Enriching pleasures

[RonPrice]

Between late April and the end of May 1819 John Keats wrote "three or four of the supreme lyric poems in English literature."(1) As another writer put it: "Keats wrote a range of poetic masterpieces in a twenty month period, February 1818 to October 1819:" Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to a Grecian Urn, Ode on Indolence and Ode on Melancholy, Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, The Eve of St. Mark and Hyperion. At the time Keats had doubts about the worth of his poetry, worries about money and even hid one of the manuscripts away behind some books so lacking in confidence was he about his writing. His sense of self-abasement, his personal doubts and worries about writing, about sexuality and about money were draining him of the very confidence to write at all.

One hundred and eighty years later(1819-1999) I, too, had doubts about my poetry. Sexuality, too, still reared its problematic head. I had no idea whether my poetry would ever acquire a readership beyond the smallest of coteries. I had all the worries Keats' mind was prey to, but they were not, for the most part, as intense as his concerns. I took great pleasure in my writing; I felt a confidence in the inspirational Source underpinning my poetry. Although I felt some of my poems were fine specimens, I had no idea of the overall quality and value of my work. I was psychologically prepared that all of my poetry might come to naught and, in the meantime, while this dead end pursued its possible course, its possible eventuation, I would continue to enjoy the process of poetic creation and its enriching pleasures for my mind and my emotions. -Ron Price with thanks to Stephen Coote, John Keats: A Life, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1995, p.252.

I, too, began with a little,(1)
one here and one there,
short pieces for the occasion,
but habit has made me, like Keats,
a Leviathan. Half the day would not do
as he once said, only the whole of it.(2)

For inwardness and subjectivity
are the real subjects of the poet,
dark passages and glorious light
consumated in one vast opus.
The consolations are momentary,
but they are silently pervasive,
rich and calling forth, seemingly
endlessly, the most intense
desires of my soul--leaving
the gratifications of sex far in
second place in the hierarchy
of hman satisfactions.

1 From 1980 to 1987 I wrote 40 poems
From 1988 to 1991 I wrote 135 poems
Then an avalanche: 1992-2008, inclusive: some 6500 poems.
2 Since retiring from teaching in 1999 I spend on average eight hours a day reading and writing, about the same as Keats.

Ron Price
19 January 2002
(updated for 'The Relationship
Forums: 26/8/'08)

[Jenibear]

what the crap does this have to do with anything in this forum... I think it should be in creative corner.

[bluefish]

I agree....whaaaat?
Is it constructive criticism that you want?

[water nymph]

Yeah...I am going to boot this over to Creative Corner and see what they can make of it over there.

[Rammstein39]

I dont mind that you post other peoples work. Its great that you site who its from and all too. We can appreciate it that way. Im not really sure what to make out of all your footnotes and citations though. We're not that formal here lol. If you want a better discussion about this, just post the poem, who its from and we will take a look.

[RonPrice]

I have not been at this site for a long time, but the prose-poetry I write is of the type I have written here....it's prose and poetry.....and you make of it what you want as is the case of all poetry.....and you can locate it in your forum whereever you like. It sounds, though, that whatever I write does not fit into the conventions of your forum, your style and your preferred ways of writing. Such is life, as they say.-Ron