Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Critique, Discussions Able Muse - a review of poetry, prose and art

Forum Left Top

Notices

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #131  
Unread 09-07-2024, 06:10 PM
Christine P'legion Christine P'legion is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Ontario (Canada)
Posts: 317
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun J. Russell View Post
That's actually a completely different collection...which is completely fine, of course, but the 1645 Poems specifically have the poems (and two masques) in a particular order, likely curated by Milton himself (or in consultation with bookseller Humphrey Moseley). If you're just reading his poems as poems, any collection is fine...but if you want to see them as Milton first published them, you really can't beat the 1645 Poems via the edited/reprinted edition I noted above.
I think this is a better ebook version: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1745

Comparing the ToCs, it seems to have the 1645 poems in order, followed by the 1673 edition additions and then... everything else. I just wish the producers hadn't put all of the poems in italics!
Reply With Quote
  #132  
Unread 09-07-2024, 08:24 PM
Julie Steiner Julie Steiner is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Posts: 8,513
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by N.
If nobody outside of maybe a handful of people know you even existed and wrote, then what justification did you have for even existing?
I just got back from singing at a funeral in a packed church, for a friend I made ten years ago in the San Diego Master Chorale. (He had sung with us and also had been our Board president.) About 20 members of the Chorale volunteered to form a small choir to provide the service music for the ceremony.

Today I learned that the deceased had been the captain of a nuclear submarine before retiring from the Navy, earning a master's degree at Harvard, and then having a successful second career in industry as an engineer. His wife, four children, 15 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren, and those of us who had known him from the Chorale or various church or volunteer activities agreed that he was a very lively, fun, sweet, humble person, who always put service to others before his own ego. (Although a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, Sam had been a longtime member and supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was also an avid environmentalist. And he often went out of his way to help random homeless people get fed and cleaned up)

I hadn't known anything about Sam's illustrious pre-retirement career before hearing the eulogies by his sister, daughter, and a retired admiral. Sam never mentioned that stuff. I just knew he was a great singer and a very eager volunteer. If we needed someone to help clean up after a post-concert reception, Sam usually signed up and then did a stellar job at whatever menial task he'd taken on.

I looked out at all the people smiling fondly through their tears at his funeral, and thought, "That was a life well lived." He wasn't famous, but he meant an awful lot to those of us who knew him, and presumably also to those who had met him only briefly when he came to their aid in a time of need.

Funny, but no one mentioned in their eulogies what a shame it was that, since Sam wasn't as good of a poet as Shakespeare, he'd had no justification for even existing. So either their priorities are badly out of whack, or yours could use some adjustment, N.

[Edited to say that I don't mean that last comment as a zinger. I'm serious. The notion that the only way to justify one's existence is by attaining the impossible goal of becoming the Greatest of All Time at something is pretty damn depressing. And I also reject the notion that there is something wrong with enjoying poems that weren't written by the Greatest English-Speaking Poet of All Time. If you are determined not to enjoy anything else but Shakespeare, that's your choice, but I'm not going to let you tell me I can't.]

Last edited by Julie Steiner; 09-08-2024 at 01:58 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #133  
Unread 09-22-2024, 07:37 AM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 4,390
Default

.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Julie Steiner View Post
I just got back from singing at a funeral in a packed church, for a friend I made ten years ago in the San Diego Master Chorale. (He had sung with us and also had been our Board president.) About 20 members of the Chorale volunteered to form a small choir to provide the service music for the ceremony.

Today I learned that the deceased had been the captain of a nuclear submarine before retiring from the Navy, earning a master's degree at Harvard, and then having a successful second career in industry as an engineer. His wife, four children, 15 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren, and those of us who had known him from the Chorale or various church or volunteer activities agreed that he was a very lively, fun, sweet, humble person, who always put service to others before his own ego. (Although a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, Sam had been a longtime member and supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was also an avid environmentalist. And he often went out of his way to help random homeless people get fed and cleaned up)

I hadn't known anything about Sam's illustrious pre-retirement career before hearing the eulogies by his sister, daughter, and a retired admiral. Sam never mentioned that stuff. I just knew he was a great singer and a very eager volunteer. If we needed someone to help clean up after a post-concert reception, Sam usually signed up and then did a stellar job at whatever menial task he'd taken on.

I looked out at all the people smiling fondly through their tears at his funeral, and thought, "That was a life well lived." He wasn't famous, but he meant an awful lot to those of us who knew him, and presumably also to those who had met him only briefly when he came to their aid in a time of need.

Funny, but no one mentioned in their eulogies what a shame it was that, since Sam wasn't as good of a poet as Shakespeare, he'd had no justification for even existing. So either their priorities are badly out of whack, or yours could use some adjustment, N.

[Edited to say that I don't mean that last comment as a zinger. I'm serious. The notion that the only way to justify one's existence is by attaining the impossible goal of becoming the Greatest of All Time at something is pretty damn depressing. And I also reject the notion that there is something wrong with enjoying poems that weren't written by the Greatest English-Speaking Poet of All Time. If you are determined not to enjoy anything else but Shakespeare, that's your choice, but I'm not going to let you tell me I can't.]

Yes.


.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



Forum Right Top
Forum Left Bottom Forum Right Bottom
 
Right Left
Member Login
Forgot password?
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Statistics:
Forum Members: 8,451
Total Threads: 22,248
Total Posts: 275,272
There are 1195 users
currently browsing forums.
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Sponsor:
Donate & Support Able Muse / Eratosphere
Forum LeftForum Right
Right Right
Right Bottom Left Right Bottom Right

Hosted by ApplauZ Online