Category Archives: Poets

Year End With Christina

Last year I celebrated Christmas with Christina.  Of all the poets, Christina Rossetti understands the inscrutability of the winter season. I thought it was fitting to end the year 2013, with her poetry.  There is much speculation and curiosity surrounding the “secret.”   My preference is to let Christina keep her secret hidden and let theContinue reading “Year End With Christina”

A Soldier’s Voice

Anthem for Doomed Youth By Wilfred Owen What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirsContinue reading “A Soldier’s Voice”

There is Always a Pumpkin

A carved pumpkin is the quintessential symbol of Halloween.  You may be interested in knowing – as I was when I was looking up “pumpkins” – that in Ireland and Scotland, the turnip was the vegetable of choice for carving.  With the great Irish and Scottish immigration to North America in the 19th century, theContinue reading “There is Always a Pumpkin”

Happy Birthday, T.S. Eliot

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man”  T.S. Eliot This morning, The Poetry Foundation sent me an e-mail with their featured poem of the day. It was “La Figlia che Piange,” which I translated using my limited Italian ability to mean “TheContinue reading “Happy Birthday, T.S. Eliot”

Tribute: Seamus Heaney 1939 – 2013

It was August 31st, the day we packed our bags for home, that I read the news that Seamus Heaney has died the previous day in Dublin.  We lost a great poet, yet I am comforted that his words will continue to inspire new generations yet to come. Over the years, his work encompassed poetry,Continue reading “Tribute: Seamus Heaney 1939 – 2013”

The Song of the Mischievous Dog

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”  Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Those who follow LadyBudd, know that I have been away a few weeks on an adventure with my family.  MyContinue reading “The Song of the Mischievous Dog”

OTR Celebrates Canada Day with Susanna Strickland Moodie

“Of Montreal, I can say but little.  The cholera was at its height, and the fear of infection, which increased the nearer we approached its shores, cast a gloom over the scene, and prevented us from exploring its infected streets.  That the feelings of all on board very nearly resembled our own might be readContinue reading “OTR Celebrates Canada Day with Susanna Strickland Moodie”

OTR Celebrates June with Susanna Strickland Moodie

“The day was warm, and the cloudless heavens of that peculiar azure tint which gives to the Canadian skies and waters a brilliancy unknown in more northern latitudes.  The air was pure and elastic, the sun shone out with uncommon splendour, lighting up the changing woods with a rich mellow colouring, composed of a thousandContinue reading “OTR Celebrates June with Susanna Strickland Moodie”

Happy Birthday William Butler Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree By William Butler Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade.   And I shall have some peaceContinue reading “Happy Birthday William Butler Yeats”

OTR Celebrates June with Susanna Strickland Moodie

“The want of education and moral training is the only real barrier that exists between the different classes of men.” Susanna Strickland Moodie Susanna Moodie was not one to stand back when things needed to be said, to be written, to be done.  In 1822, when she was still in her teens, she wrote herContinue reading “OTR Celebrates June with Susanna Strickland Moodie”