I have finally decided to start a new series of prompts, lines from poetry interspersed with paintings. I’ll try to make this a regular Wednesday challenge.
The poet I have a chosen is one for whom I have a special affection, Francis Ledwidge, the poet of the blackbirds. He was born at Baile Shinéad (Janeville) in County Meath and killed at Passchendaele 1917 when he was 29.
My father, who was a poet, introduced me to Ledwidge and claimed some family link. Certainly my father’s mother and my mother’s grandfather both came from the Dunboyne area, about twenty miles from Baile Shinéad, and of course, that is my name, so why not a link? Ledwidge even looked rather like my dad.
This is his most well known poem, written for Thomas McDonagh, poet, patriot and political activist, on hearing of his execution for his part in the Easter Rising.
THOMAS McDONAGH
He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky, where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain.
Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro’ slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.
But when the Dark Cow leaves the moor,
And pastures poor with greedy weeds,
Perhaps he’ll hear her low at morn
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.
For the challenge, I propose choosing three key words from the poem, words that strike you in particular, and use them as the end of line words in a tritina, inspired by Ledwidge’s poem. The exact rules of engagement with the tritina are here. If you want to join in, just leave a link to your poem in the comments before next Tuesday when I’ll post them all.
The words I have chosen are: sky, rain, slanting.
Lost bird
I watched a bird’s flight cut across the sky,
Above the blowy trees and through the rain;
A path it made though all the world was slanting.
What kilter was is gone, the world is slanting,
And oceans pour to drown the watered sky,
Their feathers floating through the bird-fish rain.
You are not here to join me in the rain,
To hold me when I slip; the slope is slanting,
Sliding after bird gone in the sky,
The feathered, clouded sky where rain is slanting.
Beautiful, poignant poem–all that world-slanting and feathers again. I’m going to have to ponder a bit for this challenge. I’m pleased you decided to do it again.
(I feel stupid for not knowing that Shinéad means Jane. I guess you got all the Irish lore. 😏)
Sinéad is the nominative form. Shinéad is after lenition, the sound of the first syllable changes from Shinayd to Hinayd. Irish is complicated like that. One reason I’ve never mastered it!
I love his poems. So simple and lyrical and full of love of his home. And there’s no reason at all you didn’t know it means Jane 🙂
I love his poetry, so simple and lyrical and full of love of his home. I hope you give it a try.
Wow–Irish really is complicated! I just thought it was variations in spelling. I didn’t know this poet either, but yes, very lyrical.
I read somewhere that the most primitive languages are the most complex. A case in point…
Thank you for introducing into Mr. Ledwidge’s work. Your poem is really very near to him. Thank you for sharing, Jane! Best wishes, stay well. Michael
Thanks Michael. I like his work very much.
Will look for reading more of him. Honestly, he is new to me, but very interesting.
He didn’t write much, died too young and he came from a very modest background.
Oh, thank you for the additional information! Always the best are dying to early. ;-(
That’s what we say, but there must have been plenty of rats who died young too 🙂
Think so too, but most of them overcome and become much more harmful.
Yes, I fear you’re right 😦
Thats life! ;-(
That last line is so beautiful! I haven’t written a tritina in a long time. A good project for my week. (K)
Thank you! I hadn’t written one in an age either. I had thought of doing a san san but the rules need explaining, and I thought I’d gone on enough as it was.
Thank you for the challenge, Jane.
https://rivrvlogr.com/2020/03/19/the-color-of-rain-tritina/
I’m pleased you took it up. Yours is a lovely response and you hit just the right tone.
Thank you, Jane.
🙂
The storytelling about the poet and about your family is told straightforwardly, but I found it moving. Ledwidge’s poem is true and sad in mourning with a supernal twist at the end. Your poem defines disorientation in a striking way. I am daunted to consider flying through the slanting rain like the bird.
I’m glad you like the poem (Ledwdige’s). He had an interesting life for a poor farm boy, signed up to fight after speaking at meetings denouncing the war (he was a Socialist and Nationalist) after his sweetheart married another man. He spent the war writing poems about how he missed the cows in the fields. The longing for home drove him to depression.
https://kblog.blog/2020/03/21/as-our-footsteps-answer-in-a-timeless-dance/
Thanks Jane!
I finally managed to get my head wrapped around writing a tritina. 😀
https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/before-the-rain-tritina-challenge/
Just read it. It’s lovely. I know what you mean about it being a difficult form. It’s one you have to think about in a different way to a standard rhyming poem. It is a bit like a bird, elusive.
Thank you–I like that, an elusive bird. 😀
That’s how yours struck me. The lines are on the point of flying away.
❤️
Interesting challenge Jane. Both the poet and the form is new to me. Thanks for the introduction. I love how yours turned out.
Pat
Thanks Pat. Try it out one of these days when everyone is supposed to climbing up the walls with boredom 🙂
I started one, will see where it leads. It is challenging though. Gymnastics for my brain😊
Pat
It’s what you need at the moment 🙂
Actually, they make it sound as if we’ve all been dumped in solitary confinement in Alcatraz. It’s just staying at home for God’s sake…
Are you still running this challenge, Jane? I want to add it to my to do list and recommend the challenge.
I stopped it Colleen when my computer started playing up and I stopped all blogging for about a month. If I restart (when I get a reliable computer) I’ll let you know.
Thanks for thinking of me 🙂
You bet. I miss your poems. I’m trying to visit more often. ❤
Thanks 🙂 I’m not around as much anyway.