sherlock60 | Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Bruce-Partington Plans

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.

Sonnets from the Portuguese 6: Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Note from Rachel: My heart goes out to poor Miss Westbury in her grief. I believe she will carry Mr. West's memory in her heart through the years to come.

Thank you so much to Rachel.

And I thought we might also have a try at a new poetry form this week: lies. (The page is headed ‘Poetry for Kids’. Please scroll down for the ‘lies’ form.)

Mrs. Mitchell's Virtual School gives this definition:

In this type of poem, each line contains an outrageous lie. Each line must begin differently. The main rule is not to say anything that hurts anyone.

Here is my example:

My beauty equals the full moon,
Makes ladies weep and strong men swoon.
Gin will never pass my lips;
I take tonic wine in small sips.

Ah! Mr. Holmes’s capers warm my heart!
Dear God, do never let us two part!
When I yell abuse, it’s really love diffusing
And I don’t understand any of the words I’m using.

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, lies, 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 Bruce-Partington Plans in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson