This is a magnificent poem

[AlwaysHungry]

And it's very relevant to debates taking place now in politics.

The New Colossus

by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Thank you for this, it is a poet I don't know and will look for her now.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

Thank you for this, it is a poet I don't know and will look for her now.

It's a pretty famous poem. A plaque with it is mounted inside the Statue of Liberty.

(Wikipedia stuff)

 

[Angeline]

I agree: it is magnificent. I love that the image is specifically not a conqueror, but a Mother of Exile with mild eyes who is lighting the way to refuge. Some real food for thought there. As the grandchild of a refugee, it's very meaningful to me.

 

[Sinseria]

yes it is an outstanding beautiful poem!

 

[Ashesh9]

And it's very relevant to debates taking place now in politics.

The New Colossus

by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Am sure the Syrians @ the border of Hungary would loooove this right now !!!

 

[ishtat]

I do not think that fine sentiments necessarily make fine poems.

I think a reasonable argument could be made that this is pompous claptrap, and pretty average poetry. Others of course will disagree.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

I think a reasonable argument could be made that this is pompous claptrap, and pretty average poetry.

Give it a shot.

 

[greenmountaineer]

I don't believe good poetry stands the test of time as much as it can bring back time. When this was written, more than half of all citizens had parents or grandparents who came through New York as immigrants, fleeing persecution and/or poverty. I happen to think, given a historical context, sentimental poetry can be good poetry, even though by today's perspective, the language can seem contrived.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" doesn't do much for me, but in a different time, it might. I can say the same about the Freedom Ride Poetry of the sixties, but if I were an African American, I suspect I would feel differently.

 

[sexnovella]

Poems abd poets

Are forgotten but when they are discovered or red they can surprise us all.

 

[AlwaysHungry]

I don't believe good poetry stands the test of time as much as it can bring back time. When this was written, more than half of all citizens had parents or grandparents who came through New York as immigrants, fleeing persecution and/or poverty. I happen to think, given a historical context, sentimental poetry can be good poetry, even though by today's perspective, the language can seem contrived.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" doesn't do much for me, but in a different time, it might. I can say the same about the Freedom Ride Poetry of the sixties, but if I were an African American, I suspect I would feel differently.

My favorite poems, like "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", are old as the hills, but they sound completely modern to me. Except that they sound more literate than what our culture is currently producing -- I think that the English language is gradually falling into disuse.

 

[Angeline]

I do not think that fine sentiments necessarily make fine poems.

I think a reasonable argument could be made that this is pompous claptrap, and pretty average poetry. Others of course will disagree.

Hi Ishtat.

I agree that some would feel that way. You could also argue it sounds hypocritical in light of some current events in the US. I think it's beautiful, maybe because I am still fairly close to that immigrant experience. I also have no real problem with sentiment: I adore Charles Dickens and he could be downright bathetic.

Some people would hate that poem if they knew more about Emma Lazarus.

What we like, in anything, is personal and subjective. I love Frank O'Hara not just because I think he's a good poet, but because the time and place he writes about reminds me of my childhood. Some of my best experiences as a kid involved being in NYC so I connect with that when I read him.

Ok I'm just rambling. I think you should start writing with us again.

AH, I think the English language is always changing. We don't speak Old or Middle English anymore. We don't sound much like the Elizabethans. Most of us don't say things like "groovy" or "far out" anymore, not in the normal course of conversation. I don't especially like some of the changes to English of late like "texting speak," but I believe change in language like anything is inevitable. Some writers my kids would call literate sound really off to me.

 

[greenmountaineer]

Language evolves. Culture evolves, and there's an interplay between the two. This delightful poem takes a cliché that would have been unheard of until Reagan was elected the US president in 1980. The poet builds upon the cliché and turns it into something related but different:

The Trickle-Down Theory of Happiness
by Philip Appleman

Out of heaven, to bless the high places,
it falls on the penthouses, drizzling
at first, then a pelting allegro,
and Dick and Jane skip to the terrace
and go boogieing through the azaleas,
while mommy and daddy come running
with pots and pans, glasses, and basins
and try to hold all of it up there,
but no use, it's too much, it keeps coming,
and pours off the edges, down limestone
to the pitchers and pails on the ground, where
delirious residents catch it,
and bucket brigades get it moving
inside, until bathtubs are brimful,
but still it keeps coming, that shower
of silver in alleys and gutters,
all pouring downhill to the sleazy
red brick, and the barefoot people
who romp in it, laughing, but never
take thought for tomorrow, all spinning
in a pleasure they catch for a moment;
so when Providence turns off the spigot
and the sky goes as dry as a prairie,
then daddy looks down from the penthouse,
down to the streets, to the gutters,
and his heart goes out to his neighbors,
to the little folk thirsty for laughter,
and he prays in his boundless compassion:
on behalf of the world and its people
he demands of his God, give me more.

Philip Appleman, "The Trickle-Down Theory of Happiness" from New and Selected Poems, 1956-1996. Copyright © 1996 by Phillip Appleman. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.

Source: Poetry (August 1983)

I think art always stretches boundaries. I read somewhere that there have been somewhere around 50 different poetry movements since the beginning of so-called modern poetry. I'm not as concerned about the deterioration of language. I do, however, believe it will continue to change and at a faster rate. Just because I like Bukowski doesn't mean I don't appreciate Shakespeare.

 

[Sinseria]

I don't think I like that poem :/ ...that is weird sounding all around to me ...

 

[Trixareforkids]

The Trickle-Down Theory of Happiness
by Philip Appleman

I'd forgotten this one until you reminded me of it. Think I'll add that book to my Xmas list

 

[ishtat]

I don't believe good poetry stands the test of time as much as it can bring back time.

Good point. Kipling is an excellent example. Very popular in his day, he then was rather frowned upon in the post imperialist era, but is now being appreciated again - well some of his works. TS Eliot wrote a couple of essays/introductions on Kipling's work which were exceptionally perceptive and almost anticipated his rehabilitation.

As an aside I wonder how many Americans realize that his "Take up the white mans burden" was addressed directly to America and was meant to be a call to them to take up their responsibilities (as he saw it) in the Philipines. It's sentiments are not generally perceived like that

Some poetry though is timeless, Lewis Carrol's nonsense and many of Shakespeare's sonnets for example.

'Jerusalem' (Blake) is perhaps a fine poem/hymn which brings back an earlier time but is more successful than Tennyson because it deals with the sombre, 'dark satanic mills'- is uplifting/optimistic 'bring me my bow of burning gold...' but does not describe a specific historical event. It's more impressionistic, painting a picture of a changing nation in the early industrial revolution.