tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post3184601443360917274..comments2023-04-30T14:36:29.525+01:00Comments on The Poet's Soapbox: Time to ditch the daffodils?The Poets Soapboxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17843387930043596992noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-68979857719337062112016-11-28T08:12:32.833+00:002016-11-28T08:12:32.833+00:00Can you find me three people who were taught to im...Can you find me three people who were taught to imitate Wordworth's Daffodils at school? Sounds like urban myth to me. Also, as a manifesto statement about the nature of imagination and emotion I think it's not a bad poem - not Wordsworth's best but by no means the worst. The secret of its popularity seems to me to be the date of publication - 1815, which put it right in the middle of the post-Waterloo rush of national euphoria and celebration.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16621506283422645383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-4031812178931389502010-06-29T14:08:05.296+01:002010-06-29T14:08:05.296+01:00Loving all the feedback by the way - keep it comin...Loving all the feedback by the way - keep it coming!The Poets Soapboxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17843387930043596992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-20866211452055101922010-06-29T14:07:22.715+01:002010-06-29T14:07:22.715+01:00Poets Poetry Poems: yes, people should be reading ...Poets Poetry Poems: yes, people should be reading more. Classics and contemporary poetry, rhymed and unrhymed. I couldn't agree more. But people who want to develop their craft as writers need to be reading CRITICALLY. Holding up the bloomin' Daffodils as some sort of paragon of classic verse ends up doing classic verse a disservice - and it probably puts more people off the classics than it attracts. Poetry has SO much more to offer than just flower heads fluttering and dancing in the breeze.The Poets Soapboxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17843387930043596992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-57475811880100716622010-06-29T13:48:32.141+01:002010-06-29T13:48:32.141+01:00Dave: Christabel is also the poem that contains th...Dave: Christabel is also the poem that contains the immortal couplet:<br /><br />"Is the night chilly and dark?<br />The night is chilly but not dark"<br /><br />- so I'm not sure Coleridge is the best person to cite in defence of rhyme! Direct observation is fine, but it needs to serve a purpose, to make a connection with the wider world. Normally, as poets, we observe the outside world because of the light it sheds on the inner world. But there's none of this in "Daffodils", just a slightly self-indulgent poet "in pensive mood". No originality of insight, no wider universal connection.The Poets Soapboxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17843387930043596992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-86209234119853866932010-06-27T16:09:12.956+01:002010-06-27T16:09:12.956+01:00Andy, I mentioned your blog and this piece about r...Andy, I mentioned your blog and this piece about rhymes (I do wish they weren't so avoided now) in a (private) Google Group for Devon area poets and there's been three comments there after people read your blog. More than we usually get! <br /><br />If you wish I could send a Google invite for you to certainly view (and receive stuff if you wanted). You'd need to give me an e-mail though. My own e-mail is knapp.tony which is @btinternet.com or tony@poemsplease.me Cheers - TonyTonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12931451167726369378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-51962187619659409892010-06-25T20:07:01.964+01:002010-06-25T20:07:01.964+01:00I think I agree... and from a teacher's point ...I think I agree... and from a teacher's point of view, there are "uses" for 'Daffodils'. Link it to Dorothy's journals, and there is a point being shown about the importance of direct and clear observation. Is it Coleridge's 'Christabel' which contains "the one red leaf, the last of its clan / which dances as often as danced it can" [forgive me if I'm not as exact about this as I should be] which brings a section of the poem to vivid life for me.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081677603754608504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3407899703217884513.post-58364836402942347892010-06-25T16:12:43.899+01:002010-06-25T16:12:43.899+01:00Found your article entertaining and dare I say fun...Found your article entertaining and dare I say funny. On a serious note I'm not sure people should ditch reading any classic poem. What they should be doing is reading (and watching - slams etc) more poetry in general.Poets Poetry Poemshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15167350774110622712noreply@blogger.com