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

Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A chase on the river nets Small.
…Thank God, there’s no treasure at all!
I acquired the pearl
Of my own darling girl;
But for Holmes, the cocaine-bottle’s call.

Re: Limerick

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Well and gracefully summarised, Thank you. The last line is excellent!

RE: Limerick

[debriswoman]

Neatly put...last line in particular.

Regarding Rachel's choice

[debriswoman]

Thank you Rachel...an apt and thought-provoking selection:-)

Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

An empty casket open wide
But yet for two a future bright
A bashful doctor filled with pride
What he thought lost, now his delight
Mary Morstan to be his bride

Re: Limerick

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I shall be happy for Watson :)

RE: Quintilla

[debriswoman]

That's lovely:-)

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: Limerick

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Sad last line - but 3 & 4 make a lovely couplet (and couple) ^_^

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I particularly liked Samurai Song - it's so poignant if you think of it as directly applying to Holmes.

Re: Quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It is always such a moving scene. Two people recognising each other's worth - which is far more than any treasure. You've captured it in a very sweet way.

Re: Limerick

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

As always, a perfect encapsulation.

Re: A quintilla

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

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

Re: Quintilla

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Beautiful rendering of the scene.

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I agree. A lovely selection for all the themes of the week. But I, too, like the Samurai's Song for its organization.

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

What a terribly sad last line.

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Such a heartbreaking line to end the story.

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

As should we be! For Mary too - she picked up a pretty rare gem herself.

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Holmes, way to whizz on your friend's happy announcement.

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I like the challenge!

Re: Quintilla

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

He got the best gem out of the deal, didn't he?

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: Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

Re: Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

You probably won't be surprised this is one of my favourite scenes. I'm delighted you liked my poem :)

Re: Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

Re: Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Very definitely!

Re: A quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Well captured!

Re: A quintilla

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^_^

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. I particularly liked Portrait of My Father as a Young Man, with the image of the photograph sliding away and how Mary Morstan must have felt her father was doing the same.

Re: Limerick

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, ouch. It's such a painful contrast, isn't it? Thank you, your verse really packed a punch.

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

My pleasure, thank you for reading! I've very pleased you enjoyed this little group. Rilke is a long-time favorite of mine, but the other two I discovered for the first time as part of my search for poems that fit SIGN's themes. I was glad to find them :)

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I liked it very much, too. The verses: "When I had no friend I made Quiet my friend. When I had no enemy I opposed my body" seemed particularly telling for Holmes in this story. He's losing his friend and trying to remember what it was like to love the quiet of living alone. And of course he's turning to drugs when there is no criminal or mystery to give him purpose.

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm so happy you liked them. I was very impressed by Samurai Song, too, which I only came across for the first time a few weeks ago. It seemed perfect for Holmes at this moment in his development.

Re: Regarding Rachel's choice

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you liked the Rilke poem. He's one of my favorite poets, and I do think that Mary must have looked back at her memories of her father and wondered whether she really knew him.

Re: Quintilla

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

A very lucky couple! They deserved each other :)

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: Quintilla

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

They did - they were well matched.

Re: Limerick

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Saddest line in Canon, in many ways.

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 ^_^

quintilla (Holmes can have his cocaine.)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Pray leave for me the morphine vial.
Cocaine is not what I require.
A blood at boil, a mind afire
Both contrary to soul’s desire.
With gate of horn dreams, I retire
To whittle, carve the lonely while.

Re: quintilla (Holmes can have his cocaine.)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

So passionately done. I really like those last two lines - and I've now learnt what gate of horn dreams are.

Re: quintilla (Holmes can have his cocaine.)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't know if we've got to it yet, but I am always puzzled by Doyle/Watson/Holmes' description of cocaine. I would think you would want morphine at the end of a grueling case. And TMI, based on my very brief experience with morphine derivatives, it is a very good thing I wasn't born in the age of laudanum. That's the good stuff!

Re: quintilla (Holmes can have his cocaine.)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I suppose Holmes misses the excitement? I however understand the need for something calming.

Re: quintilla (Holmes can have his cocaine.)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yeah when Watson says 'morphine or cocaine?' I always think it is a redundant question. It should be obvious, especially to a doctor. The reactions are very different.