Cryptic Armature: Verses in the Manner of....

By Michael R. Collings

More than just a collection of verses, this book is something of an informal commentary on the history of English literature, something of a conversation with a few of the finest poets in the language. These original poems are written “in the manner of...,” using forms and structures pioneered by great writers (and occasionally artists) of the past to create something contemporary and modern.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael R. Collings
• Release date: Oct 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452315911

Michael R. Collings

I am a professor emeritus of English at Pepperdine University in Malibu CA (although my retirement home is in southwestern Idaho). During my twenty-seven years at Pepperdine I taught everything from Freshman Composition to Advanced Grammar to Business Writing; from Survey of English Literature to Milton and the Epic; from Introduction to Creative Writing to Senior Seminars in Writing.Along the way, I discovered the joys of writing, not just to meet requirements for graduate degrees or to insure tenure, but for myself--saying things in a way that might make my thoughts more interesting for readers and thereby invite them back into the books I talked about. Most of my academic writing relates to authors I love: John Milton, the great 17th-century English poet, on the one hand; Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Piers Anthony, and additional science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers on the other.But my real love now is creative writing: novels, short stories, and most especially poetry. My offerings range from the three-line haiku found in Tissue Promises to a 6,500-line epic, The Nephiad. And everything in between.Please let me know what you think at my website: http://www.starshineandshadows.com/

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Cryptic Armature

Verses in the Manner of….

Michael R. Collings

Published by Michael R. Collings at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Michael R. Collings

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other titles by Michael R. Collings

At Smashwords.com:

Shorts: Terse Verse at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26188

Going on a Picnic: Poems Especially for Children at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25752

A Quizzical Verse: Limericks Comic and Not at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24956

Tissue Promises: 151 Haiku at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/24475

Just a Few Words

Imitation and re-creation have long and illustrious histories in the annals of literature. Every poet builds upon the achievement of those who came before, whether it be through borrowing plots and characters or through copying stanza forms, rhythms and metrics, even specific lines and phrases.

Such actions are not plagiarism. There is no attempt to disguise the dependence of one poet upon another. Indeed, perceptive readers are supposed to recognize the connections and examine resonances between works…to explore how the earlier makes the latter stronger or more effective.

Each of the followings poems depends upon scaffolding erected by other—and in this case, far better—poets. Influences may be obvious and overt, or more subtle and covert. But none of these poems could exist without the models provided by past masters.

Contents: Verses In the Manner of…

Anglo-Saxon Verse

The Battle of Brunanburh: A Verse Translation

On the Viking Immolation of My Son’s Braces

Leonardo Pisano Bigollo (Leonardo Fibonnacci)

One Last

Nellie Hunt

Storm

Milk Spills

Spring—In Process

7-Step Program

Dante Alighieri

Islands

Weeding in the Poetry Beds

Giotto di Bondone

Rounder Than the ‘O’

Francesco Petrarch

Something There Is….

Revelation III

Beyond the Plains

John Skelton

Skelton’s Verse

Judi’s Otter

William Shakespeare

On Stress

What Might Follow Fire

To the Wilds

John Donne

Death, Be Not Proud

Robert Herrick

Upon Julia Unclothed

George Herbert

Affliction

Gianlorenzo Bernini

The Ecstasy of S. Teresa di Avila

John Milton

In a Distant Other-When

Damon Again

Sabrina

On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity

Mementos

Alexander Pope

In Defense of Form

William Blake

On William Blake

William Wordsworth

Intimations….

Sir Walter Scott

Lochinvar

Emily Dickinson

Because I Would Not Stop for Death

Elemental Song

Agate Slice

In the Garden, Sweet-Hearts Grow

Trees Broach Red by Branches

Stolid by the Roadside

Robert Frost

Frost’s Crow, Reappearing

The Way a Stone

A Mother’s Smile

Daisies’ Gold

A Springtime Rain

Nectarine

February Rose

November Rose

December Rose

Adelaide Crapsey

Snap-back! Cinquains

Syllables

Gorgon’s Harsh Hair

Something Soft

Eyes Blear

Guardians—Organ Pipes

What Did You Say?

René Magritte

Quintessence II

Allen Ginsberg

WalMart at 3am

About the Author

Other Books by Michael R. Collings

Anglo-Saxon Verse (ca. 800-1200)

On the surface rough and unsophisticated, Anglo-Saxon verse—the earliest poetry in a recognizable dialect of English—is actually highly polished and capable of remarkable subtleties and nuances. The form seems simple enough: each line has four strong stresses, separated into half-lines by a break, or caesura; and at least the first