[551] Her Beauty

I heard them say, "Her hands are hard as stone,"
And I rememebred how she laid for me
The road to heaven. They said, "Her hair is grey."
Then I remembered how she once had thrown
Long plaited strands, like cables, into the sea
I battled in -- the salt sea of dismay.
They say, "Her beauty's past." And then I wept,
That these, who should have been in love adept,
Against my font of beauty should blaspheme.
And hearing a new music, miss the theme.

 	-- Max Plowman

One of the delightful things about love poetry is its endless series of
variations on even the most timeworn themes. Today's poem, for instance, has
been foreshadowed by a countless series of poems on love, beauty and aging,
but nonetheless manages to strike its own individual note.

Form: Iambic pentameter, rhyming abcabcddee. Does anyone know if this is a
'named' verse form?

Biographical Notes:

I couldn't find much on Plowman online - he seems to be best known for his
book 'An Introduction to the Study of Blake', and to have added his voice to
the canon of WW1 poets, but that's all I could dig up. If anyone knows
anything more (dates would be nice, for instance) do send it in.

-martin

From: Michele Fry <michele@>

Dear Martin

You were looking for some information on Max Plowman - I can offer you
this... Mark ("Max") Plowman (1883-1941), minor poet, Christian
Socialist, Secretary of the Peace Pledge Union and co-founder of the
Adelphi Centre at The Oaks (now Homestead School), Langham is buried in
Langham churchyard (Essex). He edited 'The Adelphi' in the post-war
period - and, like Siegfried Sassoon (but less famously) he also
objected to the continuation of the FWW - but more successfully - he
never went back to the Front.

Michele
-- 
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ill-natured office; and a morose snarling Critic may, I believe, be 
suspected to be a bad Man. - Henry Fielding,  'Tom Jones'.
--
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