Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Abbey Grange

[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.



Vita Nova

By Louise Glück


Note from Rachel: To me, this poem evokes some of Lady Brackenstall's feelings and memories of her first meeting with Captain Crocker, on that early voyage as she sailed toward what seemed a bright future -- the springtime of her life. Now after dark years the Captain returns to her, with a more violent and desperate result, but he once again offers her a sense of hope for a fresh start.



Thank you so much to Rachel. And I thought we could also have a go at a new poetry form: the echo verse.

YoungWriters gives this definition:

An Echo Verse is when the last word or syllable in a line is repeated or echoed underneath to form a rhyming line, normally ending as the last line being the title to the poem.


Here is my example—a work of complete fiction:


“They’ve returned home muddy, madame.”
(Damn.)
No. No more swearing—I will abstain
(Stain!)
Removing this will take all my skill.
(Kill.)
Let us begin.
(Gin.)



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, echo verse, 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 Abbey Grange in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Sir Eustace Brackenstall
His acts would you appall
Drunk abuse of his wife – till Captain Crocker
Paid him out the last time he went to knock her

RE: Clerihew

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

And thus ended Brackenstall.

RE: Clerihew

[debriswoman]

Well done...not an easy one to rhyme:-)

Re: Clerihew

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Echoing the applause for finding a rhyme for 'Brackenstall' ^^ And for Crocker for that matter - it's a double clerihew!

Re: Clerihew

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very well done. A brutal rhythm, just like the subject.

Re: Echo: Act

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That is so well done - really, really clever ^_^ The poem reads so naturally - particularly impressed by 'guilt-wracked/act'.

Re: Echo: Act

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Wow. So smart this.

I struggled with understanding this form (have not attempted it yet), but now I will give it go, now that I've got some examples.

Re: Echo: Act

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

A very clever summary.

Re: Echo: Act

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Oh HOH. A murder plot in rhyme. Brilliant.

Echo Verse

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Ought I or oughtn’t I to consider the port?
Ought.
Was there someone lying about the glasses?
Lasses.
The fate of the killer behind the beeswing?
Swing.
So should I send him back to the breakers and swell?
Well…

RE: Echo Verse

[debriswoman]

Neatly done:-)

Re: Echo Verse

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Well done.

After our discussion about Lestrade, I am not confused anymore about the rhyme of port and ought, and I had to look up 'breakers and swell' but it's a lovely phrase.

Re: Echo Verse

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I like the way this leaves the outcome vague.

Re: Echo Verse

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Nice! Love the "Ought" rhyme - as an American I wouldn't have thought of that one as our pronunciation's a wee bit different!

Mouselet's Contribution

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Mouselet thought it was a Riddle Poem this week, and was upset to find it wasn't, so we thought she could post this anyway.


The sweetest of men
With pink toes, ten
The greyest of eyes
Wonderful thighs
Most beautiful hair
Guess if you dare

RE: Mouselet's Contribution

[debriswoman]

That isn't too hard;
It's clearly Lestrade.
Not Hopkins this time
(It's harder to rhyme)

Re: Mouselet's Contribution

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Apologies to Mouselet - I believe that once Mrs. Hudson regained access to all her poetry pages, she found 'riddles' had already been used twice. And as she had 'echo verse' on the back burner, she decided to use that instead. But all kinds of poetry are always welcome!

Now, let me think... 'Wonderful thighs...' (^^")

This description sounds rather manly.
Could it be Hopkins, Stanley?

Echo Poem: Chase

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Who’s going on the bus?
... Us
Why can’t we take the train?
... Rain
Too fast and we will crash.
... Rash
But what if we’re too slow?
... Oh!
Quick, we have tickets to purchase.
... Chase.

Re: Echo Poem: Chase

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I love that ^___^ It's so sweet, and so elegantly tells a story. Perfect icon too ^__^

RE: Echo Poem: Chase

[debriswoman]

Brilliant:-)

Re: Echo Poem: Chase

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very well done.

Echo Poem

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Young Hopkins on the case!
(Ace!)
He blames a crime gang during our visit
(Is it?)
There's different layers of sediment in each glass
(Ass)
Wife and lover got away with murder
(Durr...)

Re: Echo Poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's wonderful ^_^ I love particularly 'visit/is it?' It's so clever and so elegant.

And I'm happy to relate that all rhymes work for me ^__^

Echo Poem-Holmes & Watson holding hands on the railroad tracks

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

My Watson, hear this fervid verse quatrain…
Train?
…my heart cannot withstand much more the strain…
Train?
…our world’s too grim; it seeks to e’er constrain…
Train!
…to punish souls that it cannot restrain—
TRAIN!

Re: Echo Poem-Holmes & Watson holding hands on the railroad tracks

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I have to say the dark humour to this did make me giggle ^__^ (Though fingers crossed our heroes did shift themselves in time ^^")

It's such a clever idea. I love how 'train' changes and progresses as the actual train gets closer ^_^ And I love how it contrasts with Holmes' refined and delicate poetry ^__^