Orbler
Byron Twain
Brenton
Dexter
Jeanne Dininni
Shilpa KarhikErnest Hemingway
April 11th 2006 04:22
Moving away from the very Britishness of Lord Byron, here we have an entirely different beast, the American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway. Probably more famous for his novels (For Whom the Bell Tolls might, well, ring a bell, as might The Old Man and the Sea) than for his poetry, he was one of the instigators of that laconic, terse style familiar to any fan of the Beat generation, Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger and other such quintessentially American writers.
While his poems are definitely not in keeping with the same literary tradition as those of Lord Byron, the two shared a notorious reputation. Hemingway came under fire for his arrogance and lifestyle, but such things pale into insignificance when compared to his achievements, including a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize, and his lasting literary influence. He committed suicide in 1961, aged 61.
Although some of Hemingway's poems were of a considerable length, I've selected two that emphasise his tendency for understatement and occasional brusqueness.
CHAPTER HEADING
by Ernest Hemingway
For we have thought the longer thoughts
And gone the shorter way.
And we have danced to devils' tunes,
Shivering home to pray;
To serve one master in the night,
Another in the day.
This is a stark representation of the conflict between higher spiritual ideals and our earthly desires. I'm currently studying Goethe's Faust, which has a similar theme, but what Goethe took an epic poem to say, Hemingway says in six simple lines: that is, to put a cheap modern spin on it, we might have lofty plans to read War and Peace or the Bible or Ulysses, but when it comes down to it, we plonk down in a comfy chair and watch Neighbours and Home and Away, or go out and get rip-roaring drunk, then crawl home the next day vowing never to do it again.
"Chapter Heading" may be short and sweet, but for real economy of words have a look at the following poem, which was published with the note: "The title `Neo-Thomist Poem' refers to temporary embracing of church by literary gents -- E. H."
NEO-THOMIST POEM
by Ernest Hemingway
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want him for long.
Definitely pushing the boundaries of what can and can't be considered poetry, but quality nonetheless!
While his poems are definitely not in keeping with the same literary tradition as those of Lord Byron, the two shared a notorious reputation. Hemingway came under fire for his arrogance and lifestyle, but such things pale into insignificance when compared to his achievements, including a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize, and his lasting literary influence. He committed suicide in 1961, aged 61.
Although some of Hemingway's poems were of a considerable length, I've selected two that emphasise his tendency for understatement and occasional brusqueness.
CHAPTER HEADING
by Ernest Hemingway
For we have thought the longer thoughts
And gone the shorter way.
And we have danced to devils' tunes,
Shivering home to pray;
To serve one master in the night,
Another in the day.
This is a stark representation of the conflict between higher spiritual ideals and our earthly desires. I'm currently studying Goethe's Faust, which has a similar theme, but what Goethe took an epic poem to say, Hemingway says in six simple lines: that is, to put a cheap modern spin on it, we might have lofty plans to read War and Peace or the Bible or Ulysses, but when it comes down to it, we plonk down in a comfy chair and watch Neighbours and Home and Away, or go out and get rip-roaring drunk, then crawl home the next day vowing never to do it again.
"Chapter Heading" may be short and sweet, but for real economy of words have a look at the following poem, which was published with the note: "The title `Neo-Thomist Poem' refers to temporary embracing of church by literary gents -- E. H."
NEO-THOMIST POEM
by Ernest Hemingway
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want him for long.
Definitely pushing the boundaries of what can and can't be considered poetry, but quality nonetheless!
Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899 - 1961)
| 57 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by rachel
Comment by sholaia