Catharsis

So, I think I have realized something being here. I am not, not, not a prose writer at all. It's why I normally despise writing in general, and it also contributes to my constant procrastination at writing academic papers. I think I much prefer to look at literature and break it down by device and theme rather than writing the actual source material myself. I have also decided that I like writing poetry for fun - sometimes serious and sometimes downright silly.

Segue (thanks, D) into sharing something with you.......

We had an assignment the other day to use Wordsworth's famous daffodil poem and a coinciding diary entry from his sister Dorothyto be inspired to write either biography, historical fiction or yet another poem. And I, true to form, went with the poem.

The story here is that Dorothy kept very detailed journals of she and William's wanderings through the countryside, etc., and when he would go to write, he would reference her journals for the details of what he had been up to. So, here is the famous poem that i am sure you have head a million times:

'I wandered lonely as a cloud'
by William Wordsworth, 1807

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:-
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed-and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils

Therefore, based on the "back story" of how Williams Wordsworth got his ideas, I composed this funny poem - telling the TRUE story behind the writing of the poem. ENJOY :-)

‘A yellow flower so soft and bright’
by Michelle Newman

A yellow flower so soft and bright,
Which proclaims onset of spring
I wrote of it a Thursday night
Not knowing what gloom I bring.

Brother with his loss of words
Comes knocking at my door.
“Dorothy, oh my lovely bird!
Sit with me on the floor.

‘Twas a day so long ago,
We walked throughout the field
Ambling hither to and fro
Then what our eyes did yield.

Happy yellow flowers that were
Waving in the breeze,
How watching them passed the hours
And made me feel so pleased.

I know you write a daily verse
A memoir to the days.
I pledge to you what’s in my purse
If your diary I steal away.”

Bending at his every whim
To the drawer I strolled.
I had to calm my trembling limbs
If the real truth will be told.

I had no knowledge of his plans
And surely kin would ne'er steal!
For on the margin in my own hand
I had jotted verses real.

He kept it weeks and then a day
When much to my surprise -
A poem receiving greatest praise
Bewildered my flaming eyes.

'Daffodils beside the lake
Dancing in the breeze'
All trust my brother did forsake
These are my words, if you please!

He added couplets at the ends
Of every single stanza.
To claim the poem as solely his
Therefore from guilt he's gratis.

Will’s now blessed the world around
For oding to this plant.
But the lovely rhyming sounds
Were mine – so that is that.

It pains me like an aching blister
God forgive me – you too, mother
That I am known as William’s sister -
And he not Dorothy’s brother.