[1457] Spring Song, Meirionydd
Guest poem submitted by Stefan Bartels, <sbartels@>:
A white combustion rules these fields,
and testifies to men, and rams;
the mind of winter thaws, and yields--
Great God, the world is drunk with lambs.
The high grey stone is clean of snows,
the streams come tumbling, far from dams;
the wind is green, the day's eye grows--
Great God, the world is drunk with lambs.
The heart, gone light as all the ewes,
redounds with milk, and epigrams
that make no sense; except their news--
Great God, the world is drunk with lambs.
In gold October, grown to size,
they'll know the hook, and hang with hams,
but March is all their enterprise--
Great God, the world is drunk with lambs.
-- John Dressel
|
While staying at a school in North Wales on an exchange program, I
stumbled upon this poem in an old school reader. I haven't been able to
find any information about John Dressel -- the name doesn't sound Welsh,
anyway -- but the poem still reminds me of the lambing on the Welsh
hillsides in late February and early March. The world is really "drunk
with lambs" then.
Dressel maintains a fine balance between a nature poem and an ironic,
sceptical poem. Nature is abundant, but man is always in the picture
from the second line in the first to the second line in the fourth
stanza. Seemingly a negligible detail, man is yet the most momentous
influence on the life of lambs, which, I think, come across more as
ignorant than innocent in this poem. The buoyant rhythm and indomitable
metaphors keep this poem from being just another complaint about cruelty
to animals. It is uplifting, not pessimistic.
Stefan.
[Minstrels Links]
Wales:
Poem #14, Prologue -- Dylan Thomas
Poem #138, Fern Hill -- Dylan Thomas
Poem #175, I am Taliesin -- Anon. (Welsh, 13th century)
Poem #270, Under Milk Wood -- Dylan Thomas
Poem #333, Gnomic Stanzas -- Anon. (Welsh, 12th century)
Poem #374, Psalm Of the Valleys -- Alex Pascall
Lambs, sheep and other Similar Characters:
Poem #120, The Purple Cow -- Gelett Burgess
Poem #424, The Moonsheep -- Christian Morgenstern
Poem #507, The Sheep-Child -- James Dickey
Poem #1080, The Lama -- Ogden Nash
[this poem is archived, accessible and awaiting your comments at]
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1457.html
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From: michaelgratz@ (Michael Gratz)
Could be this one, couldnīt it?:
John Dressel
Bardd Cymreig-Americanidd, academig, a thafanwr, yn rhannu amser rhwng
Saint Louis, Missouri, a Chymru; enillydd gwobrau mewn cystadlaethau o
bwys am farddoniaeth yn America ynghyd â gwledydd Prydain; perchennog
tafarn Gymreig ei naws yn Saint Louis ynghyd â bod yn gyn-gyfarwyddwr
staff y cwrs MA mewn Ysgrifennu Creadigol yng Ngholeg y Drindod,
Caerfyrddin.
(mind the "bardd"!)
- found here: http://www.gomer.co.uk/cymraeg/llyfrsaes/facetofa_f.htm
(Welsh)
here in English: http://www.gomer.co.uk/english/englishbk/facetofa.htm
John Dressel : Welsh-American poet, academic, and publican; divides his
time between Saint Louis, Missouri, and Wales; has won prizes in major
poetry competitions in both the USA and the UK; prior collections
include Hard Love and a Country (1977); Cerddi lanws (with T. James
Jones, 1979); Out of Wales (1984); and The Road to Shiloh (1994); owns
Welsh - accented pub in Saint Louis and is also a former director of
staff for the MA course in Creative Writing at Trinity College, Carmarthen.
Michael Gratz
http://www.lyrikzeitung.de
From: franko'shea@ Thu Feb 12 16:13:02 2004
What a little gem! I will never eat Welsh lamb again.
Talking about lamb poems, there is also Katherine Tynan's poem beginning
"All in the April evening / April airs were abroad." I will send it in
April. And Eleanor Farjeon's lovely "Mrs Malone." Will send that another
time.
Frank
From: Faith Williams <faithmw@>
On Google i found this
John Dressel : Welsh-American poet, academic, and
publican; divides his time between Saint Louis,
Missouri, and Wales; has won prizes in major poetry
competitions in both the USA and the UK; prior
collections include Hard Love and a Country (1977);
Cerddi lanws (with T. James Jones, 1979); Out of Wales
(1984); and The Road to Shiloh (1994); owns Welsh -
accented pub in Saint Louis and is also a former
director of staff for the MA course in Creative
Writing at Trinity College, Carmarthen.
It may help.
Faith
====Faith Williams, children's librarian
DCPLibrary 698-3374 http://www.mybookmarks.com/public/fmwill
From: Carolyn McGrath <Carolyn.McGrath@>
Really liked the poem - something very Welsh in it - a glance to the morbid
in the midst of joy!
(But maybe that says more about my family than anyone else!)
Had a look on the web and found a Jon Dressel who sounds like he fits the
bill - "a Welsh American poet with strong Carmarthenshire links". He has
worked collaboratively with T. James Jones, "a Newcastle Emlyn born crowned
bard", to write a poem about the people of Llanelli for the National
Eisteddfod in Llanelli in 1930. They have since composed two poems, one in
English and another in Welsh to present to the people of Llanelli at the
National Eisteddfod's millennium visit to Llanelliin the year 2000.
Carolyn McGrath
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