Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Thought-provoking fun

Towards
Today I tried a word-based exercise: my first attempt at a cento.  Starting with just two lines; one from a familiar poem, Cargoes by John Masefield, and another from a recently encountered poem, When Death Comes by Mary Oliver.
I made two two-line centos:

Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
I was a bride married to amazement.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores

I wish I had known about centos when I was teaching literature all those years ago.  I'm sure the kids would have had such fun.  I'm certainly finding it serious and fun now.

5 comments:

  1. What fun indeed - and new to me too. Like you, at one (albeit brief) stage in my teaching career, I taught English and can well see the fun and the value of this with teenagers.
    I was especially taken by your first attempt. It made me smile and the second line gave me a delightful frisson of surprise. Oh to be young again!

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    Replies
    1. Margaret, we don't need to be young to keep enjoying fun exercises like this!

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    2. I was thinking especially of the bride married to amazement. How long ago that feeling now seems!

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  2. Replies
    1. I'm glad you like Towards, Eirene. It is one of my favourites too.

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