Sometimes I find myself preparing for those moments that may never come.

To wit: I've been reading Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, and that, in turn, has prompted me to dust off my old Dante volumes--particularly the Inferno--in order to memorize the inscription over the entrance to hell:

Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.

Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

I've never been asked to recite poetry, and I confess that my knowledge regarding poetry is shaky at best, but lately I've been thinking it would be nice--if not particularly helpful--to have some verses memorized, should I ever be called upon to seem a bit more intelligent than I really am. The Inferno is rather gruesome and depressing, but my regular readers are probably well aware of my oddball sense of humor and my reluctance to fall back on things that might easily impress those of the opposite sex.

If, however, you are easily impressed by love poetry, I submit, for your consideration, a sonnet by Thomas Lodge:

No stars her eyes to clear the wandering night,
But shining suns of true divinity,
That make the soul conceive her perfect light!
No wanton beauties of humanity,
Her pretty brows, but beams that clear the sight
Of him that seeks the true philosophy!
No coral is her lip, no rose her fair,
But even that crimson that adorns the sun.
No nymph is she, but mistress of the air,
By whom my glories are but new begun.
But when I touch and taste as others do,
I then shall write, and you shall wonder too.

Just don't ask me to recite that out loud.

Comments

[Nonanon]

Oh, that first bit is from the Inferno? I thought it was just written above the door to my workplace...
(ba-dump-bum-ching!)

Hey, I like that second poem. Whether you can recite them from memory or not, I'm with you--it's probably a good idea to know some of it. For your own sanity, if nothing else--there isn't something soothing about beautiful poetry. I often think of this line, from e.e. cummings: "now the ears of my ears awake, and the eyes of my eyes are opened." Sigh.

[Nonanon]

sorry-meant there IS something soothing about poetry. (How sad. Some people are writing poetry and I can't get my comments right!)

[Andi]

I had to memorize and recite some poetry in college, and I chose William Blake. "Tyger! Tyger!" worked nicely as did "The Sick Rose." A friend of mine chose T.S. Eliot, and while I ADORE "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", he's a bitch to memorize.

[Adam S.]

I enjoy poetry and read it constantly. I never review it, though. Mainly because I don't think I could give it justice, secondly: I don't want to come off as a pansy.

I recommend William Stafford.

"The miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, 'Who are you really, wanderer?' and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: 'Maybe I'm a king.'"

And that's off the top of my head.

[J.S. Peyton]

I've memorized three poems in my life. One was required (a Shakespearean sonnet that I couldn't recite if you asked) and two of which I memorized on my own. I don't know the name and title of one and the other was "Invictus."

I don't read poetry on a regular basis but I do love a good poem when I see one. The one above is one of those, of course I'm a sucker for love poetry. Always have been.

How are you liking The Dante Club?. I couldn't finish it. I don't remember why since it's been a while.