h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"The Road not taken," by Robert Frost, Jab.

Here's the next clue:

"O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none,
He rode all unarm'd, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar"

Young Lochinvar, by Sir Walter Scott. He has few admirers today, but in his time he was very popular, I believe, as adventure writer and poet. A very similar poet, (in my opinion - not everyone has quite the same opinion about Scott), similarly popular:


But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

Name of poet and of poem please



Jabs

William McGonagall
"The Tay Bridge Disaster"

Next poem, by a poet who made the most difficult rhymes and meters seem so easy and natural that you could pretend it wasn't even verse, though of course it was:

"Why kneel ye there? What evil have ye wrought?
Rise!" and the damsel bidden rise arose
And stood with folded hands and downward eyes
Of glancing corner, and all meekly said,
"None wrought, but suffered much, an orphan maid!
My father died in battle for thy King,
My mother on his corpse--in open field,
The sad sea-sounding wastes of Lyonnesse--
Poor wretch--no friend!--and now by Mark the King
For that small charm of feature mine, pursued--
If any such be mine--I fly to thee

This WAS a bit obscure, Paul. Luckily I had a good idea what it was from, and checked with Google.

It's from 'Idylls of the King', especially 'Merlin and Vivien', by that sublime poet Tennyson, only lately returning to recognition.

Hardy also wrote a poem of Cornwall as Lyonnesse (When I Go Down To Lyonnesse), put to classical music (singer and piano) by one of our finest composers, Gerald Finzi.

Now my turn (quite easy as usual):


In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.


*All are welcome, not just me and Paul.

Jabs

I adore the music of Gerald Finzi.

Tom wrote some great poery, and they say his wife helped with his best stuff. Maybe his cats helped, too.

I like Finzi too. There's a budget first-class version of the Hardy/Finzi - would def be at Amazon.


And?........................

I wish i had read more poetry in my youth-i am a late-comer to it all, so know very little.

I will just read and learn

Ok:easy i should think

folly -
folly for to -
for to -
what is the word -
folly from this -
all this -
folly from all this -
given -
folly given all this -
seeing -
folly seeing all this -
this -
what is the word -
this this -
this this here -
all this this here -
folly given all this -
seeing -
folly seeing all this this here -
for to -
what is the word -
see -
glimpse -
seem to glimpse -
need to seem to glimpse -
folly for to need to seem to glimpse -
what -
what is the word -
and where -
folly for to need to seem to glimpse what where -
where -
what is the word -
there -
over there -
away over there -
afar -
afar away over there -
afaint -
afaint afar away over there what -
what -
what is the word -
seeing all this -
all this this -
all this this here -
folly for to see what -
glimpse -
seem to glimpse -
need to seem to glimpse -
afaint afar away over there what -
folly for to need to seem to glimpse afaint afar away over there what -
what -
what is the word -


what is the word

Your poem is really good/excellent in fact, myk, but it's on the wrong thread. This is 'Guess The Poet' whereas most poems belong on the Bad Poetry thread - where you can find both good and bad poems. I do like it though, and of course I don't think it's bad, but that's where it belongs. We called it the 'Bad Poetry' thread to take the pressure off, and to welcome jokey as well as serous stuff.

My last post here included 'And?', because Paul showed he knew the answer but didn't in fact answer the question.

(There's no rule against using Google, by the way, if you want to try answering my question in Post 44, the two lines about the women coming and going)

I'm glad you're enjoying this.

Jabs

I was tweaking your nose just a wee bit, Jab-=-not enough to hurt, of rouse--. The poet is T S Eliot, and the poem is "The Love song of J Alfred Prufrock." My reference to Eliot's cats in an earlier post is a hint about the Lloyd Webber musical "Cats," which had such a great libretto because Eliot basically wrote it for them with his collection "Old Possum's Book of practical Cats." Actually, everyone benefitted: theatergoers who were treated to a great show; Eliot, whose posthumous reputation got a lift; and Lloyd Webber, who could hardly have done a bad job with such inspired lyrics from the pen of a great (but playful) poet.

Here's a poem by someone who is not Woody Allen:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the song without a word,
And never never stops at all.

Point taken Jabs; but you still havnt guessed, who the famoue poet was who wrote one of my favourite poems??






Jesh! I thought that one was easy

Ok a clue:

One of the 20th century literary greats, they say-but maybe thats just obsurd??

Well, my nose has been well and truly tweaked twice! All that stuff about poems being in the wrong place was because I hadn't realised myk's was a test poem - part of the game - one I didn't know - comment dire by Samuel Beckett - well at least I said it was excellent, (I prefer his prose generally but I really liked the poem).

And earlier - hardly without feathers - is Hope by the wonderful Emily Dickinson, (my boast is she's good but she didn't publish as many as I have - including publishing on h2g2 of course).

And so, for all clever clogs:

"Boots boots boots boots."

Jab

Hoorayy!

Sorry Jabs i should have given a better intro ( and i have tried emulating the style of thet particular poem before, although not anything to compare with the master , Hey i never realized that was his last piece of work, or so says wikipedia )

I have not read any one poets work as such only picking up poems here there and everywhere , so i have not much knowledge of many poets really. My favourites are probably Blake, of which i have read a few poems and they are all brillaint, shakespeare for introducing me to the sonnet form, and Christina Rossetti who i have read a few real gems.

I dont know if this will be a dificult one ; but it is a favourite and if you get stuck just look on mt PS and you will see the author

" From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there's nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends . "

"In the Western Wolds," by Hilaire Belloc.

Next poem:

As ancient is this hostelry
As any in the land may be,
Built in the old Colonial day,
When men lived in a grander way,
With ampler hospitality;
A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall,
Now somewhat fallen to decay,
With weather-stains upon the wall,
And stairways worn, and crazy doors,
And creaking and uneven floors,
And chimneys huge, and tiled and tall.

I will wait fro Jabs to put us right with the author of that one

I was tempted to post a poem or two, that are my personal favourites here -- but it is not the right place i know. So after having a look for a thread of that ilk and not finding any ( i am sure there is though ) i will start one of my own - and hope maybe people will feel like sharing thier personal favourites maybe.

Hey Jab! Maybe one I do know,

Boots etc. sounds like Rudyard Kipling.

I don't know the name of the poem (unless it was *Boots*) But I know it from the song that Peter Dawson used to sing so resoundingly.

How about..

Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?

A bit of confusion. I think people got a bit excited and missed my challenge - Boots Boots Boots Boots - all except Lew, who was absolutely right, that it was Rudyard Kipling. Well done, Lew.
Sometimes it actually is known as 'Boots'.
Here's the proper title and the first verse, a pean to the Empire and the PBI soldiers who had to maintain it:

INFANTRY COLUMNS
We're foot-slog-slog-slog-sloggin' over Africa -
Foot-foot-foot-foot-sloggin' over Africa -
(Boots-boots-boots-boots-movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

[I've heard Peter Dawson belt it out pompously too!]


Lew's example is by Arthur Hugh Clough, who like Matthew Arnold ('Dover Beach') was a prominent Victorian struggling with his religious faith after the impact of Darwin. Thus the sceptical tone of his poem.

I'm carrying on from Lew, since he didn't miss mine and he got it right. Others will have to wait, I'm afraid. Please don't mess it up by answering earlier ones (like 54 and 55) - :
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This is the start of one that's quite well known. Name of poem and poet please:

I have done it again
One year in every ten
I manage it --

A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade

My right foot
A paperweight
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.

Myk - I like your idea for a thread of favourites. I'll certainly support it and join in as much as I can

Jabs

I forgot - the title of Lew's poem is 'The Last Decalogue'

Jabs

I didn't realize that "boots boots boots boots" was an entry. I'm not sure what I thought it was, but I guess now I feel