Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Blanched Soldier

[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.



Lost in the Hospital

By Rafael Campo


Note from Rachel: Although Mr. Godfrey Emsworth seemed to have disappeared, it was those who loved him and feared for his life who were more truly lost. This poem expresses that experience.



Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is also a new poetry form to try: the clogyrnach.


Robert Lee Brewer on Writer’s Digest gives this definition:

This Welsh poetic form is typically a six-line syllabic stanza with an ab rhyme scheme:

Line 1: 8 syllables with an a rhyme
Line 2: 8 syllables with an a rhyme
Line 3: 5 syllables with a b rhyme
Line 4: 5 syllables with a b rhyme
Line 5: 3 syllables with a b rhyme
Line 6: 3 syllables with an a rhyme

Note: There’s also a variant that combines lines 5 and 6 into one line–making a 5-line stanza.


Poetry Magnum Opus shows this information in the form of diagrams, and also adds a third possible form:


x x x x x x x A
x x x x x x x A
x x x x B
x x x x B
x x B
x x A


x x x x x x x A
x x x x x x x A
x x x x B
x x x x B
x x B x x A


x x x x x x x A
x x x x x x x A
x x x x B
x x x x B x x B x x A



Here is my example:


You may notice I’m looking pale.
This is due to a certain male.
My lovely backyard
Became somewhat charred.
Mind is scarred.
Draw a veil.



But you do not have to use this 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, barzelletta, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, clogyrnach, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, débat, décima, descort, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, enuig, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rimas dissolutas, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, tricube, trine, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by The Blanched Soldier in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

Comments

Clerihew

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Mr. James M. Dodd
Found his friend’s father’s actions odd,
Moved heaven and earth to be at Godfrey’s side…
Was leprosy all they were trying to hide?

Re: Clerihew

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That's a great last line. Yes, you do have to wonder...

Re: Clerihew

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

An interesting thought.

RE: Clerihew

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Leprosy's a good metaphor for a lot of things.

RE: Clerihew

[debriswoman]

Yes...more to remain unsaid?

Re: A clogyrnach

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I don't possess a clogs archive. I'm... vaguely disappointed. And now for some reason I've got 'A Windmill In Old Amsterdam' playing in my head. I wonder if Mouselet can clog dance...

But getting back to the poem ^^" That's a beautiful use of the form - the rhymes feel so natural and unforced. And I particularly like those last three lines.

Re: A clogyrnach

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

That's lovely.

But like Frankles, I'm disappointed at the absence of clogs archive.

Re: A clogyrnach

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I, too, am disappointed in the lack of a clogs archive. I mean that boy with his finger in the dike isn't barefoot, is he? Sheesh!

It does flow very naturally and is a beautiful testament to friendship, but I think I'm having another *Lestrade* moment imagining how wrought and short rhyme.

Re: A clogyrnach

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Nicely done.

Perhaps you could keep a clog archive in your car - in the boot.

Clogyrnach

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The future is not a closed book
Watson said to Holmes with a look
I’ve stories I can tell
Where you didn’t do well
Those I’ll sell
You’ll be shook

Re: Clogyrnach

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Oh, well played, Watson and Small Hobbit! ^___^

Re: Clogyrnach

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Sleuth beware! The Boswell knows all! But how could Holmes look worse than The Three Gables?

RE: Clogyrnach

[debriswoman]

*applause*

Re: Clogyrnach

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

"Don't mess with me, Holmes. I made you famous - I can make you INFAMOUS too."

clogyrnach

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

The leper, most outcast of old
common role of stories oft-told
Faith, science reveal
many ways to heal
tale’s appeal
love ne'er cold

Re: clogyrnach

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nice one!

Re: clogyrnach

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I particularly like your b rhymes, and your last line too ^_^

RE: clogyrnach

[debriswoman]

Very well done:-)

Re: clogyrnach

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Captured the heart of most leprosy stories perfectly.

Mrs. Hudson's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very solemn. Be strong, Mrs. H!

Re: Mrs. Hudson's poem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I will try. I will try.

clogyrnach

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ejaculations of wonder,
cunning questions rend asunder
elevate my art
but when we’re apart,
sense sans heart
falls under

Re: clogyrnach

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is very clever.

Rachel's poem

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

It's a sad poem. It's a sad reality. It's wonderful that the 'victim' in the canon story recovered but for many there isn't so magical a happy ending.