JOURNAL 2

HARTLEY COLERIDGE

The Larch Grove

Line above line the nursling larches planted,

     Still as they climb with interspace more wide,

Let in and out the sunny beams that slanted,

     And shot and crankled down the mountain’s side.

The larches grew, and darker grew the shade;

     And sweeter aye the fragrance of the Spring;

Pink pencils all the spiky boughs arrayed,

     And small green needles called the birds to sing.

They grew apace as fast as they could grow,

     As fain the tawny fell to the deck and cover,

They haply thought to soothe the pensive woe,

     Or hide the joy of stealthy tripping lover.

Ah, larches! that shall never be your lot;

     Nought shall you have to do with amorous weepers,

Nor shall ye prop the roof of cozy cot,

     But rumble out your days as railway sleepers.

Hartley Coleridge describes the life of a grove of larch trees in this 4-stanza poem.  The line lengths vary slightly from 10 to 12 syllables.  This slight deviance, but relative similarity, stylistically embodies the description Coleridge gives for the trees (“Line above line the nursling larches planted”), with their final likeness as railroad ties. The quatrain rhyming sequence combined with the length of the line offers a shifting, but sometimes subtle change at the end of each line that simultaneously pushes forward to the next line, while grounding the thought with a reminder of connectedness to the past.  This hints to the movement of obstructed light (“Let in and out the sunny beams that slanted”) like that often experienced while riding a railcar through trees, thus another connection to the larches fateful end.

JESSE STUART

These Hills I Love

This night a million stars pin back the sky

To make a jeweled roof above the earth

And I must go to hear the night winds cry

Over these ancient hills that gave me birth.

I will hear messages from whispering leaves

That grow from trees in forests such as mine

Where beech and birch an ash are friendly trees,

Where sycamore is neighbor to the pine.

For months I’ve been away from life my own,

I’ve heard the song of wheels against cold steel;

I’ve climbed skyward, trusting the motors’ moan

Across the continent.  And, now, I feel

The sweet true surge of life in every vein,

Herein this night with brighter stars above

With beauty, song and peace to soothe my brain

Among these rugged hills of home I love.

As in Coleridge’s “The Larch Grove,” Stuart employs a decameter quatrain rhyme to fulfill a sense of movement toward the future with a likeness to the past.  Stuart chooses to not to use stanzas and with this achieves a sense that the moment is complete in this thought.  Coleridge’s stanzas allow for a pause and growth as he moves on through the life of the larch trees.  Reflecting upon the content and style of these poems, my nonameter quatrain rhyme seeks to embody the growth in moments as captured by Coleridge and the reflection of returning to the land as attained by Stuart.

Home in the Woods

Colorful boots that cushioned my feet,

my childhood sounded of squish and ah

Adventures sealed with a favorite sweet,

a mother who smiled—oo la la.

In nature could be my future job?

but fate and fortune have stronger holds

I wonder: am I steered by a God?

as my plan and vision quickly folds.

Back to days of romping around,

my feet free of sweaty boots,

but keenly listening to nature’s sound—

my work now to share her juicy fruits.

___

Coleridge, Harvey. “The Larch Grove.” Wild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson's Silent
     Spring. Ed. Burnside, John, Maurice Riordan. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2004. 32. Print.

 

Stuart, Jesse. “These Hills I love.” Voices from the Hills: Selected Readings of Southern Appalachia. Ed. Higgs,
     Robert J, and Ambrose N. Manning. New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co, 1975. 317. Print.