Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

Last night I found the violets
You sent me once across the sea;
From gardens that the winter frets,
In summer lands they came to me.
[...]

https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

#pennyspoems

On 2023-12-16, George J. Dance@news.novabbs.com (George J. Dance)
<George> wrote:

<spamsnip>

I see you're using NovaBBS, Dunce, though you haven't worked out how to
construct a plausible "From:" header line.

"George J. Dance@news.novabbs.com (George J. Dance) <George>"

LOL!

Did Ray Banana ban you from Eternal September?

If not, why not?

*

Note to any non-morons who may be lurking: AFAICR, I've never read any
of Andrew Lang's verse, but readers whose tastes I usually share like
him, so don't let Dunce's spamming of his name put you off.

--
PJR :-)

George J. Dance wrote:
>
> Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
> Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

> Last night I found the violets
> You sent me once across the sea;
> From gardens that the winter frets,
> In summer lands they came to me.
> [...]

> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

> #pennyspoems

Again....

Excellent choice...

Yo!

Peter J Ross wrote:

> On 2023-12-16, George J. Dance@news.novabbs.com (George J. Dance)
> <George> wrote:

> <spamsnip>

==Text restored==
George J. Dance wrote:
>
> Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
> Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

> Last night I found the violets
> You sent me once across the sea;
> From gardens that the winter frets,
> In summer lands they came to me.
> [...]

> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

==
> I see you're using NovaBBS, Dunce

For now.

> LOL!

> Did Ray Banana ban you from Eternal September?

No, I've had no problems with Eternal September. OTOH, I found Thunderbird to be a real pain, and went back to Google as soon as I could.

> Note to any non-morons who may be lurking: AFAICR, I've never read any
> of Andrew Lang's verse
<squealsnip>

I'm not surprised. I'm sure there's lots of poets whose verse you never read.

On 2023-12-23, George J. Dance@news.novabbs.com (George J. Dance)
<George> wrote:

<spewsnip>

> I found Thunderbird to be a real pain, and went back to Google as soon
> as I could.

Confronted with the real world, Baby Dunce hastily crawls back into the
womb.

--
PJR :-)

George J. Dance wrote:

> Peter J Ross wrote:

>> On 2023-12-16, George J. Dance@news.novabbs.com (George J. Dance)
>> <George> wrote:

>> <spamsnip>

> ==Text restored==
> George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>> Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
>> Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

>> Last night I found the violets
>> You sent me once across the sea;
>> From gardens that the winter frets,
>> In summer lands they came to me.
>> [...]

>> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

> ==

>> I see you're using NovaBBS, Dunce

> For now.

>> LOL!

>> Did Ray Banana ban you from Eternal September?

> No, I've had no problems with Eternal September. OTOH, I found Thunderbird to be a real pain, and went back to Google as soon as I could.

>> Note to any non-morons who may be lurking: AFAICR, I've never read any
>> of Andrew Lang's verse
> <squealsnip>

> I'm not surprised. I'm sure there's lots of poets whose verse you never read.

PJR says he once ran a newsgroups server.

Sure miss have been for a very short time.

😃

General-Zod wrote:

> George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>> Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
>> Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

>> Last night I found the violets
>> You sent me once across the sea;
>> From gardens that the winter frets,
>> In summer lands they came to me.
>> [...]

>> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

>> #pennyspoems

> Again....
> Excellent choice...
> Yo!

Thank you, as always, for trying to keep the attention on the poetry and off the trolling, Zod. I suppose i should seize the opportunity to say something about it. I chose it because it was a Christmas poem -- the author is writing to (or as likely just thinking about) someone close who sent him a Christmas present of violets -- but with a darker edge: the violets are dead, black and scentless, symbolizing the fact that the relationship is over. As such, it looked like a good segue between the Christmas poems that precede it in the monthly archive and the darker poems that follow it.

I not only liked the poet, but what the author drew from it. The common way for a poet to deal with an ended relationship is to mourn and grieve the loss, to turn its ending into a tragedy. Instead, Lang's take is positive; rather than getting hung up on the fact the relationship's over, he's able to get beyond that, to appreciate the positive aspects of the relationship (it was "not all in vain") and get closure.

I enjoyed that, with the underlying idea of not dwelling on the past but accepting what's done as done, and I think it's something worth keeping in mind. In fact, looking back I see it was already influencing me without my realizing it.

On the weekend I blogged Lang's poem we were working on the "Fun and Games" Dancehall, and of the songs we'd collected, I'd already decided to close it with Clay Aiken's version of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire". The song is a perfect illustration of the "tragic" take on an ended relationship ("he'll never love again"), and I think Aiken's version of it is far more tragic, and more powerful, than the most well-known version by the Carpenters. For one thing, Aiken's a far more dramatic singer than Karen Carpenter was; for another, the fact it's a man singing gives listeners the idea that he's singing about himself, baring his own soul (while letting the listeners figure that out by *not* singing "I'll never love again"). I thought it was too bleak to end on, so I followed it with Tommy Edwards' "It's All in the Game" (a song you suggested) as a sort of coda; but I was convinced that "Solitaire" was the perfect penultimate song and a blockbuster of a finale.

Clay Aiken - Solitaire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQgPSv2Zmc&list=PL_uEAOzPGnDFcWpJzQXq5HP-qA6OYeO1C&index=28

But on Sunday, after rereading and blogging Lang's poem, I decided that I didn't want to end on that tragic note; I thought it was the wrong note to end on. I wanted to go beyond Sedaka's tragic view to Lang's positive view of the relationship and his acceptance that it's over. I spent hours looking for one, and I finally found one I thought was strong enough, Coldplay's "Fun." So that became the penultimate song instead, with "Solitaire" being moved back. As I say, I think that take the more preferable way to think about it, and I'm hoping that listeners to Dancehall will get it as well.
Coldplay - Fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xannI2K4JnY&list=PL_uEAOzPGnDFcWpJzQXq5HP-qA6OYeO1C&index=29

George J. Dance wrote:

> General-Zod wrote:

>> George J. Dance wrote:
>
>>> Today's poem on Penny's Poetry Blog:
>>> Christmas Violets, by Andrew Lang

>>> Last night I found the violets
>>> You sent me once across the sea;
>>> From gardens that the winter frets,
>>> In summer lands they came to me.
>>> [...]

>>> https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-violets-andrew-lang.html

>>> #pennyspoems

>> Again....
>> Excellent choice...
>> Yo!

> Thank you, as always, for trying to keep the attention on the poetry and off the trolling, Zod. I suppose i should seize the opportunity to say something about it. I chose it because it was a Christmas poem -- the author is writing to (or as likely just thinking about) someone close who sent him a Christmas present of violets -- but with a darker edge: the violets are dead, black and scentless, symbolizing the fact that the relationship is over. As such, it looked like a good segue between the Christmas poems that precede it in the monthly archive and the darker poems that follow it.

> I not only liked the poet, but what the author drew from it. The common way for a poet to deal with an ended relationship is to mourn and grieve the loss, to turn its ending into a tragedy. Instead, Lang's take is positive; rather than getting hung up on the fact the relationship's over, he's able to get beyond that, to appreciate the positive aspects of the relationship (it was "not all in vain") and get closure.

> I enjoyed that, with the underlying idea of not dwelling on the past but accepting what's done as done, and I think it's something worth keeping in mind. In fact, looking back I see it was already influencing me without my realizing it.

> On the weekend I blogged Lang's poem we were working on the "Fun and Games" Dancehall, and of the songs we'd collected, I'd already decided to close it with Clay Aiken's version of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire". The song is a perfect illustration of the "tragic" take on an ended relationship ("he'll never love again"), and I think Aiken's version of it is far more tragic, and more powerful, than the most well-known version by the Carpenters. For one thing, Aiken's a far more dramatic singer than Karen Carpenter was; for another, the fact it's a man singing gives listeners the idea that he's singing about himself, baring his own soul (while letting the listeners figure that out by *not* singing "I'll never love again"). I thought it was too bleak to end on, so I followed it with Tommy Edwards' "It's All in the Game" (a song you suggested) as a sort of coda; but I was convinced that "Solitaire" was the perfect penultimate song and a blockbuster of a finale.

> Clay Aiken - Solitaire
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQgPSv2Zmc&list=PL_uEAOzPGnDFcWpJzQXq5HP-qA6OYeO1C&index=28

> But on Sunday, after rereading and blogging Lang's poem, I decided that I didn't want to end on that tragic note; I thought it was the wrong note to end on. I wanted to go beyond Sedaka's tragic view to Lang's positive view of the relationship and his acceptance that it's over. I spent hours looking for one, and I finally found one I thought was strong enough, Coldplay's "Fun." So that became the penultimate song instead, with "Solitaire" being moved back. As I say, I think that take the more preferable way to think about it, and I'm hoping that listeners to Dancehall will get it as well.

> Coldplay - Fun
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xannI2K4JnY&list=PL_uEAOzPGnDFcWpJzQXq5HP-qA6OYeO1C&index=29

I'll need to backtrack on this topic, even a week ago now seems to be an eternity.

And so it goes.