The Hot 100

[Saffron]

I'd like to thank Robert for coming over to this forum. I bet he was glad to see the Donne poem after the hyperglycemic Carew piece.

I'd also like to say,welcome aboard, Robert. It is always nice to have another voice chiming in. Over the last few months we've steadily been picking up readers. What a nice group we are. Thanks to everyone.

I prefer the non-holy Donne of his youth.

Amen!

[lady of shallot]

I'm always encouraged to hear of marriages that have hung on as many years as yours has

Dawn we celebrate 50 years this summer. A long and at times, rocky road, and so well worth the trip.

I like the first poem. I am always touched at poems about the deaths of children or those who are motherless.

Did not care for the second one.

[oblivion]

Hi Robert....and welcome! I'm afraid Donne didn't do anything for me at all, even the 2nd and 3rd readings. I tried. I even read it alone (which can work wonders for me). But I'll leave it with a metaphysical ding.

[Penelope]

Robert wrote:

The four corners of the earth are inhabited by the four cherubim who chant before the throne of God - a bull, a lion, an eagle and a man.

Poor God, I bet he tells them to clear off and go chant somewhere else!!

Robert, I thought the four corners were depicted by Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

They are, after all, what physically make up the Earth.

Now let me see. Taurus - is an earth sign
Leo - is a fire sign
Eagle would be an air sign
Man as Aquarius - not water??? Even though it sounds like water,,,,,,I think we have lost something in translation over the centuries.

Don't like the poem at all, but interesting none-the-less. John Donne up yer bum! No dings.

One ding for Ben - Oh the Power of this thread!! - It's going to my head.

[Robert Tulip]

Robert, I thought the four corners were depicted by Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

They are, after all, what physically make up the Earth.

Now let me see. Taurus - is an earth sign
Leo - is a fire sign
Eagle would be an air sign
Man as Aquarius - not water???

Not quite - Eagle/Scorpion is water, and Aquarius is air. As DWill mentioned, these are the imagined corners of the round earth. The historical imagination looks to the night sky to envision God. Another flat earth theory of the four corners was that they were the homes of the winds. Donne shows he is talking about constellation by linking the corners to angels. The origin of these four cherubim is in observation of the zodiac.

There is a puritan streak in The Round Earth's Imagined Corners, with the idea that belief in Jesus is not enough for salvation. As well, the idea of final judgment has an absolutist tone that many would find uncomfortable.

[DWill]

The idea is to double up on some of the poems, to be able to finish up the list by about mid-April. Might have been a better strategy for the 3 and 400s. Oh well.

78. "O Mistress Mine," by William Shakespeare. Emilie Autumn, whom I'd never heard of before, sings this on a video. That's the important thing about it, it's a song, from Twelfth Night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCGSpcUPaA. Pretty groovy tune, worth 3 dings from me.

O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

77. "Since There's No Help, Come Let Us Kiss and Part," by Michael Drayton. Said to be equal to any of Shakespeare's sonnets, and I'd have to agree with 4 dings.

Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part,
Nay, I have done: you get no more of me,
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,
When his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou might'st him yet recover.

[Saffron]

Not to be dense, but what the heck?! I know these last few lines are important to the over all meaning of the poem --

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou might'st him yet recover.

--but I just can't quite get them. Who is all and who is him -- the him of the couple? From death to life you (as in the she of the couple?) might yet recover him. Are the last lines saying that if she takes him back she will pull him from death to life (joy)?

I can't give dings if I don't understand what I am reading. Somebody help me out...please.

78. "O Mistress Mine," by William Shakespeare. Emilie Autumn, whom I'd never heard of before, sings this on a video. That's the important thing about it, it's a song, from Twelfth Night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCGSpcUPaA. Pretty groovy tune, worth 3 dings from me.

Here is another version of the song -- I really like it! So, 3 dings for Will and 3 for Mary Kadderly's version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NDSyLoQkE&feature=fvst

[DWill]

I think "him" is the personified Love, and "all" is the other three personified ideas. The lady can help save this poor man's dying spirit, and there's no doubt how.

[Saffron]

I think "him" is the personified Love, and "all" is the other three personified ideas. The lady can help save this poor man's dying spirit, and there's no doubt how.

Ah, yes, I am beginning to see light. Thank you for flipping the switch.

[giselle]

I agree that the 'him' is personified love ... I would follow the sonnet this way .. the first 8 lines are brave talk, perhaps summed up as 'its over, take your love and stuff it' ... the next 4 lines are the last gasps of love (although interesting that he introduces Faith and Innocence) and then winding up with the rather tortured last 2 lines in question, where I think reality is setting in, and desperation, and the poet says, "hey, you can still save him", revealing the disingenuous brave talk at the outset. I am wondering about the Faith and Innocence lines. My best guess is that he is building up the 'him' of personified love, to be something pretty special and therefore worth saving. But this is a WAG.