[ChrisGeorge]

Originally Posted by Jayne Osborn

Christopher,

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever read any Laurence Eusden, at least, not that I recall - or Nahum Tate. The names don't instantly spring to (my) mind.

They did name a station after Eusden I believe. And name an art gallery after Nahum Tate.

I take it the task is to submit a Jubilee poem by one of the Poet Laureates and not to write a poem in the manner of the particular poet? Is that correct?

Best regards

Chris

[Roger Slater]

No, Chris. This is a writing competition. You're supposed to write your own poem, not send in other people's poems.

[Roger Slater]

I fear this may be one an American can't get a handle on (or at least this American) but I gave it a whirl so I might as well post it, such as it is:


WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That stretched across the British Isles
Then kept on stretching o'er the sea
And stretched for several thousand miles.

It covered more than half the earth,
This cloud I wandered lonely as,
And now I have by dint of birth
A claim no other monarch has:

Sixty years upon the throne,
The throne my royal backside fills!
In pensive mood, when I'm alone,
I mutter, "Bugger daffodils!"

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Roger

Thanks for the word on the nature of the call for Jubilee poems at The Spectator. I enjoyed your Wordsworth poem. However, I feel it depends too much on the old heard-before joke that the throne that the monarch sits upon equates to the ceramic "throne" in the toilet. I'd hazard a guess that a number of bards will try to pull at one. Too obvious, Roger.

Best regards

Chris

[Roger Slater]

Thanks, Chris. I wasn't aware my poem invoked the ceramic throne at all, but maybe the trope is so familiar that people will inevitably read it that way.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Roger

With due respect, you don't think that the line "The throne my royal backside fills!" directly invokes that comparison?

Cheers

Chris

[Ann Drysdale]

I think you're OK with the throne, Roger, people (common folk, that is) do say "on the throne" meaning perched on the porcelain, but the Queen wouldn't. As one of her ancestors was fond of saying "Honi soit qui mal y pense"!

But I do think that "sure" in the last line is a bit Transatlantic for her. "Bugger daffodils" might be rather fun - again there are family precedents in the last words of her grandad.

[Brian Allgar]

I agree, Anne. "Sure beats" doesn't sound very queenly.

And I have to say that on reading Roger's piece (which I enjoyed), the lavatory connotation didn't even occur to me. Maybe I have royal blood somewhere along the line?

[Jerome Betts]

Jayne, Laurence Eusden made it to The Stuffed Owl with four lines.

Hail, might Monarch! whom desert alone
Would, without birthright, raise up to the throne;
Thy virtues shine particularly nice,
Ungloom'd with a confinity to vice.

I hope George the Second was duly appreciative. Eusden did write, pre-Laureateship, a slightly gamey satire on women, which I've not so far tracked down.

[Jayne Osborn]

Thanks, Ann (without an 'e', Brian), Christopher, ChrisG (very funny, Chris!) and Jerome.

I shall have to do some homework, won't I? I got out my trusty boxed set of
"The OXFORD Anthology of GREAT ENGLISH POETRY" and old Eusden's not in either of the volumes. I've got 100s more poetry books so I'll find him somewhere.

This comp has made me realise that I'm ignorant of some, but not all, of the poets laureate. (The last two on the list i.e. the living ones, aren't among my favourite poets, I have to say.)

Jayne