In all the good Greek of Plato
I lack my roastbeef and potato.
A better man was Aristotle,
Pulling steady on the bottle.
I dip my hat to Chaucer,
Swilling soup from his saucer.
And to Master Shakespeare
Who wrote big on small beer.
The abstemious Wordsworth
Subsisted on a curd’s worth,
But a slick one was Tennyson,
Putting gravy on his venison.
What these men had to eat and drink
Is what we say and what we think.
The influence of Milton
Came wry out of Stilton.
Sing a song for Percy Shelley,
Drowned in pale lemon jelly,
And for precious John Keats,
Dripping blood of pickled beets.
Then there was poor Willie Blake,
He foundered on sweet cake.
God have mercy on the sinner
Who must write with no dinner,
No gravy and no grub,
No pewter and no pub,
No belly and no bowels,
Only consonants and vowels.
--John Crowe Ransom, "Survey of Literature"
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| Neal Adams 1941-2022 |
Hi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteHappy 134th birthday in heaven to educator and prize winning poet and essayist John Crowe Ransom, not to be confused with John Q. Public or Heldfor Ransom. Ransom hailed from the village of Gambier, not to be confused with Cleveland, a city that rocks. Gambier is located in Knox County, deep in the heart of Ohio. I enjoyed Ransom's "Survey of Literature" He was a poet and didn't even know it. I also learned that Ransom was a leading figure of the mid 20th century school of literary criticism known as the New Criticism which emphasized "close reading" and criticism based on the texts themselves. He argued that critics should regard a poem as an aesthetic object. Deep thinker, that man. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here picking link out of my belly button.
Thanks for reporting the death this week of comic book artist Neal Adams who wrote and illustrated the Ben Casey comic strip based on the hit TV medical series, and went on to a successful career in comic books. Neal became co-writer and illustrator of characters in the Marvel and D.C. Comics fantasy universes. These included Batman (reestablishing the crime fighting superhero's dark, brooding nature), Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Superman.
Have a safe and happy weekend, good buddy Kirk!
Shady, it wasn't my intent (since I didn't know anyone was going to die until the last minute) but I went from highbrow to lowbrow on this one. Well, I always wanted this blog to be eclectic.
ReplyDeleteI confess to not being an expert on John Crowe Ransom, but sometime somewhere in the past, I came across some of his poems (a lot of somes there), and this one, at least, got lodged in my brain, and when I came across his birthday, I thought, why not? Then I got something to eat.
In the 1970s Marvel finally surpassed DC in readers, and the latter comic book company was forced to quickly revamp its product. Adams was a significant part of that revamping, making sure DC didn't fall too far behind.
That poem makes me think of Monty Python's Drunk Philosophers Song!
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/l9SqQNgDrgg
Very similar, Debra! I didn't recognize the song at first, but I googled and found out it was included in the 1982 concert film Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, which I did happen to see oh so many years ago. Maybe THAT'S what was lodged in my brain.
DeleteThe poem is very clever with a nice jibe at those who are less indulgent.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm to believe that first line, Andrew, that republic Plato wrote about could use a good restaurant.
ReplyDelete