London's Burning

By luigi_pagano

Tue, 16 Apr 2019
  • 2511 reads
8 comments
 
The cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form made up of lines from poems by other poets.
Lines (with minor tweaks) by the following: John Gay, John Dryden, James & Horatio Smith, Crosbie Garstin, Robert Graves, Edwin Muir, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Siegfried Sassoon, Bernard Spencer, Oliver Goldsmith, David H. Lawrence, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, Dylan Thomas.
 
At first a glowing red enwrapped the skies,
at length the crackling noise and dreadful blaze
– starred, striped and spotted, yellow, red and blue –
pushed out streaming tentacles, took hold:
the most odd, indescribable thing of all.
We listened to our breathing and were afraid.
Burn madly, Fire! o’er earth in ravage run.
Shop after shop, with symbols, blazoned names.
Scared people hurried, storming the doors in crowds
screaming like frightened animals, clashing metal
and quite forgot their vices in their woe:
the rain won’t come, the rain refuses to come!
The officials seemed to waken with a shout
and promptly took the necessary action
under the night forever falling.
 
© Luigi Pagano 
Certificate U
Poem
Are you being versed?

Comments

Submitted by hilary west on

Hi Luigi,

I think this works very well. You have chosen very expertly the relevant lines from the famous and created a quite wonderful whole or 'cento'. What a sad event however prompted it. It is a thing of great sadness to see such an iconic building burning!

Hilary   sad

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thanks for the appreciative feedback Hilary. It is indeed sad to hear of the burning of such a historic icon as Notre Dame. It is unfortunate that ancient buildings are vulnerable to accidents due to the very nature of their construction, wooden structures often being the weak point. There have been other incidents in the past, such as the York Minster and Windsor Castle and we should always be alert to the risk.

Nice hearing from you, as always.

Best, Luigi

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

gosh Luigi, you are well read! Afraid to say I didn't recognise any of these lines, but you have given them into a wonderful new life and richness, for something so impoprtant in history, to use voices from history seems appropriate

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hello Di. Thanks for the kind words,much appreciated, but basically what I have done is 'borrow' some great  lines by great poets to create a new poem with which, in all modesty, I was quite pleased. The Notre Dame fire was the catalyst that made me resurrect this old piece written in 2008.
As you have noticed, I am a bookworm and try to retain the best of what I read.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Interesting Luigi, it must have been a lot of work, looks very professional. It's a good thing to be honest and not take all the credit for yourself.

Somehow it reminds me of Dylan Thomas "A refusal to mourn the death, by fire ..."

Stay well! Thomas

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hello Thomas. A 'Cento' poem seems to fit into the category of 'stolen' poems, a practice described by T.S.Eliot with the following precept: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”
I didn't actually steal, only borrowed individual lines from poets whose authorship I am happy to acknowledge.

Regards, Luigi

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"... and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”

well, you are a good poet :0) This poem seems to me like a display cabinet where you have carefully curated lines by great writers to make the reader think again both about the original works and the meaning you convey by bringing them together?

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thanks for your confidence in my ability, Di. I am grateful to you and all the talented contributors to ABCtales whose work spurs me to keep up the standard.

Luigi x