A poem of Greg di Prinzio's on TDE set me thinking about others which address astronomical themes. (Have a feeling we had a similar thread a year or two ago but it's probably been deleted.)
Here's one I rather like by the Irish poet, Moya Cannon NIGHT Coming back from Cloghane in the sudden frost of a November night, I was ambushed by the river of stars. Disarmed by lit skies I had utterly forgotten this arc of darkness, this black night where the frost-hammered stars were notes thrown from a chanter, crans of light. So I wasn't ready for the dreadful glamour of Orion as he struck out over Barr dTri gCom in his belt of stars. At Gleann na nGealt his bow of stars was drawn against my heart. What could I do? Rather than drive into a pitch-black ditch I got out twice, leaned back against the car and stared up at our windy, untidy loft where old people had flung up junk they'd thought might come in handy, ploughs, ladles, bears, lions, a clatter of heroes, a few heroines, a path for the white cow, a swan and, low down, almost within reach, Venus, completely unfazed by the frost. |
That feels almost like two separate poems to me. I love the junk thrown up into the sky bit.
I think we may have had a scientific poetry thread that had astronomy in it. Am not sure about an astronomy thread per se... I'll rumage around in the attic and see. Housman has quite a few poems that hinge on astronomy. He was of course the editor of the astronomical poet Manilius, but apparently his interest in the heavens dates from early childhood. This is one of my favorite--though lesser-known--AEH poems. (Also quite unusual for him in being ip.) You have to have a sort of 3-D mental picture of the earth and the sun's light hitting it to fully appreciate the imagery. Revolution West and away the wheels of darkness roll, Day's beamy banner up the east is borne, Spectres and fears, the nighmare and her foal, Drown in the golden deluge of the morn. But over sea and continent from sight Safe to the Indies has the earth conveyed The vast and moon-eclipsing cone of night, Her towering foolscap of eternal shade. See, in mid heaven the sun is mounted; hark, The belfries tingle to the noonday chime. 'Tis silent, and the subterranean dark Has crossed the nadir, and begins to climb. |
And of course there's this one:
When I heard the learned astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Looked up in perfect silence at the stars. Walt Whitman |
One of my favorite poems:
On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations by Robert Frost You'll wait a long, long time for anything much To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves. The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch, Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud. The planets seem to interfere in their curves But nothing ever happens, no harm is done. We may as well go patiently on with our life, And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane. It is true the longest drought will end in rain, The longest peace in China will end in strife. Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break On his particular time and personal sight. That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night. |
And of course:
BRIGHT STAR, WOULD I WERE STEDFAST by John Keats Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--- Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--- No---yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, And so live ever---or else swoon in death. |
Now here is FV working at its best:
The Great Explosion Robinson Jeffers The universe expands and contracts like a great heart. It is expanding, the farthest nebulae Rush with the speed of light into empty space. It will contract, the immense navies of stars and galaxies, dust clouds and nebulae Are recalled home, they crush against each other in one harbor, they stick in one lump And then explode it, nothing can hold them down ; there is no way to express that explosion; all that exists Roars into flame, the tortured fragments rush away from each other into all the sky, new universes Jewel the black breast of night ; and far off the outer nebulae like charging spearmen again Invade emptiness. No wonder we are so fascinated with fireworks And our huge bombs : it is a kind of homesickness perhaps for the howling fireblast that we were born from. But the whole sum of the energies That made and contain the giant atom survives. It will gather again and pile up, the power and the glory -- And no doubt it will burst again; diastole and systole : the whole universe beats like a heart. Peace in our time was never one of God's promises ; but back and forth, live and die, burn and be damned, The great heart beating, pumping into our arteries His terrible life. He is beautiful beyond belief. And we, God's apes -- or tragic children -- share in the beauty. We see it above our torment, that's what life's for. He is no God of love, no justice of a little city like Dante's Florence, no anthropoid God Making commandments, : this is the God who does not care and will never cease. Look at the seas there Flashing against this rock in the darkness --look at the tide-stream stars -- and the fall of nations -- and dawn Wandering with wet white feet down the Caramel Valley to meet the sea. These are real and we see their beauty. The great explosion is probably only a metaphor -- I know not -- of faceless violence, the root of all things. Robinson Jeffers |
Great topic for a thread!
The More Loving One Looking up at the stars, I know quite well That, for all they care, I can go to hell, But on earth indifference is the least We have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me. Admirer as I think I am Of stars that do not give a damn, I cannot, now I see them, say I missed one terribly all day. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime, Though this might take me a little time. --W.H. Auden |
Stargazing
The night is fine and dry. It falls and spreads the cold sky with a million opposites that, for a moment, seem like a million souls and soon, none, and then, for as long time, one. Then of course it spins. What better to do than string out over the infinite dead spaces the ancient beasts and spearmen of the human mind, and, if not the real ones, new ones? But, try making them clear to one you love - whoever is standing by you is one you love when pinioned by the stars - you will find it quite impossible, but like her more for thinking she sees that constellation. After the wave of pain, you will turn to her and, in an instant, change the universe to a sky you were glad you came outside to see. This is the act of all the descended gods of every age and creed: to weary of all that never ends, to take a human hand, and go back into the house. Glyn Maxwell |
Can't remember your favorite astronomical poem? Tired of the same old, used one? Or just need an upgrade? I just found this wonderful website, Noxoculi:
http://pages.infinit.net/noxoculi/poetry.html Scroll down a little and there's a nice selection of (old and newer) poems in English. John [This message has been edited by J.A. Crider (edited February 16, 2005).] |
I don't know if these Sesame Street lyrics hold up on their own, but they're pretty great when Aaron Neville joins Ernie in singing them:
Visit The Moon Oh I'd like to visit the moon on a rocket ship high in the air. Yes, I'd like to visit the moon, but I don't think I'd like to live there. Though I'd like to look down on the earth from above I would miss all the places and people I love, so though I would like it for one afternoon I don't want to live on the moon. I'd like to travel under the sea. I would meet all the fish everywhere. Yes I'd like to travel under the sea, but I don't think I'd like to live there. I would stay for a day there if I had my wish, but there's not much to do when your friends are all fish, and an oyster and clam aren't real family. No, I don't want to live in the sea. I'd like to visit the jungle, hear the lions roar, go back in time and meet a dinosaur. There's so many strange places I'd like to be, but none of them permanently. So if I should visit the moon, I would dance on a moonbeam and then I would make a wish on a star and I'd wish I was home once again. Though I'd like to look down on the earth from above, I would miss all the places and people I love. So though I may go, I'll be coming home soon, 'cause I don't want to live on the moon. No I don't want to live on the moon. [This message has been edited by Roger Slater (edited February 18, 2005).] |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:41 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.