Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Three Students

[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.



University

By Karl Shapiro


Note from Rachel: This poem highlights the prejudiced social structure underlying old-fashioned university life, more scandalous, corrupt, and harmful than the incident in this week's mystery. (Warning: the poem includes blunt description of racism and antisemitism).



Art & Craft

By Robin Coste Lewis


Note from Rachel: I cannot help but wonder whether students like Daulat Ras had to fight their way through a different kind of academic pressure - the temptation to conceal part of their talent in order to conform to the biases of the people around them. I imagine that even Sherlock Holmes might once have felt, as a young student, the urge to hide his light under a bushel in order to avoid the resentment of his peers.



Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the abecedarian. (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, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, line messaging, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, 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 Three Students in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Mr. Hilton Soames
Thought luck sent Sherlock Holmes
How little he knew of a true scandal’s press -
We’d fled London just before Wilde’s arrest.

Re: Clerihew

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

A wise move.

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A lot of "bachelor gentlemen" fled London (if not England itself) in the wake of Wilde's arrest.

RE: Clerihew

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yes, things one need not enter into.

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A convenient cloak over so much history.

Re: Clerihew

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It is a compelling theory, it has to be said.

And I so like your second couplet - really elegantly done.

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Since it isn't a perfect rhyme ("press" / "arrest"), I determined to keep the rhythm as smooth as possible. That took a bit of hammering!

RE: Clerihew

[debriswoman]

Seems reasonable
Well penned:-)

Re: Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thank you! One theory among many.

Abecedarian

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Action against Mr Holmes
Brought by his landlady
‘Cos this time he has gone too far
Don’t you agree?
Evidence a-plenty
Frequent violations
Guilty as charged.
Habits
Insufferable
Judge (Mrs Hudson) and jury (Mrs Turner) agree.
Karma has been visited
Landlady’s revenge.
Make them leave for a while
Now to redecorate
Organise the furniture
Paint over all the stains
Quietly (no violin).
Realise this will not last
Success is but
Temporary.
Until they return
Vigorous as ever
Wrecking all the good work
xxx
Damn, they’re back!

RE: Abecedarian

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ha, ha! Lovely. Especially the judge & jury bit.

Re: Abecedarian

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It seemed appropriate, since Holmes and Watson have taken the role upon themselves on occasion, to let Mrs Hudson and Mrs Turner have their chance.

Re: Abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Echoing the applause over Mesdames Hudson and Turner being judge and jury. And I rather enjoyed the abrupt interruption to the conclusion of the poem because the gentlemen have returned ^____^

Re: Abecedarian

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Quite - they just couldn't stay away long enough ;)

RE: Abecedarian

[debriswoman]

Excellent:-)

Re: Abecedarian

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

A kind of abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Er, it appears Okapi and I were thinking along the same lines ^^" (Though this isn't quite as clever and elegant. And NB: As Britons and Americans pronounce the names of the Greek letters in different ways, my puns may not work for everyone...)


Alpha male away from home
Beta-ing around the bush
Gamma-n steaks with green peas
Delta poor hand - may get bum’s rush
(Eps!) Ill-on most every day
let’s Zeta getting better meals
Eta dinner up in town
from Thee-ta me that quite appeals
not an Iota of remorse
Kappa-n head we hit the town
Lamb-da best thing on the menu
Mu-sic plays as food goes down
Nu courses come at quite a lick
we Xi in pleasure with one voice
Omicron-ic stomach ache!
Pi and pudding a bad choice.
Rho-ll me home now, my kind Watson
Sigma… sorry… sick my stomach, from rich food and booze
Tau-ell me off - put me to bed
Upsilon! Apologies - I’ve rather spoilt your shoes.
Phi to my thought of going out!
dear, Chi-nd Watson - the bucket, please!
place it on the left Psi-de of the bed
O. Me. Ga, we should have stuck with peas!

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That is hilarious - and completely brought upon himself.

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

He got carried away, poor chap ^__^

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! Yours is what I aspired to, but didn't reach. I don't know how to pronounce most of it, so it's fine with me. I had to make do with a mish mash of sounds and plays on words and obscure fanfic terms. But you made a real story out of it! Brava! Very, very well done.

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

You're very kind - thank you ^_^ But believe me, your poem is the far better work ^__^

I knew some of the pronunciations beforehand but I had to look up most of them. (I decided to stick with all the British pronunciations for consistency.) This is what I love about the internet - most of the time you can just click on a button and someone will say a word for you ^_^

RE: A kind of abecedarian

[debriswoman]

Wonderful use of the alphabet notion

Has inspired some brilliant contributions:-)

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I believe Mrs. Hudson didn't make the choice of poetry form with that in mind, but having the option of using the Greek alphabet was a great bonus ^__^

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Holmes should have stuck to the other meaning of "lambda" and stayed in bed with Watson.

Re: A kind of abecedarian

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That would have been more fun, certainly ^___^