Litsy

The Poets' Corner: The One-And-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family | John Lithgow

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This is a great collection of poetry. It covers so many different poets. It‘s part poetry collection, part biography of the poets, and part autobiography of John Lithgow. It‘s a joy to listen to, and bringing in his friends to read the poems themselves is the real icing on the cake. He has Billy Connolly read the Scottish poets, Irish actors read the Irish poets, Americans throughout. It was just great. I highly recommend this.

GingerAntics This book is like John Lithgow took the list of @TheBookHippie‘s favourite poets, added in more of his own, and then called up his friends to have a poetry party. For being the only Joetry 2022 book of this year, it was the perfect choice. #PoetsCorner #JohnLithgow #Joetry #Joetry2022 @CBee @Chrissyreadit 1y

TheBookHippie Oooooo!!! 1y

CBee Sounds lovely! John Lithgow can do no wrong in my book 😊 1y

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Chrissyreadit So this should be an audio book vs book in hand? 1y

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie I think you‘d enjoy it. 1y

GingerAntics @CBee same! 1y

GingerAntics @Chrissyreadit it would probably still be lovely in hand, if I hadn‘t been rushing to finish before the end of the day/year, I probably would have done both. The audiobook certainly elevates the experience. 1y

TheBookHippie @GingerAntics adding it! 1y

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie I can‘t wait to see what you think of it. I swear it covered every poet you listed for me way back when (I have it saved on my phone as The Book Hippie Poetry Hour 😂) and then some. This is probably the place I should have started back then… plus it has the added bonus of John Lithgow. 1y

kspenmoll I hope I can find it to listen too. 1y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

I‘ve been a terrible leader the last two weeks. I promise to do better. How is everyone doing with their adventures through Shakes‘s sonnets?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

GingerAntics @readinginthedark @batsy @Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie @Sunraven @Trashcanman @IamIamIam @ladyneverwhere @MoonWitch94 @catebutler @CoffeeNBooks @jewright @saresmoore @rabbitprincess @Balibee146 @kathedron @Mtroiano @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MrsMalaprop @Gezemice @cuilin @erzascarletbookgasm 2y

GingerAntics @Melismatic @Sace @teainthelibrary @Susannah @kristenm @slategreyskies @Panic70 @Carolyn11215 @Alliterati @Kristy_K @Liz_M @Daisey @mhillis @Wife @wanderinglynn @Jess_Read_This @Linsy @MellieAntoinette @Yoshi-and-a-book @mollyrotondo @greenreads @LitStephanie @MehoLovesReading @vlwelser 2y

Graywacke We crossed over from love sonnets addressed to the young man to those addresses to the unconventionally dark lady with black eyes. I‘m seeing the narrative. It feels like WS needed something off convention to spark his Sonnets. I like the anti-Petrarch aspects and I loved is deranged compression of contradictions on lust in 129. 2y

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GingerAntics @Graywacke he certainly does have a convoluted inner life coming through in these. I still think the death of Hamnet plays some roll here. 2y

batsy It does feel like his switch to the Dark Lady helps him regain his autonomy again, or his spark, maybe. Though thus far these particular ones addressed go the DL are keeping me at a distance. I'm particularly fond of 123, where he basically rants at Time. 2y

MrsMalaprop As my posts attest, I am digging it. The harder I work at it, the more I get out. The repressed English teacher in me is feeling affirmed. 😁 2y

Graywacke @batsy regains his autonomy? I need think about that. …also I liked his rant at time a lot. 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop I‘m enjoying your “repressed teacher” posts! 😂 (edited) 2y

MrsMalaprop @Graywacke yup! Decided I was going to be a high school English teacher but all my teachers at the time discouraged it 😔. Then I discovered school psychology 💡. 2y

batsy @Graywacke Yeah ... No. I just read sonnets 133-135 and I take back what I said 😆 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop interesting! I‘m glad you found a good role. 2y

GingerAntics @MrsMalaprop oh good! 2y

GingerAntics @batsy @Graywacke I do love the rant at time! I think it‘s something we can all relate to. 2y

GingerAntics @batsy 🤣😂🤣 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

This is the title page from the 1609 first edition of Shakespeare‘s Sonnets. How many have actually made it to sonnet 110? (I‘m not) How is secretive doing with the Sonnets? (I‘m a bit behind) Any favourites pop out at you this week? What do you think this week‘s theme was?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

jenniferw88 I'm slightly ahead, because I was behind! 🤣 Have caught up by just reading the ones I annotated for school... will start reading them all again now! 2y

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batsy I am. I thought I wouldn't be able to keep up, but reading the sonnets is a daily ritual that I take great pleasure in now, despite the struggle ? I found it interesting that the later ones from 108 to 110 I think pivoted to the poet's own infidelities & justifications for them. The line in 110, "a god in love, to whom I am confined", is very arresting & gives a kind form to the anguish the poet has been struggling with. 2y

erzascarletbookgasm I‘m playing catch up and am enjoying it 👌 2y

MrsMalaprop I am keeping up. Like @batsy I am very much enjoying them and the workout they are giving my brain. 2y

Graywacke @batsy the “Alas, ‘tis true, I have gone here and there” threw me. I thought, wait! What? But what about all that other stuff? And that you cited is quite something 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics no worries. I have kept up, but it‘s taken an effort. My morning reading time is all sonnet every day. Thanks for posting these posts. And cool to see that cover. (Was Shakespeare part of the printing process? I understand he may not have been.) 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop they are amazing to revisit and rethink all fresh, 5 minutes or days later. 2y

Graywacke @jenniferw88 I‘m still jealous you have all your own class notes to review. 🙂 2y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa That would make me 110 sonnets behind 🤷‍♀️🤪🤣 2y

TheBookHippie I am loving the daily read I have had favorites and added them to my journaling you think I‘d keep track and post the numbers of the sonnets 🤣🤣🤣 OY! I‘ve love trying to dissect them and I‘m sure I‘m using my own self too much in them 😂 maybe that‘s the point. I do however think this is the intimate Shakespeare . 2y

TheBookHippie @Graywacke next day reading- OH I think this is what it means —-reads another OH maybe it‘s this 🤣🤣✊🏼🤷🏻‍♀️😅 reading a bunch to catch up I changed my mind 50 times at least. However I am enjoying it . 2y

TheBookHippie @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 🤣🤣🤣 2y

TheBookHippie @batsy I am loving the daily read much more than the catch up I did! Also his shifts 😵‍💫🤣🤷🏻‍♀️. Mood changes ? 2y

TheBookHippie @MrsMalaprop I agree it‘s brain candy. I love it. 2y

Graywacke @Riveted_Reader_Melissa🤣 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie and you‘re always right. Until you read it again! 😁🤔🫣🙃 2y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheBookHippie @Graywacke I knew this group would understand the pain of a reading slump and busy irl and the catch-up that now needs to occur 😂 2y

TheBookHippie @Riveted_Reader_Melissa the struggle!!! I swear it‘s still June. 2y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheBookHippie Right 🤣where did it go? 🫠 2y

batsy @Graywacke I know! That was a total plot twist!! 2y

batsy @TheBookHippie So SHIFTY! 😂 2y

batsy @MrsMalaprop Yes, the ole brain is having to more flexible than it's ever been 😁 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

Sorry I‘m getting this up so late. I start a new job tomorrow, and I totally forgot it was Sunday.
How is everyone doing with the sonnets? Any favourites jumping out at you?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

Graywacke I think petulance is the theme. I like the falls tree as an empty ruined choir…or a thin-haired old man. 2y

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GingerAntics @Graywacke they certainly have gotten darker. 2y

batsy "Petulance is the theme" @Graywacke ? Yep! And I agree, it's gotten darker, and it's super fascinating to see the poet wrestling with his own mortality and thus his artistic legacy and to see the frustrations displaced onto this beautiful youth who gets flowers thrown at him everywhere he goes... These sonnets are like a Portrait of an Artist During a Mid-life Crisis. 2y

Graywacke @batsy 🤣 oh, poor WS, if he could read your last line. I hope he has a sense of humor writing these. 2y

batsy @Graywacke 😂 I mean it as the highest compliment! If only my existential crises could produce these sublime works of art. 2y

Graywacke @batsy I can only wish you less costly inspiration. 🙂 But i do wonder, were his real emotions so utterly intense such that he would write what he wrote? Or how much is a kind of literary performance? 2y

batsy @Graywacke An intriguing question! Easy answer is a bit of both. There are times when one's emotions feel too large and outsized and melodramatic that a tongue-in-cheek performance seems to be a safer way to express it. Yet something real seeps through ... that seems to be the underlying darkness underneath the petulance. IMHO :) 2y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @GingerAntics Good luck tomorrow 2y

Graywacke @batsy it‘s a good answer. 2y

batsy @GingerAntics All the best for your new job 🍀 2y

SilversReviews Good luck in your new job. What site did you use to make that photo please? 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics wishing you a great 1st day. 2y

LitStephanie Congrats on the new job! I hope it is a great fit. 2y

GingerAntics @SilversReviews I found it on Google. 2y

GingerAntics @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @batsy @Graywacke @LitStephanie @SilversReviews my first day and first week were AWESOME!!! I love my new job. 2y

batsy @GingerAntics That's great! 💕 2y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @GingerAntics That‘s wonderful to here! I‘m so happy for you! 2y

SilversReviews @GingerAntics Ok. I used to use a site called WORDLE but it isn‘t in use any more. Thanks. (edited) 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

It‘s that time again Shakes fam! I‘ve been inspired by Dan‘s photos for some of the sonnets and found this intriguing photo of a shakes stature inadvertently holding a lovely autumn leaf. How is everyone doing? Are you enjoying the sonnets so far? Any that jump out at you?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

TheBookHippie I will post my list. Feeling a bit blech currently. I am enjoying it quite a bit! Also love @Graywacke posts. 2y

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MrsMalaprop Am finding reading them aloud and watching videos of famous people reading them is helping me appreciate them. 2y

Graywacke Well, I‘m Covid positive as of this am and haven‘t been able to read today. This is like my first non-miserable moment today. So I‘m a little behind on the sonnets. But I read through 60 and Sonnet 60 is a favorite - with ripples moving towards shore as an illustration of time. 2y

batsy @Graywacke Sorry to hear that. I hope you feel non-miserable and back to yourself really soon. Take care. 2y

batsy I enjoyed 60 and 62 in particular, though they are all holding my attention. I just need to be better about making notes about what strikes my attention 😆 62 was interesting in its themes of identity & identification with the lover/youth. 2y

Graywacke @batsy well, able to read today. 2y

Graywacke 64 would be terrific for the setting of any fantasy movie. “When I have seen by Time‘s fell hand defaced/ The rich proud cost of outworn age,/ When sometime lofty towers I see razed down/ And brass eternal slave to mortal age”. 2y

Graywacke And 65 captures many of our feelings for what has been lost with the tone-deaf passionately insensitive current political climate: “How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger than a flower?” 2y

LitStephanie I love this picture even though I am not doing the sonnets. Beautiful! 2y

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie his posts ( @Graywacke ) are the best. 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke I hope you‘re feeling better now. COVID really knocked me out! 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics this picture is wonderful. I‘m tired…but mostly I‘m bummed I‘m still testing positive. No other symptoms. 2y

TheBookHippie @Graywacke Ughhh how incredibly frustrating. 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie yes, really frustrating. But unfortunately normal. Ten days of testing positive is apparently really common. 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

How is everyone getting along with the sonnets? What was your favourite sonnet so far? Any observations you‘ve noticed?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

Graywacke I was enjoying reading to my cat. But we‘re traveling today, so none of that for a bit. Hopefully tomorrow I‘ll learn how some Sonnets work at 9000 ft. I‘ve been trying to read 3 a day. It takes me about 5 minutes a sonnet to figure out what it means and then read it to enjoy. It‘s a whole lot of different sexual implications - coded, compressed, beautiful, ambiguous - but that‘s my main take away. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 2y

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laurieluna I may just jump in with this! 2y

batsy I'm so behind! I'm enjoying it a lot but life is pure chaos at the moment with family visiting from abroad and other family members getting covid and etc. so I'll probably not be able to get through it in time. I do love that each sonnet feels so philosophically rich—and the poet/speaker gives full vent to his complex feelings. 2y

MrsMalaprop Sorry, been busy the last couple of days. Back to work after two glorious weeks off. Think my fave of this group is Sonnet 33: the 🌞 as a metaphor for his friend/lover. The sun will come and go and be covered in clouds. But it will come out again and be all glorious and cast beauty over the land. (edited) 2y

MrsMalaprop Sounds like life is just getting in the way of your reading @batsy And hope you‘re enjoying your mountainous reading @Graywacke 2y

MoonWitch94 I‘m catching up & enjoying! 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

How is everyone doing with the sonnets? Which one is your favourite so far?
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

Graywacke My favorite…well since he have sonnet 18 on this bunch… i‘ll go with that one. 2y

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Graywacke So as I read these I keep trying to contextualize them. Who is talking to whom. I know, it‘s mostly laid out in the commentaries, but still I felt the need to imagine possibilities. I made a list. Curious what others think. My list of the moment will be in my next 1 or 2 posts. 2y

Graywacke Who is talking to who?
1. a man to his good looking bachelor friend (most logical, but kinda boring)
2. a man chiding his male lover for being not straight (my preference)
3. A bachelor looking in the mirror (I also like this)
4. A woman to a bachelor (weird but it works)
5. A bachelor speaking for his own female lover, himself as the subject (its possible?)
6. Are all the male references coding to hide a female love interest? (tough one) 2y

Graywacke (Hope I didn‘t kill this thread 🙁) 2y

MrsMalaprop @Graywacke Interesting analysis and questions 🤔. A lot is unknown about the sonnets, so I say go with whatever you find most fun/titillating! I think the general view is that the earlier ones at least were written for a male friend/lover? So much angst about beauty and life being temporary, with seasonal metaphors. 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop I took that home too - the brevity of youth and youthful beauty. Time. Also nuance of expression with multiple meanings and implications. Also, they‘re very challenging. 2y

batsy This was such a fascinating set of sonnets. I love those points of analysis @Graywacke I know it's taken for granted that these were written for a male lover, but it does seem like there's so much going on beneath! Like envy of beauty, a kind of resentment (almost) of this beautiful young man carrying about & enchanting people with his looks without doing the hard work of baby-making, etc. But towards the end of the 22 that we read the poet 2y

batsy sort of shifts from being worried about sexual reproduction to simply just taking pleasure in the man's beauty & the poet's ability to immortalise that beauty in words. I found Sonnet 10 especially intriguing for the lines "Make thee another self for love of me". I would totally watch like 10 seasons of a Netflix show on the underlying romantic & sexual drama of these sonnets. 2y

Graywacke @batsy I‘m nodding to “fascinating”, “so much going on beneath”, and the shift to “beauty”. This has been a fascinating experience. I struggled so much to find a way into these, and I feel like that now I‘m getting something, I‘m getting into so sacred baseline of English language history. It‘s really rewarding. 2y

Graywacke @batsy and the shift to beauty has a narrative power. The ground is lain, and these comments, free of the purpose (whether of procreation, or just chiding playfully about sex) feel free and more beautiful. 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics thanks so much for leading. I hope more people come in late and carry on through. This is a great experience reading these sonnets. But @MrsMalaprop @batsy - four isn‘t a bad crowd. 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke @MrsMalaprop @batsy I love this idea of a Netflix show on the sonnets. That would be awesome. I like the list of possibilities as well. I agree that number 2 and number 3 work well. It would also be sort of interesting if Shakes was trying to write from the female perspective and pulled off number 4. Number 5 seems intriguing as well. 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke I think discussions are harder for the sonnets. I wasn‘t sure what to post when it came time to. It‘s not like the plays where we have something to discuss. 2y

Graywacke @GingerAntics well, they are difficult in every way. It makes discussing them difficult too. 2y

batsy @Graywacke I like the narrative power that comes with those shifts in mood, as you say. Nicely put. These feel so complex. My academic pal came through again and I've got a pdf of Helen Vendler's The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets to slowly read with, & her love & enthusiasm is so helpful. It's like a deep dive into Shakespeare's brain 💕 2y

batsy @GingerAntics It's tough to find an entry point into discussions, for sure! There's so many angles from which one can approach each individual sonnet. 2y

Graywacke @batsy Vendler sounds terrific. Please share if anything strikes you. I find the Pelican really good on the line level, but there‘s no larger guide. I‘m also using Paul Edmondson and Stanley wells. They have two cool things - a prose rewrite for clarity and one quick sentence summary of each sonnet (which sometimes only partially works). But their critique isn‘t that helpful. So I have enough to understand, but no real help beyond that. 2y

Graywacke @MrsMalaprop @batsy i did learn today, thanks and Edmundson & Wells that homoerotic sonnets were a thing in the 1590‘s (when English sonnets were briefly also hot). And that Erasmus wrote an epistle urging a friend to marry and have children (Encomium Matrimonii) - and that this was imitated. The implication is that neither of these aspects were rebellious, but instead part of the standard sonnet writing. 2y

Graywacke And I found this - which translates the key part of Erasmus and other sources: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/appendix-... 2y

TheBookHippie Okay I am doing a little catch up! Being offthegrid/offline put me a tad behind.....I still love the sonnets I am still looking for my notes! HA. I know I kept them......I mean they are only 40 ish years old.... 2y

MoonWitch94 I‘m just starting but enjoying 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie @MoonWitch94 yay! 🙂 2y

GingerAntics @batsy exactly, and it‘s not like we can do a post for every sonnet so people can choose which one(s) to dive into. 2y

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie did you look in the closet, in that box, on the top shelf, in the back there? 🤣 2y

GingerAntics @Graywacke there are so many entry points and so many interpretations and ways to look at each one, plus 22 sonnets a week. It would have taken years, but maybe we should have done like 3 of them a week. 🤣 we could have dived in then. 2y

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GingerAntics

Complete Sonnets | William Shakespeare

We have finished the plays… so now it‘s time for some poetry!!! 22 sonnets a week - that‘s 308 lines, 3,080 syllables per week - for 7 weeks. It may seem like a lot, but I promise it‘s not. Especially because YouTube has videos of famous Shakespearean actors reading each sonnet (there is also an app for that). Who‘s ready?!
#Shakespeare #Sonnets #Poetry #shakespearereadalong #Joetry2022

merelybookish, Graywacke

MrsMalaprop Have fallen well and truly off the Shakespeare wagon of late, but keen to get back on, especially since my husband bought me The Bard‘s complete works! And thanks for the YouTube tip. 👍🏼 2y

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GingerAntics @MrsMalaprop you are more than welcome! It‘s great hearing then read. It can make them easier to follow and understand. 2y

batsy Oooh! This will be fun. And thanks again for the YouTube tip—that will be definitely something I'll be utilising! 2y

IamIamIam 👍🏻😁👍🏻😁 2y

jenniferw88 Can you add me to the list please? Recently rediscovered my sonnets book from my GCSEs so will be able to help with background info, plus I'd love to revisit them! 130 used to be my fave! ❤💔❤ 2y

Graywacke Alright, mentally prepping! @jenniferw88 - what are GCSES? I‘m looking for a book to help me through these sonnets. I‘m a lot intimidated (despite Patrick Stewart‘s voice of calm assurance) 2y

jenniferw88 @Graywacke exams UK students take age 16 in order to go on to 6th form/college - the equivalent would be the US's 10th grade. 2y

TheBookHippie I am in yay!!! 2y

jenniferw88 @Graywacke sparknotes might help - they're online. 2y

jewright I‘m excited! I‘ve read a lot of the sonnets, but I don‘t think I‘ve gone all the way through. 2y

TheBookHippie @Graywacke I just ordered this one 🤷🏻‍♀️ All the Sonnets of Shakespeare https://a.co/d/hZC4ks6 May order this pretty one Shakespeare's Sonnets: The Complete Illustrated Edition https://a.co/d/fPeUnhP aka what I do with my Amazon gift card from my birthday 🤣 2y

Graywacke @TheBookHippie Amazon gift cards are fun - if you use them for books! Noting that edition. Thanks! 2y

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie Illustrated sonnets sounds amazing!!! 2y

MoonWitch94 Yay! Can‘t wait. I definitely have not read these as much so I should have ad an English major 😵‍💫😂 So should be fun! 2y

wanderinglynn @TheBookHippie thanks for those recommendations! I‘m definitely going to check out the illustrated one. 2y

TheBookHippie @wanderinglynn it looks so pretty!!! 2y

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