Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Sign of Four, Chaps. 9-12

[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, 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.



Samurai Song

by Robert Pinsky


Note from Rachel: Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson take very different views on married life. This poem is an ode to the stoic way of life Mr. Holmes claims as superior, with all its adventure and loneliness.




In Praise of Pain

by Heather McHugh


Note from Rachel: Dr. Watson and Miss Mary Morstan did not meet under the most auspicious circumstances. Amid tragedy, confusion, and loss, they looked at each other and saw beauty. I think they had both suffered much in their lives, and recognized in each other kindred spirits. This poem celebrates love born in painful and imperfect moments.




Portrait of My Father as a Young Man

by Rainer Maria Rilke


Note from Rachel: Miss Morstan must have felt grief not only at losing her father but at finding there was so much about him she had never known.




Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the quintilla. (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

A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Here’s an end to a fellow spry
Farewell, energy; vigour, ‘bye!
Mister Holmes is on the sofa
At the moment he’s the loafer
(There’ll be new cases, by and by.)

Re: A quintilla

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yeah, very nice nod to the final scene of the book.

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^

Re: A quintilla

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Holmes could throttle Small - that treasure was his last hope of keeping Watson to himself.

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This is so true ^^"

Re: A quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Well captured!

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^

Re: A quintilla

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Ah, the ennui returns with a flourish! These might be the only moments in which he resembles his sedentary brother. I can see them both lounging dramatically across the household furniture as teenagers. What a pair!

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It can't have been easy bringing up the Holmes brothers ^^

RE: A quintilla

[debriswoman]

Well done:-)

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^