Patience and the Prodigal have hit upon a novel idea and we propose to test its merit. What we intend is to revisit the obscure and much forgotten verse and poetry of some of the great poets of all time and with the juxtaposition of words, phrases and lines, represent these more or less ignored stanzas in a new light.
William Wordsworth, for instance is generally credited with composing roughly 1000 separate poems, yet how many are well known. Perhaps aficionados of Wordsworth might know a dozen or twenty of his more celebrated poems such as ‘The Green Linnet’, ‘The Daffodils’, ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ or ‘The Solitary Reaper. What about the rest? Surely these must be infused with the creative genius of Wordsworth. This we intend to explore, if only for the Craic.

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

The Shepherd



There once was a shepherd, Michael was his name,
On the heights so lived he, till his eightieth year,
He had learned of the meaning of all winds,
Of hardship, skill or courage, joy or fear.

 Amid the heart of many thousand mists,
Intense and frugal, apt for all affairs,
And watchful more than ordinary men
His neighbours, when he passed, blessed him with prayers.

 The common air; hills, he had so often climbed,
With two brave sheep dogs tried in many a storm,
The pleasure which is there is in life itself,
Which like a book, preserves the memory of form.

 And westward to the village near the lake
He dwelt at constant beck of wind and rain
An old man, stout of heart and strong of limb,
Life of sole purpose, the certainty of honourable gain.

(From Wordsworths ‘Michael’)
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2 comments:

  1. Turquoise31 December 2012 at 20:35

    Interesting idea! You've shortened them -- added some words of your own? "Michael" reminds of "Heidi's" grandfather.

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  2. patience and the prodigal5 January 2013 at 06:18

    Since there is no question of copyright, the worst we can do is to revive a little interest in William, if only for ourselves. There must be a mountain of interesting, but mainly discarded material out there. Lets see how it shapes up and thanks for the comment. p+p.

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