And the winner is Katie8laurence!
Congratulations, Katie. I will try to get in touch with you.
Have you read much poetry lately? In this mini-challenge, I challenge you to read a poem written by a poet born in October, to celebrate the October setting of the Dewey Readathon. I have listed the birthday followed by poet name and title of poem and a link to read the poem on-line.
Please read one of the following poems and make a comment about which one you read and how you liked it: I will award ONE person who comments a gift from a bookseller (depending upon your country). I will contact you and give you an option (possibly a mug, a book, or a gift certificate). You can also tweet to me @softclothes and indicat #RATpoem
My selection of a winner might be capriciously random; I cannot award mere speed in poetry reading. But I will select a winner by 4 PM Dewey’s Time and notify him or her. Please get in your answers by 3:45 Dewey’s time at the latest.
1. (Oct. 31) John Keats: “To Autumn”https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44484
2. (Oct. 2) Wallace Stevens: “Bantams in Pine Woods”
3. (Oct. 6) Edward Hirsch: “Branch Library”
4. (Oct. 21) Jilly Dybka: “Carnaval of Souls”
5. (Oct 27)Sylvia Plath” Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats”
Carnival of Souls: I am the bird-like woman. I love the rain and being alone. Don’t feel sorry for me 🙂
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Really enjoyed “Branch Library.” Love the play on words and I have a soft spot for long-beaked boys as well as libraries.
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Oh! To Autumn ❤ My favorite poem! I heard it the first time a couple months ago when my boyfriend read it to me. I usually hate autumn and winter, but this poem opened my eyes to the beauty of those seasons and I absolutely love that poem.
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I read ‘Branch Library’ because I’m currently at work at a library! I liked the poem because I love anything that has to do with libraries. 🙂
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I read Branch Library, and I *loved* it. “Pecking at nuts, nesting in broken spines”, it’s such a lovely image of a little boy.
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I read To Autumn. I appreciate that the audio option was there! The atmosphere was definitely fitting for the fall season.
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Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats: One of my great grandmothers was named Ella, so this one caught my eye. I loved the saucy tidbit of wisdom at the end, but if I’m truthful, I eagerly look forward to the demise of the “crazy cat lady” stereotype.
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Well, I have to be honest – I am not a big fan of poetry. My few exceptions go to Pöe, Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.
I chose Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats, because I am a not-yet-crazy-cat-lady, and as I write this, I have my two little fur babies next to me. I liked the rythm of the poem but, honestly, it’s not my thing.
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Of course I had to read the Plath poem about dear Ella Mason and her eleven cats. While I was reading it I thought it was very rude and judgmental so I was ecstatic when the tone changed in the last stanza and there was a lesson to be learned. It’s always important to consider the person on the other end of your remarks.
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Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats is actually really, really cute. Even though others seem to have a low opinion of her and view her as a crazy cat lady, I can easily respect a person who cares so much for animals – I have quite a few of my own, after all (not all cats, though).
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I read Ella Mason And Her Eleven Cats. I just love cats and I loved the way the voice of the poem grew as it came to an end!
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I read “Branch Library” because I’ve never read anything by Hirsch. “Flying between the wobbly stacks, and the flimsy wooden tables on the second floor” Reminds me of my childhood, constantly walking to my local library to spend long afternoons lost in the shelves of new-to-me books. Thanks for sharing these! I so rarely read poetry, but I need to make it a habit!
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Carnival of Souls. It reminded me of Night Circus…
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I read John Keats “To Autumn” and it definitely put me in the Autumn mood. Now I want to find a farm, sit outside under an apple tree, and get lost in a book.
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I chose “Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats” since I have a Sylvia Plath book I’ll be working on next! I must say, I usually love Plath, but I didn’t care for this one. Perhaps because I dislike cats, ha ha. It just didn’t seem as lyrical and touching as her poems usually do for me. I like the challenge, though!
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Carnival of Souls felt like autumn to me. A little melancholic, a little cold and rainy.
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I read Keat’s ode ‘To Autumn’. I can remember studying him in school and this was the poem I chose to analyse for my essay. Since then his poetry has always had a place in my heart as it reminds me of garnering my first love and excitement for poetry. It is also just sublimely beautiful piece.
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I would love to be Miss Ella when I grow up. Crazy cat lady FTW.
Search Party (George the Poet) is in my pile for today. 🙂
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I just read “Carnival of Souls” along with “Queen of Diamonds.” I’ve never read Jilly Dybka before, I’ll have to find more, I liked both.
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I loved this Challenge! ❤ I read "To Autumn" and was very fond of the imagery. Usually I associate Fall with death and decay, so it was it was really interesting to see the exact opposite displayed. The poem also had a very calming air to it, which was nice.
– Nicole Woods
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I read Carnival of Souls, and found a new poet to check out. I could easily picture this in my mind, and found myself as the bird like woman. Don’t mind me, I love the rain and solitude. Thank you for introducing me to Jilly!
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I read Carnaval of Souls. The image that popped into my head was one of
a lonely eccentric woman, people taking shelter from the rain just judging her. Maybe it was the rain that made it so melencholy.
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I read the Keats poem. This was my favorite line: “Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind,” but I was also really into the rhyme scheme.
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“Branch Library” spoke to me the most. When I read it, it seemed very visceral to me – like I could feel the heat described in the poem. It felt…happy. Plus I tend to gravitate to poems featuring books or reading 🙂
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I read and enjoyed all of the poems. I have a soft spot for poetry because I’ve written quite a few myself, so I find it hard to just pick one to read lol. They were all very nice.
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Ok, I actually read all 5, I liked To Autumn, but I liked more Ella Mason & her Eleven Cats and Carnaval of Souls.
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I read “Branch library”. It was amazing to use the image of “branches of the old branch library”. Such a strog symbol to use. amazing.
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Carnival of Souls. I usually go to carnivals near dusk or at night. The image that came into my head when I read it was i lady riding a roller coaster on a dark and stormy night.
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I read Jilly Dybka: “Carnaval of Souls”. I liked it a lot . It fits my theme of the readathon reads I have picked, which is creepy and magical reads 🙂 I love the imagery and have always found the setting of a carnival disconcerting .
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I felt compelled to read “Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats” since I had my cat lying in my lap. We both enjoyed the poem about the “crazy cat woman” . My cat is probably wondering if it was written about me…
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Enjoyed Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats! Love the children’s change of heart at the end.
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Wow, I read “Branch library” and it was amazing. This symbol usage was so strong. I especially like “branches of the old branch library”.
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I read “Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats”. I liked how the attitude about Miss Mason changed as the narrator got older. I also liked how Plath made it seem so much like Miss Mason was living for herself and her happiness, not others-even if others didn’t understand.
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I love how To Autumn brings to mind the shift in seasons and how the harvest is rich and beautiful in its way, a golden time between what leads to it and what follows.
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I read “Carnival of Souls” and I’m basically just confused. So what if she’s only on a roller coaster? That sounds fun. Everybody else is just missing out. And why the heck is described as bird-like? This is just… *sigh* Poetry is not my thing
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I read the Plath about Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats because cats! I’ve only read Plath’s prose so it was interesting to read her poetry – you can definitely see similar themes and layers to it. I liked the idea of a crazy cat lady with more depth to her than meets the eye and all these kids not realising that until they’re older. Plus it has cats in it and cats are awesome.
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Definitely “To Autumn”… Keats is one of my favorites and this beautiful picture of reaping the final harvest from all the summer’s toil and sweat is lovely!
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I read “Carnival of Souls” because I have a weird fascination with carnivals, circuses and the like. I love the melancholic tone of the poem. It was also the perfect choice as I was, at the moment, listening to an album called “Carnival of Rust”.
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Perfect music choice! Love Poets of the Fall 🙂
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“Branch Library” was lovely. I was that, as a girl, escaping into books, growing into a life of “literary hedonism.”
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I read Carnaval of Souls, and my first thought was of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. Delightfully creepy and perfect for October! 🙂
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Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats: Simce my first readathon book is about cats(Dewey), I choose this Sylvia Plath poem. I loved the colorful imagery and how we learn that mysterious cat ladies aren’t very different from girls who marry or us!
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Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats. I loved the rhythm of this poem and the imagery. As a cat lover who has three cats and would love more, I can relate to Ella, lol.
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I don’t read much poetry, but I really enjoyed Carnival of Souls. I like the cadence of the first section in particular and I also like the symmetry of the poem from beginning to end. Really pretty!
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I read and really enjoyed Autumn by Keats! I am not very educated on poetry so this was fun. I also think I will try one of the options listed below. Take a journal along on a walk or bike ride and records sights and sounds! Love this season!
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I like poetry but don’t read as much as I’d like. Reading poetry collections is hard in a way. It’s not like a novel or even short stories, and these days I don’t find the time I’d like to read poetry. But seeing today is the readathon I’ve read all the poems you list, since they were all new to me! My favorites were Edward Hirsch’s Branch Library and Wallace Stevens’ Bantams in Pine Woods. Of Branch Library I loved the story, and I identified with the birdy boy who perched upon branches to read. Bantams in Pine Woods is a whole different thing – difficult and full of obscure (to me) references that I had to look up, but I loved the aural elements of the poems, its sonority. Thank you for bringing poetry to the readathon! It’s a great mini-challenge.
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I read Carnaval of Souls. I liked the play with words and sentences and the feeling it gives me, although I don’t really know what it means. I feel her loneliness, alone in that roller coaster.
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I read “Ella Mason and her Eleven Cats”. I enjoyed how the narrator of the poem matured and described how her view of Ella Mason changed as she grew older and wiser. I will say I love my cat, but I’m not sure I could handle eleven like him. Too many demanding meows.
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Here is my answer http://wp.me/p3ftwe-Sg
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I’ve read the poem about Autumn by Keats but found it kind of difficult. English is not my first language and Old English is especially hard. I did find it very beautifully written
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