Added at least half a dozen poems in the last week that struck my fancy, two have audio readings:

Why So Pale and Wan. First learned this poem in high school in English lit and I’ve always liked its very amusing and practical observations on the topic of unrequited love. “Will when looking well won’t win her, looking ill prevail?” Good point!

English author, Sir John Suckling, died when he was only 33 years old and no one really knows how, although it is generally accepted that he ended his own life by ingesting poison. Another theory goes that a servant put a razor in his boot!

The Deacon’s Masterpiece tells the story of the “wonderful one-hoss shay” that lasted one hundred years. Another Oliver Wendell Holmes poem, “Old Ironsides”, contributed to the preservation of the frigate USS Constitution. It was saved from being decommissioned, and is now the oldest commissioned warship in the world still afloat. We don’t have that one yet.

We hope to get an audio on Little Breeches by John Hay, a quaint and appealing account of the survival of Little Gabe in a sudden blizzard. According to his entry on wikipedia, Hay knew Sarah Helen Whitman, who was later a romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe. Hay worked as a secretary during the Lincoln administration and went on serve as Ambassador to Great Britain and Secretary of State.

Author and poet, Bret Harte, well known for his accounts of pioneering life in California, was often given credit for “Little Breeches.” A fan of the poem approached Harte one day, declaring: “My dear Mr. Harte, I am so delighted to meet you. I want to tell you how much I loved reading ‘Little Breeches.’”

“Thank you, madam,” Harte replied, “but I have to tell you that you have put the little breeches on the wrong man!”
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Tags: audio

So we’ll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart still be as loving,
And the moon still be as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul outwears the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

~ George Gordon, Lord Byron

Seems at least one woman came close to losing her marbles because Lord Byron didn’t want to go a-roving with her anymore.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
Lady Caroline’s description of Lord Byron has often been turned upon her. Learn more about her life and career as a writer here.

More Links: Kris Delmhorst on YouTube

Tags: byron, love

We have an enormous soft spot in our hearts for Caribbean music and, particularly, the Calypso album by Harry Belafonte. Matilda isn’t on that album, but here’s an awesome live performance from youtube. So worth watching not only for Harry, but I always love the girls’ dresses and the backup singers really get to do their thing in this one.

Tags: calypso

Ah, no wonder that picture looked like Victor Hugo to me - it is Victor Hugo! And actually it’s a photograph that was taken by Vacquerie. There it is on the left.

On the right is (from left to right) Hugo’s son, Francois and Auguste Vacquerie with Hugo (sitting down).

Auguste’s brother, Charles married Victor Hugo’s daughter, Leopoldine. The couple were both tragically killed in a boating accident on September 4, 1843.

Descendants of the Vacquerie family sold its traditional family home and garden in the town of Villequiers to the Seine Maritime department in 1951, and it was opened to the public in 1959. Check that out on this page.

Auguste Vacquerie died about 10 years after Victor Hugo. His death was reported in the New York Times and mentions that he was Hugo’s literary executor and also one of the guardians of Hugo’s grandchildren, Georges and Jeanne.

Tags: hugo