and into the contradictions of his own heart and mind, remembering the first moment he sensed a dark force on his life's horizon. (Edgar Allan Poe wrote this poem by hand for a girl named, amazingly enough, Miss Lucy Holmes.)



Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the mini-monoverse. (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 Sign of Four in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A watch and a woman laid bare;
Four pearls, and a father not there.
Bizarre brothers greet
(“Oscar Wilde, nice to meet –”)
Past retold, going to Pondicherr’.

Re: Limerick

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I see your final line has risen to the heights of my poetry ;)

RE: Limerick

[debriswoman]

Inventive rhyming...and I do like the first line particularly:-)

Re: Limerick

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Well done. And much needed use of the apostrophe.

Re: Limerick

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I do like your opening couplet ^^

A mini-monoverse

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

What is this?
A young miss.
Doctor’s bliss—
Then abyss.
What’s amiss?


He’s no cash.
Her rich stash
Cools the pash.
Gold goes splash!
Warstan slash.

Re: A mini-monoverse

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Whilst I sympathise with the doctor's position, I am forced to enquire as to who or what is a Warstan, and why it needs slashing.

RE: A mini-monoverse

[debriswoman]

Neatly done
I presume a Warstan is related to a Morstson

Re: A mini-monoverse

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Nicely done! This is a tough form.

Re: A mini-monoverse

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Tee hee. And a genre is born!

Re: A rondeau written earlier

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

This is a beautiful description.

Re: A rondeau written earlier

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

What a lovely ode. As lovely as the watch.

Re: A rondeau written earlier

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That last stanza especially is so moving.

Re: A rondeau written earlier

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Oh. Poignant. That scene is such an iconic moment in Canon - not just for Holmes' abilities but for his and Watson's friendship.

Re: A rondeau written earlier

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

So strong and graceful. Thank you for this absolutely debriswoman poem.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

It's delightful to know one is so popular, but one suspects this is merely because the criminals are all, as Mr Holmes would say, away on holiday.

Mini mono-verse

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

What a fright
In the night
Musket sight!
Need to fight
With cub light?

Castor oil
Makes blood boil.
Better foil
Strychnine coil*
No more toil.

*A strychnine coil is clearly how the poison is delivered. Do not try this at home.

RE: Mini mono-verse

[debriswoman]

Rhymes AND a health and safety warning...what more could one wish for?

Re: Mini mono-verse

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very nice linking both Watson's slip-ups. I ALWAYS coil my strychnine. I think Mrs. Beaton said that was the way to do it. The arsenic, you fold.

Re: Mini mono-verse

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed the comments under your mini-monoverse as much as the actual poem ^_^

Re: Mini mono-verse

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I see what you mean about rhyming.

a squished mini monoverse

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Miss Mary
Is very
much wary
of scary
and hairy
plot. Her thought
though much fraught
with evil wrought
is also caught
in love’s knot.

RE: a squished mini monoverse

[debriswoman]

Oh, well done:-)