How to read a Pome: lesson 1

First of all, pomes can be small and confusing. nya. And so, you see, don’t stand on your head because this might not help you very much.
And then there are lots of words, so don’t read them all in one sitting. Lick your toes inbetween. (the pomes. And the toes. )
ooh, yea, and there might be some small [cat] words that are black, so don’t worry: just wait till you find your zipper, and then you will understand.

Thank you Tig. I will take it from here.



nya. Stoo-pid

I have always considered myself someone who loves poetry, but not someone who enjoys reading it. How is that? Well, it comes when, as Tiglath mentioned, when you try to read it all at once and care too much for understanding every particular and worry about taking down the whole thing like prose.
I am learning to enjoy poetry. I think I can say that Hopkins is the first poet i have discovered. What I mean is that I have heard these big names thrown out: Elliot, Tennessean, Pound, Shakespeare... While I believe that they are great poets, no doubt, yet I do not enjoy most of their work yet.

I intend to explore some poetry this summer, and by the by (how is that spelled, and what does it mean?) I shall post one or two little “pomes” here.

To start here is one that has gone in my head as I am weeding. (Not the whole thing, just little bits. ) I shall not put down the whole thing, because it is long, but if the reader is interested, that is, if they find they enjoy it, not because I have said it is good, but because the words and sounds have some meaning to them, I shall put the address on the end.



The Jumblies


Edward Lear 1812-1888

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
They cried aloud, "Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!"

Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

II
They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband, by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And everyone said, who saw them go,
"O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!"
Far and few, etc

III
The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, "How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!"
Far and few, etc




Despite what Tiglath has said, which may apply to small words, if one does not understand what a “Sieve” is then they will miss the whole picture of this little poem.


http://ingeb.org/songs/theywent.html