Advice to Young Ladies.
by Ann Plato
Day after day I sit and write,
And thus the moments spend–
The thought that occupies my mind,–
Compose to please my friend. Continue reading Advice to Young Ladies
Tag Archives: Poetry
The Natives of America
The Natives Of America
by Ann Plato
Tell me a story, father please,
And then I sat upon his knees.
Then answer’d he,—“what speech make known,
Or tell the words of native tone,
Of how my Indian fathers dwelt,
And, of sore oppression felt;
And how they mourned a land serene,
It was an ever mournful theme.” Continue reading The Natives of America
To The Young Wife
To The Young Wife
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Are you content, you pretty three-years’ wife?
Are you content and satisfied to live
On what your loving husband loves to give,
And give to him your life? Continue reading To The Young Wife
Fall of the Charter Oak
Sigourney wrote several poems in homage to the famous Connecticut tree known as the Charter Oak. This poem was written in the period of state-wide grief when the tree was struck by lightening and fell on August 21, 1856. Hartford even organized a funeral procession for the tree that drew crowds of mourners. The wood from the tree was harvested and turned into keepsakes that can still be viewed at places like the CT Museum of Culture and History and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Charles De Wolf Brownell’s painting of 1857 is often on view at the Wadsworth, a spectacular homage to the tree whose frame is made from the Charter Oak’s wood. Read what Mark Twain had to say about the Charter Oak on his first visit to Hartford and to the Wadsworth in this anthology (see “Glimpse of Hartford” under Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.) To learn what made this such an iconic tree and to see an image of Brownell’s painting, go to The Legend of the Charter Oak on Connecticuthistory.org. Continue reading Fall of the Charter Oak
St. Armorer’s Church from the Outside
An armorer is a manufacturer of firearms. There is no real “St. Armorer.” Stevens got the idea for him from the Church of the Good Shepherd on Wyllys Street in Hartford. This church was built to honor Samuel Colt, the wealthy manufacturer of firearms—most famously the Colt pistol—who lived in Hartford. It is now part of Coltsville National Historical Park. The most striking aspect of this church is the Armorer’s Porch which features Colt pistols and other gun parts carved into its façade (see photos below). Continue reading St. Armorer’s Church from the Outside
The Poems of Our Climate
This poem describes a simple arrangement of pink and white carnations in a white bowl. Perhaps this image was based on an actual centerpiece that Stevens’s wife, Elsie, had placed on their dining room table. As the poet contemplates this centerpiece, his attention focuses on its striking simplicity. Continue reading The Poems of Our Climate
Domination of Black
Stevens said of this poem, “its sole purpose is to fill the mind with the images and sounds that it contains.” As you read this poem, try not to look for specific ideas or meaning. Instead, try to imagine these images and sounds fully, as if you are really experiencing them. How does the poem make you feel? Continue reading Domination of Black
The Plain Sense of Things
“The Plain Sense of Things” also takes place in Elizabeth Park. It is late autumn, the leaves have fallen, and the park looks bare. The greenhouse is exposed in all its dilapidation. The water lilies on the pond are now just “waste.” It seems to Stevens that this is how the world would look if one had no imagination. He wonders if the depression he feels, looking at this barren scene, means that his own imagination has failed. But no. He realizes that “the absence of the imagination had / Itself to be imagined.” His perception of this scene, his feelings about it, and his description of it in this poem are themselves imaginative acts. Our imaginations are always at work. Continue reading The Plain Sense of Things
Nuns Painting Water-Lilies
This poem was inspired by something Stevens saw in Elizabeth Park. In a letter to a friend, he wrote, “Until quite lately a group of nuns came [to Elizabeth Park] each morning to paint water colors especially of the water lilies” (L 610). In this poem he imagines the nuns’ thoughts. As they paint, they ponder the miraculous beauty of life which seems to them “supernatural” in origin. This experience awakens in them a refreshing clarity of mind and spirit. They feel that this is a “special day” and that they themselves are an integral part of it. There were several French orders of nuns in the Hartford area, which explains all the French terms in the poem. Continue reading Nuns Painting Water-Lilies
Vacancy in the Park
During Stevens’s years in Hartford (1916-1955) he made sure he always lived near Elizabeth Park. His final home at 118 Westerly Terrace is only a short walk from the park. He walked in the park almost every day. “Vacancy in the Park” is set in Elizabeth Park on a cold day in March. Stevens notices the footprints of someone who has walked across the freshly fallen snow. To describe the way this makes him feel, he invents three similes (“It is like…”). How does each simile make you feel? The poem concludes, “The four winds blow through the rustic arbor, / Under its mattresses of vines.” You can see that rustic arbor covered with vines in the center of the famous Rose Garden in Elizabeth Park. (This is the first municipal rose garden in the United States and the third largest rose garden in the country today.) Continue reading Vacancy in the Park