Month: december 2017

Reading: The Reckoning by Theodore Roethke
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963), a sickly boy who transformed into a bear of a man with father issues, was according to many critics the greatest of the American poets. While browsing a collection of his poetry on the Internet, I stumbled upon a poem about reckoning. I understand from his biography that he sought for redemption ...
Reading: Sad steps by Philip Larkin
I browsed a digital collection of Larkin (1922-1985) to get an idea of his poetry. Returning appears to be the theme of aging, or in the words of this biography, "A sense that life is a finite prelude to oblivion underlies many of Larkin's poems". The man himself said "Deprivation is for me what daffodils ...
Jotie
De Vlaamse kranten melden ophef over het gebeente van een alom geliefde knuffeljunk-poëet: in het dorp Oudenaarde wil de gemeente af van het graf van de eeuwigjonge alfabeet. 'T is maar een doodgesnoven dichter zei een ambtenaar. Bijna was Vlaams erfgoed door de barbaren leeggeroofd, bijna kregen de geestdoden het voor elkaar. Maar een weldoener ...
Reading: Attack by Siegfried Sassoon
Famed British war poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) from a family that was called the "Rothschilds of the east", wrote acclaimd poetry about the trenches of the first world war, so we put the fellow in our anthology. Later in life, he converted to catholicism, a mental swift that also produced some poetic residu, albeit not ...