I hope that you may enjoy this new creation- as I put all of my poetic heart and soul into it.************************************************** *************Robert J. Lindley, 9/15, 9/16, 9/17
Sonnet trilogy,
( When Blessed Gifts Are Suddenly Given To One Pleading )
Note -- This new creation, was composed in three days of
each day my reading of Thomas Gray's magnificent poem,
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, that was first
published in 1751....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegy_...try_Churchyard
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
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First page of Dodsley's illustrated edition of Gray's Elegy with illustration by Richard Bentley
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem by Thomas Gray, completed in 1750 and first published in 1751.[1] The poem's origins are unknown, but it was partly inspired by Gray's thoughts following the death of the poet Richard West in 1742. Originally titled Stanzas Wrote in a Country Church-Yard, the poem was completed when Gray was living near St Giles' parish church at Stoke Poges. It was sent to his friend Horace Walpole, who popularised the poem among London literary circles. Gray was eventually forced to publish the work on 15 February 1751 in order to preempt a magazine publisher from printing an unlicensed copy of the poem.
The poem is an elegy in name but not in form; it employs a style similar to that of contemporary odes, but it embodies a meditation on death, and remembrance after death. The poem argues that the remembrance can be good and bad, and the narrator finds comfort in pondering the lives of the obscure rustics buried in the churchyard. The two versions of the poem, Stanzas and Elegy, approach death differently; the first contains a stoic response to death, but the final version contains an epitaph which serves to repress the narrator's fear of dying. With its discussion of, and focus on, the obscure and the known, the poem has possible political ramifications, but it does not make any definite claims on politics to be more universal in its approach to life and death.
Claimed as "probably still today the best-known and best-loved poem in English",[2] the Elegy quickly became popular. It was printed many times and in a variety of formats, translated into many languages, and praised by critics even after Gray's other poetry had fallen out of favour. Later critics tended to comment on its language and universal aspects, but some felt the ending was unconvincing—failing to resolve the questions the poem raised—or that the poem did not do enough to present a political statement that would serve to help the obscure rustic poor who form its central image.
Inspiration, Revelation, Adaptation, Within Poetic Verse
Sonnet I
I saw morn's soft hands stretching to touch bright moonlight
Tis but a fleeting blink betwixt man's death and birth
Dark unknowing is why we so oft fear the night
In that abject blindness, fail to see life's true worth
Alas! Such are sorrows of mankind's constant plight
That feeds malignant swellings of darkness on earth;
Those of ancient times, of distant long dead yesterdays
Will one day from that deepest of slumbers arise
Long hidden from flown days and nights, world's weeping grays
Be reborn with no thoughts of world's previous lies.
As earth spins, sounding its constant evolving beats
We blind to light's truth, continue our foolish acts
Racing onward counting our coins and useless feats
Life came from light's truth, not so-called man-made facts.
Sonnet II
I that thought to profit, see beyond mortal veil
Having never measured truest rectitude of life
In my epic quest, the highest of mountains scale
In youth, blind to sad flowing storms of mortal strife
Alas! We that in our darkness refuse to see
Oft face raging storms that seem to forever swirl
Not realizing, Love's blessings are given free
To counter lightning bolts world's malevolence hurls.
I that foolishly thought to defeat that we die
Later learned truth that our vanity denies
We are lost because we believe world's greatest lie
That we were once roaming beasts beneath earthen skies
By our own greatness became gods of divine might
Free to do as we please, revel in our delights.
Sonnet III
In June, when wondering winds our hearts so lighten
I have found eager bubbling brooks streaming along
Summer's morn setting up to day gaily brighten
Nature gifting beauty, songbirds gifting sweet song
Across flowering meadows, busy bees flying
Life many treasures so beautifully sharing
Time to live, not sadly ponder mortal dying
For truest of joy depends on our loving caring
There rests much more happiness in sincere kindness
And sweeter breath within Love's soft touch inspiring
Eyes to truly see, welcome defeat of blindness
Rather than worldly conflicts and daily sparring
To satisfy our fleshly dreams and dark desires
Lets embrace light's divine truth that never expires.
Robert J. Lindley, 9/15, 9/16, 9/17
Sonnet trilogy,
( When Blessed Gifts Are Suddenly Given To One Pleading )
Note -- This new creation, was composed in three days of
each day my reading of Thomas Gray's magnificent poem,
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, that was first
published in 1751....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegy_...try_Churchyard
Copyright © Robert Lindley | Year Posted 2020
I so needed something as a distraction from my current woes and worries. -Tyr
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