WORDS OF WISDOM

Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.    



William Wordsworth 

Obscurity vs. Fame

I have read biographies of numerous poets and writers. Some, who were famous at one time, died in obscurity. Some examples are Herman Melville (of Moby Dick fame), Phyllis Wheatley, Delmore Schwartz, Zora Neale Hurston, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. One constant I discovered was that they went against the prevailing convention of the literature of their times.

There are millions of authors who never achieved fame or fortune and died unknown. Just because one isn't in the spot doesn't mean that they are not talents or don't have anything to convey. Melville felt that he was a failure as a writer. The man who penned Moby Dick and Typee had a second career as poet during the Civil War. Melville was a skillled story teller and yet never hit it off with the public or critics.

While I have nothing against fame and fortune, getting your work out to the public is more important. I would rather that some one's life be touched by a poem or story. When a person's heart is touched by author's words, you can't put a price on that. 

POEM

POEM

In the morning, when it was raining,
Then the birds were hectic and loudy;
Through all the reign is fall's entertaining;
Their singing was erratic and full of disorder:
They did not remember the summer blue
Or the orange of June. They did not think at all
Of the great red and bursting ball
Of the kingly sun's terror and tempest, blazing,
Once the slanting rain threw over all
The colorless curtains of the ceasless spontaneous fall.



Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966)

WORDS OF WISDOM

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. 


~Aristotle  

Auden, Cummings & Moore

I have read poetry of W.H. Auden and E.E. Cummings. Now I'm reading Marianne Moore's poems. Cummings poetry is complex to me. Could be because I haven't read his work before in any detail or depth. Auden was deep but I got the gist of his words. I find Moore's work an easy read and something that I can relate to.

WORDS OF WISDOM

A writer is like a prospector searching for precious gold nuggets. She keeps searching until at last she finds her treasure.

Back In The Saddle

September was a trying month with family issues needing my time. Things are getting back to normal. I'm a little behind on my reading and writing but I'm back on it.