It's summer here in Smalltown, which means I'm reading what I want when I want. (I collect lists and stacks for each and every summer.) Currently I'm reading Dear American Airlines, listening to Atmospheric Disturbances, and reading a number of children's books for review. But today it hit me: Come fall, I'm going to be reading Anna Karenina yet again. I honestly have no idea how many times I've read and taught this novel. I chose eleven for the title, but only because I like that number.
On Reading Anna Karenina for the Eleventh Time
Once a year I think of you,
in a black velvet dress, eyes
flashing and shattering hearts.
The opera. Trains. A red handbag.
Can I break that aged spine
and live your torment anew?
At sixteen I understood:
Karenin is bo-ring!
He has big ears. Pe-Dan-Tic.
Of course you must leave for
dancing dangerous Vronsky.
At twenty five I understood
life is difficult, there are
many choices. Husband. Son.
New man. How could you have known
you’d chosen so tragically?
At forty I understood
Tolstoy meant it: “Vengeance is
mine; I will repay.” For what
was Vronsky but a spoiled frat
boy you chose over your son?
Can I travel your road again?
I don’t know. But at least I’ll
have Shcherbatsky, Stiva,
and Dolly to walk me through
with joy, humor, and faith,
to the very bitter end.
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Jennie, who studied in Smalltown, is on the roundup this week at Biblio File. Head on over and leave your links...
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Don't get me wrong: I certainly appreciate Anna Karenina and consider it to be, structurally speaking, a great novel. Maybe THE great novel. But my heart remains true to War and Peace and to the Tolstoy who wrote War and Peace.
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By: Kelly Herold,
on 6/27/2008
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, a PF original, Add a tag
By: Kelly Herold,
on 5/1/2008
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, Poetry Friday roundup, a PF original, Add a tag
May is now upon us. It's time for graduation and the best weather of the year.
I wrote this poem in honor of my graduating seniors. It's written in the spirit of great pride and just the tiniest bit of exasperation. Let me know what you think the last line means. (Oh, and I'm on the roundup this week. So leave me a comment and I'll link up the party throughout the day.)
Graduating
Seniors write at 4 am:
Hey Professor!
My laptop,
My roommate,
My tortoise,
My best friend...
A squirrel on a branch
framed by blue sky,
through leaded glass
stands, hands held high.
This is a stick up, suckas!
5 minutes late,
10 minutes late,
The seniors slink in.
Sorry, Kelly,
the sun, my band.
A final exam.
Every May:
I stand to one side,
tears blink my eyes,
(seriously)
while they march by.
In robes expensive, borrowed, or sewn.
In dresses, in saris, in drag, their own.
I am so proud, watch my students and wave.
Listen to speeches, I hope in the shade.
We did it! We’re off!
To Uzbekistan,
Chile, Lesotho,
or maybe just France.
Those papers, those classes.
Those rooms, and the squirrels.
They’re behind us now.
Forgotten sweet pearls.
Goodbye, old college,
I’ll miss you so. We’re...
Oh wait...
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Coloring sheet image from About: Family Crafts
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Let the wild rumpus begin:
Ruth contributes an original poem this week called "the dance" over at Two Writing Teachers.
Little Willow is in with Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) by Jose Marti at Bildungsroman.
Elaine Magliaro is here with a humorous children's poem by John Ciardi--"Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo"--at Wild Rose Reader, and "Consolation," by Wislawa Szymborska, at Blue Rose Girls.
Laura Purdie Salas shares a poem written by a Scotsman hours before his execution, sent in from Edinburgh this week.
John Mutford contributes "Wise Appliance (a found poem)" at The Book Mine Set. (Funny!)
Sara Lewis Holmes shares Alice Pero's "Bad Poem" and starts a discussion on what makes a poem bad at Read Write Believe.
Mary Lee talks changes at work with a little help from Robert Frost at A Year of Reading.
Tadmack is having a great time with pen names and name poems over at Finding Wonderland.
Jama Rattigan finds you can go home again reading Cathy Song's "Leaving" at Alphabet Soup.
writer2be shares Elizabeth Jennings's "Rembrandt's Late Self-Portraits" this week at Findings.
Ruth contributes Sara Teasdale's "May Day" in honor of, well, May Day at There is no such thing as a God-Forsaken Town.
Jill is in at The Well-Read Child with "Insomnia," by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
HipWriterMama is in with "Let Each Man Remember," by Josephine Jacobsen. She's also seeking your votes on the five-sentence contest, so head on over and cast your vote!
Tricia forgives Shakespeare for a little love poetry because, well, he's Shakespeare! She's in with "Love's Perjuries" at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
Marcie contributes "Boshblobberbosh," by J. Patrick Lewis honoring Edward Lear, at World of Words.
Eisha shares the lyrics to the James Shelton song "Lilac Wine" at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
Linda, inspired by Tricia's Food Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect, contributes two original food poems at Write Time. (They're great, Linda!)
MsMac talks about what she discovered during Poetry Month over at Check It Out. So...check it out!
Cloudscome shares Emily Dickinson's "New Feet Within My Garden Grow" along with a beautiful photo of new vegetation at A Wrung Sponge.
Karen Edmisten talks about creating poetry lovers at home this week.
Last week Sylvia Vardell invited Janet Wong to share a poem at Poetry for Children. Janet did and asked for revision recommendations. This week the revised poem is up! (You can also read all the revision suggestions here. What a great exercise.)
Sarah Miller shares some Hafiz at Reading, Writing, Musing.
Sherry of Semicolon shares a lovely combination of Sara Teasdale, John Milton, and Pablo Picasso--all compiled for May Day baskets.
Tiel Aisha Ansari shares an original sonnet--"Eccentric Spheres"--at Knocking from Inside.
MotherReader contributes an original search string poem. (Funny!)
Alkelda of Saints and Spinners is in with a traditional May Day song sung during 'Obby 'Oss Day in Cornwall.
Lisa combines Free Comic Book Day with Poetry Friday with some super-hero themed poems at Under the Covers.
April Poetry maestro Gregory K. of GottaBook is in with an original poem by J. Patrick Lewis!!! Called "A Sixth Grader Sees the Future," this poem won't be out until 2009. DON'T MISS IT NOW.
Michele of Scholar's Blog is here with Robert Herrick's "To The Virgins, To Make Much Of Time."
James, aka RM1(SS) (ret), shares a short poem by James I, King of Scots.
Becky of Becky's Book Reviews contributes Lord Byron's "She Walks In Beauty" this week.
Liz in Ink shares Marlys West's "Here is the Church" and the story of two bodies.
Sarah (a.fortis) contributes a Welsh poem this week by Hedd Wyn in original and translation at Finding Wonderland.
Charlotte (Charlotte's Library) writes in and tells us she's "in with a lovely poem about gardens, and plants, and being in the world, by Kerry Hardiein."
Suzanne of Adventures in Living shares a poem by Elizabeth Coatsworth, a poet she and her children are enjoying these days.
Miss Erin shares "On My Way Home from School," by Sonya Sones, this week.
Paper Doll contributes a poem by her mother Rebecca Kai Dotlich, from Dotlich's book Sweet Dreams of the Wild.
Kelly Fineman, who always does a fantastic job discussing the structure and origin of poems, is in with Melville's "Shiloh: A Requiem" at Writing and Ruminating.
Lisa has posted Rachel Field's "Something Told the Wild Geese" in honor of a Mama Canada Goose at A little of this, a little of that.
Felicity celebrates Poetry Friday with Robert Frost's classic "After Apple Picking" at Look Books.
By: Kayleen West.,
on 9/2/2007
Blog: Kayleen West (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: quotong primary, quoting, property, sources, copyright, property, quotong primary, quoting, Add a tag
Copyright is an issue on the Internet. I believe it is respectful to do the right thing by others I have posted the basics here in regard to quoting form primary source material. From my research the following is my understanding of the rules for quoting. I hope this is helpful to you. More information can be located at: http://cil.usu.edu/tests/ET/citing.html When we want to quote from a book
Anna was my first piece of Russian lit. I sat on my parents' porch all summer before my junior year in high school, reading her story. It was the same edition used in your picture...
I haven't read War and Peace yet. Well... I've read part of it, but it was craptacular translation. (I mean, anything that uses Andrew instead of leaving it as Andrei? eh.) I have the new translation, but haven't read it yet...
I, am however well versed in my Dostoevsky, thanks to Smalltown...
Admittedly, I've not finished War and Peace (and apparently I had a craptacular translation as well); I've never taken a Russian Lit course so have read more Solzhenitsyn and Checkov than Dostoevsky and Tolstoy... but I love that you can just whip out a poem on Anna... There's just no place else but Big A, little a where you'll find poetry on Tolstoy's novels using the phrase 'frat boy.' Classic.
Like Jennie, Anna was my first foray into Russian lit in high school as well. And I went on for the BA and MA eventually. I agree that War & Peace is the better novel, however, I cannot imagine reading THAT masterpiece 11 times. I got through it, was amazed and impressed, and haven't completed another reading of it since.
Kelly, can you recommend a good translation of War and Peace? I have a very old copy at home and have tried opening the first volume literally... six of times, and the stodge of chapter 1 beats me into submission on every occasion. I'm sure it must be the translation's fault; I simply cannot square the evidence of my eyes with what I hear people saying about this book; there must be a version that reads better than my one!
Fabulous poem! *Feeling guilty over not reading War and Peace*
Jennie: You must have taken Dostoevsky during the tragic semester, right? Or did you take it earlier?
Tadmack: Admittedly Big A little a is not the ideal audience for this poem :) But you're *MY* audience and I've been thinking of Anna...Give her a try someday! It is a great novel, especially when reading for the first time.
Yay for "War and Peace," Heather!
Nick: I'd try the new translation of war and peace by Volkhonsky and Pevear. I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's more lively than the old Garnett translation. Oh, and Tolstoy's first Chapter doesn't draw you in immediately, I'll give you that.
Jama: No guilt! Give Anna a read sometime, then go for War and Peace.
Kelly-- The tragic semester was the year after I graduated. But I did reread Brothers Karamazov during that time.
Tadmack-- I'm really picky on my translations and I find the treatment of names is a good indicator on how sensitive the rest of the translation is. It might be a bit of an arbitrary marker on my part but we all have our quirks, right?
Do you know that reading that novel has also been on my life to-do list for the longest time? Maybe I need to do that this summer, too.
I need to add it to my "to read" list too.
Jim D (the other J Danielson -- no realation)
I love War and Peace, too, and I blame Charles Schultz for it's undeserved reputation as being unreadably long. Gotta read it again.
I have my mom's Anna Karenina from when she was in college in Austin in the early 1940's.
I admire your fortitude, Kelly. I read ANNA K a few months ago, and words cannot express my loathing . . . I am just not a 19th-century lit kind of gal.
There is so much value in rereading. I love Anna K., but I've got a few others to rereread bfore I can reread it.
Titus Groan topping that list.