I used to memorize a lot of poems. Though I suppose it sounds odd now, in one of my first year English classes we concluded the semester with a contest--I would recite a poem from memory for every poem the students (12-15 of them, probably) could recite. Every student had to memorize at least one poem, and poems had to be of a certain length (probably 14 lines, but I don't remember). I let the students win and get a collective A. Some were ambitious, some did the minimum, but everyone participated, and I at least had fun.
The only one of Shelley's poems that ever really caught my ear/eye. Speaking from the undergraduate anthology reader's point of view, I mean. I suppose I should give him another chance, but there's so much else to read.
I've long been a very great fan of his "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty," and when I was younger I really liked "Prometheus Unbound" (I suspect I'd still like it, but it's been a while). I also liked the poems to Jane, but that was partly because I was infatuated with a woman named Jane at the time myself. I never liked him as much as I did Keats or Blake, but he was still a solid poet, if uneven.
Having just finished a biography of Byron, which tells well of the love, admiration, and supreme jealousy, Shelley had with Byron, could this poem be a dig at him? Byron's circumstances could well mirror it.
One can get tons of mileage from that one line of Ozymandias, yet it’s so much fun to recite the poem for the music of it. It’s the great thing about formal poetry… the easy rhythm of the words. Sons poems are just a joy out loud, and this one you can be even a wee bit dramatic.
Poets amaze us with their innovative use of common language. I always marveled at the phrase "that colossal wreck." Those words move and astound me. It's one of my all-time favorite poems.
I surely noticed it at the time but had forgotten that the poem is used in Breaking Bad. Is it quoted, or just used as the title of an episode? That rings a faint bell.
Editors sometimes have a parallel thought, Beth: "Editing a magazine would be the best job in the world, if only one didn't have to deal with writers and subscribers."
I used to memorize a lot of poems. Though I suppose it sounds odd now, in one of my first year English classes we concluded the semester with a contest--I would recite a poem from memory for every poem the students (12-15 of them, probably) could recite. Every student had to memorize at least one poem, and poems had to be of a certain length (probably 14 lines, but I don't remember). I let the students win and get a collective A. Some were ambitious, some did the minimum, but everyone participated, and I at least had fun.
The only one of Shelley's poems that ever really caught my ear/eye. Speaking from the undergraduate anthology reader's point of view, I mean. I suppose I should give him another chance, but there's so much else to read.
I've long been a very great fan of his "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty," and when I was younger I really liked "Prometheus Unbound" (I suspect I'd still like it, but it's been a while). I also liked the poems to Jane, but that was partly because I was infatuated with a woman named Jane at the time myself. I never liked him as much as I did Keats or Blake, but he was still a solid poet, if uneven.
The sands of time weather us all.
Having just finished a biography of Byron, which tells well of the love, admiration, and supreme jealousy, Shelley had with Byron, could this poem be a dig at him? Byron's circumstances could well mirror it.
One can get tons of mileage from that one line of Ozymandias, yet it’s so much fun to recite the poem for the music of it. It’s the great thing about formal poetry… the easy rhythm of the words. Sons poems are just a joy out loud, and this one you can be even a wee bit dramatic.
Poets amaze us with their innovative use of common language. I always marveled at the phrase "that colossal wreck." Those words move and astound me. It's one of my all-time favorite poems.
Ozymandias replies: https://amechanicalart.blogspot.com/2015/03/ozymandias-replies.html
More substantively: on the name "Ozymandias": https://medium.com/adams-notebook/i-am-usermaatre-king-of-kings-138f7036d64
A link to my icon.
https://open.substack.com/pub/poppoetry/p/shelley-breaking-bad?r=7ftfa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I surely noticed it at the time but had forgotten that the poem is used in Breaking Bad. Is it quoted, or just used as the title of an episode? That rings a faint bell.
I don’t think so but Walt Whitman’s When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer was recited by Dale in another episode:
https://youtu.be/LDnodgqcrP8?si=bsZUddFXI3lZ6MMp
Such a wonderful poem; another of my favorites to teach. Now if I could just teach poetry without having to grade papers or sit on committees . . .
Editors sometimes have a parallel thought, Beth: "Editing a magazine would be the best job in the world, if only one didn't have to deal with writers and subscribers."
I can see that!