Guess this poets Nationality.

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Shai Gar

Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."

---

As the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted - "Open then the Door!
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."

---

"How sweet the mortal sovranty!" - think some:
Others - "How blest the Paradise to come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!"

---

Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their cup a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to their Rest.

---

How long, how long in infinite Pursuit
Of This or That endeavor or dispute?
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape
Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.

---

Said one - "Folks of a surly Tapster tell,
And daub his visage with the Smoke of Hell;
They talk of some strict testing of us - Pish!
He's a Good Fellow, and twill all be well."





Once you've guessed, or within 8 replies we can start discussing the poet and I'll change the name of this thread to the Authors name.
Don't cheat. Give us your first thought based on the poems alone.
 
i think possibly australian but almost definitely english or american. no other colonies, this is English Language or something close to it or someone who has had a lot of it and is trying to emulate it exactly. the thing puts me in mind of swinburne but maybe not quite as caustic and with a strange twist. the language is not exactly regular and some of the rhymes seem strange. but i am very poorly read for a lit major. i am the eternal undergrad.
 
the stanza about the cock crowing reminds me of keats but the word "crew" seems weird. the simplicity of it reminds me of frost, but it seems too english for frost.
 
I would say English nationality.
 
Nope

Beyond the language used, what are your reasons for your assumptions?
 
the way the language is used seems so colonial, as though it's trying to imitate an english romantic great.
 
really interesting!!

i found the subject matter sophisticated but i was really snagged by the use of the word "crew" because it also means "team" and a great poet would avoid that kind of confusion. also in general the regularity of the rhymes (sometimes a little forced) does not match the structure of the verses, but now it makes sense that it was a translation that was trying to squeeze things into foreign linguistic forms.

(don't know if that makes sense.)

parts of the selection you posted remind me so much of auden's "death's echo" that i thought it may have been derivative but i thought "but there is a strange twist to it" and couldn't work it out, but now it makes sense that auden must have been influenced by this. i had read that some modernist poets had a particular interest in this poem and i can see why. it's peculiar. it may be the absence of god. it seems so way beyond its time of production.

but i always find it interesting though, that great works of literature often do seem to transcend their circumstances.
 
It was translated by FitzGerald in 1859. Crew, as in past tense Crow. The Rooster Crew.

Also, in addition to being an atheist persian in the time of the Islamic Golden Age, he was also a drunk.
 
Shai Gar said:
It was translated by FitzGerald in 1859. Crew, as in past tense Crow. The Rooster Crew.

Also, in addition to being an atheist persian in the time of the Islamic Golden Age, he was also a drunk.
Click to expand...

i was trying to say that poets become obsessed with the precision of word meanings and fitzgerald isn't a master craftsman in that sense, but considering that he was trying to adapt a poetic work to an alien form, it's kind of forgivable. and, i could use a drink actually.
 
invisible said:
i was trying to say that poets become obsessed with the precision of word meanings and fitzgerald isn't a master craftsman in that sense, but considering that he was trying to adapt a poetic work to an alien form, it's kind of forgivable. and, i could use a drink actually.
Click to expand...

FitzGerald had some remarkable friends, but it's well known that he was not a very good scholar himself. Nevertheless, he translated it as best he could and was able to choose which of the Rubaiyat were Omars.

Remember that the English used in his day, was far more wealthy than the lexicon we used today.
 
Irish. It doesn't sound quite English or American, and it's too old-fashioned to be Australian. The love of alcohol and the jovial, lax attitude seems kind of Irish as well, though I know that's kind of stereotypical.
 
oh the classic bait and switch.

[english poems]

then

HA! fooled you, he's persian.
 
English Translations, not English Poems.

I'd have posted Der ErlKoenig in English too.
 
Bah, knew this one was a FitzGerald translation, but I couldn't remember who the poet was.

Do another.
 
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