Happy Friday!
My chosen poem today is only a short one but it is by my all time favourite poet and I do find the poem rather thought provoking.
What Are Heavy? What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow: What are brief? To-day and to-morrow: What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth: What are deep? The ocean and truth. Christina Rossetti
Happy Reading
Happy Friday!
I hope everyone has some good bookish plans for the weekend. As most of you probably know November has been Christina Rossetti month for my Friday Poetry section, so here is my last Rossetti poem for November.
What is Pink? What is pink? a rose is pink By the fountain's brink What is red? a poppy's red In its barley bed. What is blue? the sky is blue Where the clouds float thro'. What is white? a swan is white Sailing in the light. What is yellow? pears are yellow, Rich and ripe and mellow. What is green? the grass is green, With small flowers between. What is violet? clouds are violet In the summer twilight. What is orange? why, an orange, Just an orange! Christina Rossetti
Happy Friday!
Today is a chill day for me as I have handed in my two assignments so it is time for a little break before I start again on Saturday.
So here is my chosen poem for this week.
A Wintry Sonnet A Robin said: The Spring will never come, And I shall never care to build again. A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome, My sap will never stir for sun or rain. The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow, I neither care to wax nor care to wane. The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago, Because earth's rivers cannot fill the main.- When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest, And trilled a lover's song in sheer delight. Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core. The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest, Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore. Christina Rossetti
Happy Reading!
Rossetti: Poems by Christina Rossetti
Blurb
Poems: Rossetti contains a full selection of Rossetti’s work, including her lyric poems, dramatic and narrative poems, rhymes and riddles, sonnet sequences, prayers and meditations, and an index of first lines.
Review
I have been dipping into this book since the New Year and I must admit it has been lovely to sit and read a poem or two whilst drinking a mug of tea or in fact muting the adverts and reading a poem. When I first started really reading poetry a couple of years ago I soon realised that one of my favourites was Christina Rossetti and so when I found this little book I was delighted and it has lived on my coffee table ever since.
Rossetti penned my all time favourite Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter. I love it as a poem but my favourite thing is to sing it to the tune written by Holst. Christmas is not Christmas without this carol for me and thankfully I found this poem in this little book.
I really enjoyed the riddles in this book as well and thankfully I am pleased to say I managed to work most of them out. In fact that was what I loved about this book, the fact it was full of variety and contained examples of Rossetti’s poems, sonnets, riddles, prayers and more.
This little pocket sized book really gives a broad spectrum of Rossetti’s work and is a joy to read and just dip into when the mood suits you. Some of my favourites were Goblin Market, In the Bleak Midwinter, Advent, A Wintry Sonnet and Strange Planets. I give this little book of poems 5 out 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Amazon • Book Depository • Foyles • Waterstones • Wordery
About the author
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was an English poet who wrote romantic, devotional and children’s poems. She was also the sister of artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Happy Friday!
Here is my chosen Rossetti poem for this week and this week I have chosen one of her sonnets and this one is about Autumn.
18 So late in Autumn half the world's asleep, And half the wakeful world looks pinched and pale, For dampness now, not freshness, rides the gale; And cold and colourless comes ashore the deep With tides that bluster or with tides that creep; Now veiled uncouthness wears an uncouth veil Of fog, not sultry haze; and blight and bale Have done their worst, and leaves rot on the heap. So late in Autumn one forgets the Spring, Forgets the Summer with its opulence, The callow birds that long have found a wing, The swallows that more lately gat them hence: Will anything like Spring, will anything Like Summer, rouse one day the slumbering sense? Christina Rossetti
Happy Reading.
Happy Friday!
This month I have decided to do something different. This month I am dedicating to my favourite poet Christina Rossetti. This means that each Friday of November I will post a poem by Rossetti.
Apologies if you do not like Rossetti but she is my absolute favourite.
A Pin A pin has a head, but has no hair; A clock has a face, but no mouth there; Needles have eyes, but they cannot see; A fly has a trunk without lock or key; A timepiece may lose, but cannot win; A corn-field dimples without a chin; A hill has no leg, but has a foot; A wine-glass a stem, but not a root; A watch has hands, but no thumb or finger; A boot has a tongue, but is no singer; Rivers run, though they have no feet; A saw has teeth, but it does not eat; Ash-trees have keys, yet never a lock; And baby crows, without being a cock. Christina Rossetti
Have a good weekend everyone!
Happy Reading!
Happy Friday!
I’ve gone for another of my favourites today.
Months
January cold and desolate;
February all dripping wet;
March wind ranges;
April changes;
Birds sing in tune
To flowers of May,
And sunny June
Brings longest day;
In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly
Lightning torn;
August bears corn,
September fruit;
In rough October
Earth must disrobe her;
Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long
And cold is strong
In bleak December.
Christina Rossetti
Happy reading!
Today I have chosen my all time favourite carol but it has to be to the tune by Gustav Holst!
It is by my all time favourite poet Christina Rossetti.
In the Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty —
Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom Angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and Archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But only His Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.
Christina Rossetti
Yay! It is the last Sunday before Christmas! I have played the organ, flute and saxophone today for a beautiful Carols by Candlelight service and a morning service that was done like a Christmas morning service so all in all I have played a lot of carols today. I have loved it!
One of the carols we did today was Love Came Down at Christmas by Christina Rossetti it really is beautiful and I absolutely love it so I have decided to share it with you all.
Love Came Down at Christmas
Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, Love divine;
love was born at Christmas,
star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, Love divine;
worship we our Jesus:
but wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
love for please and gift and sign.
Christina Rossetti
Happy reading!
Happy Friday!
So I have again returned to an old favourite of mine. I really can not get enough of Christina Rossetti’s poetry. To be honest I am getting really fed up of all this rain we have been having recently, so I have gone for a poem about the wind, as to me this would be a nice change.
Who Has Seen the Wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing thro’.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Christina Rossetti
Happy Reading
Lady Book Dragon 