Poetry meme

[stoutfellow]

Gacked from khavrinen.

When you see this, post a bit of poetry in your own journal.

I considered something from Emily Dickinson, but I'm reserving that one for another occasion. Since I quoted from E. A. Robinson's "Richard Cory" once before, I'll go with the whole poem for this one:

Whenever Richard Cory went downtown,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole  to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Comments

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

I too considered going with Emily Dickinson, as "Much Madness" comes in a close second to "Terence" as my favorite poem, but I was lazy. My copy of "A Shropshire Lad," with the latter bookmarked, happens to be right next to my computer, while I'd have had to scrounge through several anthologies to re-locate the former.
Hmm, maybe I could have Googled it?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of "God made a little Gentian", myself, but the one of hers that touches me most I'm reserving for Nov. 24th.

Housman ranks pretty high with me as well, although I would have gone with "Blood's a Rover". (Chad Oliver's short story of the same title introduced me to Housman.)