Friday, October 04, 2019

Poetry Friday: G.M. Hopkins and (the usual suspect) a Gatsby quote



In my usual  melancholy, stop-the-party-I-want-to-get-off   happy-go-lucky way, I'm sharing a Gerard Manley Hopkins heartbreaker.

Aren't I fun in the fall?

But, just in case an existential crisis isn't your thing this morning, I have another beloved autumn offering, a quote I feel compelled to share nearly every, single year:


"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?"
"Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."
                                                ~~ The Great Gatsby 


I tend to bounce back and forth between mourning for Margaret and rejoicing in the crispness. How about you?


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For this week's round-up, get thee immediately to Library Matters

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Spring and Fall
to a young child

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Márgarét, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

7 comments:

Ruth said...

You and I are on the same wavelength. I shared this poem two Fridays ago! :-)

Tabatha said...

I am so excited about the weather getting cooler that I would do a cartwheel if that wouldn't land me in the hospital!

Linda B said...

Oh, I love that Gatsby quote, Karen! And the poem full of sorrow and goodbyes, sort of a lecture to us? I've read it before, feel that it's like a lesson to learn over and over again. Thanks!

Linda Mitchell said...

The Gatsby quote is great! I do love a quote almost as much as a poem. The poem is just right for this time of year. Anticipated grief is a thing. I think there's plenty in the poem and amongst us these days.

Carol Varsalona said...

I do love the Gatsby quote and plan on using it at my Abundant Autumn Gallery. Perhaps, you would like to write your own poem based on these or others for my fall gallery.

Kay said...

I'm definitely more in line with the Gatsby quote--everything starts fresh in the fall--I love it all, the colors, the crisp chill in the air, campfires and s'mores, apple cider and apple everything.

Cheriee Weichel said...

Autumn is my favourite time to go for walks. (I probably say that every season) Today on my way home I was nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of the trees and the raindrops glistening on the leaves of the euphorbia near my house. I'm still wearing my sandals, but also my down vest and raincoat!