Friedrich Schiller’s Overdue TV Licence
October 2, 2008
One of Germany’s most famous poets and playwrights, Friedrich Schiller, was recently ordered to pay his television licence despite having been dead and buried for over 200 years.
The German licence-collecting agency, GEZ, threatened legal action if he did not promptly pay the fee of €17 (£14). The nation notorious for its red tape did not relent when the headmaster of the primary school bearing Schiller’s name in Weigsdorf-Köblitz in Saxony, to which the bill was sent, had relayed the simple fact that “the addressee is no longer in a position to listen to the radio or watch television”.
GEZ replied that unless Herr Schiller could prove he was not in possession of a television set or radio, then the bill had to be paid.
Michael Binder, the headmaster, finally settled the confusion. He said: “I told the GEZ that Herr Schiller has not been with us for quite some time, and included his curriculum vitae with my letter.”
A spokesman for the agency later apologised saying “We have to deal with such a huge amount of data, that something like this can happen, and the name Friedrich Schiller is not so unusual that it stood out as strange. We will now alter his status in our computer system.”
Friedrich Schiller is famous for his poem ‘Ode to Joy‘ which was later adapted by Ludwig van Beethoven into the fourth and final movement of his Ninth Symphony. It is now also the anthem of the European Union.
Charles Simic returns to writing poetry
July 28, 2008
Charles Simic, the 15th Poet Laureate of the United States, chose to step down this Summer and not seek an extension to his term for a second year. This led to Kay Ryan being named his successor. The reasons he gave for retiring from the spotlight included the tiring monotony of travelling constantly from one event or performance and the lack of time in which to write poetry. The understandable frustration of not having composed a poem for over a year was the final straw.
“One year is enough,” said Simic. “Washington is too far, and the travel these days is no fun.”
Simic lives with his wife on the shores of Bow Lake in Strafford, New Hampshire, where he is professor emeritus of American literature and creative writing at the University of New Hampshire. Within the space of a few months, he had travelled back and forth between Washington a total of nine times and made numerous trips to give readings as far afield as the Mid West and California.
The Serbian-American poet who was born in Belgrade in 1938, moved to the States at the age of 16 with his family and settled in Chicago. He was later to earn a B.A. from New York University. His war-torn beginnings have influenced much of his poetry and indeed his political views.
“I got invitations to the White House, but I didn’t go,”
The poet laureate has an office with a parlour overlooking the Capitol and from there he formed numerous opinions of the national political culture. “Washington is the capital of a corrupt empire fighting two hopeless wars and yearning to have more,” he said. “Every powerful figure in Washington is surrounded by a flock of beautiful, well-educated, highly competent women who run after them all day carrying documents, reminding them of appointments and flattering them how good they look. No wonder these men think they are geniuses.”
The transition from ‘travelling salesman’ back to full-time poet was not a hard one. However whilst relieved he is also aware of the great importance of the position of poet laureate to be vital. “It reminds Americans that there’s such a thing as poetry and that poets are people like them,” he said. “They may believe poets have their heads in the clouds, and then they meet or hear one and are delighted that it isn’t so.”
One thing that has shocked Simic, especially over the last couple of years, is the amount of poetry being written and read in America. He said: “People who do not think so ought to go on the internet and type in ‘poetry’ and be prepared to fall off their chairs. This is a country of loners, and poetry, it seems, is the only place one can speak about that solitude and read the work of others who are in the same boat.”
As well as being a world renowned poet, Charles Simic is also a philosopher, essayist, translator and commentator on various subjects including Jazz and Art. He is currently the poetry editor, along with Meghan O’Rourke, for The Paris Review and was one of the judges for the 2007 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. His latest book of poems, That Little Something, was published in early 2008.
Eusemere Daffodils house up for sale
July 21, 2008
Set in a very attractive private estate on the north eastern shores of Ullswater, the location is where William Wordsworth was said to have penned his renowned poem ‘Daffodils’, in the year 1804.
“William Wordsworth used to sleep in a particular bedroom there and I still have a piece of the original wallpaper framed as a picture.” - Lady Kagan was noted as saying in a local Yorkshire newspaper in 2008.
The Kagans, once friends of former Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, had first come across the house in the early 1970s when flying their little Auster one-engined plane across the region.
“We all fell in love with Eusemere immediately, it has such a wonderful atmosphere and character but I’m afraid it needs a poet’s imagination to do justice to it. It is light and airy and somehow uplifting, I don’t know why” Lady Kagan, mother of three, now aged 84 also remarked.
The 16-acre site was originally built as a countryside retreat for the slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson in the latter part of the 18th century. His tireless work, with fellow abolitionist William Wilberforce, often led to the need for breaks in the rural wilds of the English countryside amongst the beautiful and tranquil surroundings of the Eusemere Estate.
Below is Wordworth’s famous poem.
Daffodils
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
by William Wordsworth
New US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan
July 19, 2008
The American Library of Congress announced on Thursday that the award-winning Californian poet Kay Ryan will become the 16th poet laureate, this approaching autumn. The self-described “modern hermit” who writes Emily Dickinson-style metaphysical poetry will receive a $40,000 salary for her one year stint as the acme of the US poetry world.
Ryan was born in 1945 in California and grew up in the small towns of the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. She would go on to receive a bachelor’s and master’s degree from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).
She was said to have been ‘delighted and surprised’ when the Library of Congress had contacted her and thought at first she had forgotten to return some overdue books.
Her favourite poets include the modernist poet William Carlos Williams, the English novelist Philip Larkin and John Donne the Jacobean who is catagorised as being part of the 17th century metaphysical poetic movement.
Kay Ryan’s poetry style is of a reflectively short but profound and seriocomical nature which focuses on both the confines of our lives and the illimitable vastness of the universe and existence. She has published a number of works including The Niagara River (Grove Press, 2005); Say Uncle (2000); Elephant Rocks (1996); Flamingo Watching (1994), which incidentally was a finalist for both the Lamont Poetry Selection and the Lenore Marshall Prize; Strangely Marked Metal (1985); and Dragon Acts to Dragon Ends (1983).
Her poems have also been printed in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, The Yale Review, Paris Review, The American Scholar, The Threepenny Review and Parnassus, to name but a few.
Today she lives with her partner Carol Adair in Fairfax, California.
For an example of her work visit Poetry Magazine.
Diane Vogel Ferri
July 17, 2008
Diane Vogel Ferri
I invited Diane to answer a few questions especially for ‘Pen Me A Poem’ and I am most grateful for her acceptance and enlightening responses.
Welcome Diane. When did you start writing poetry?
It’s very interesting to me how I started writing poetry because I knew nothing about poetry and did not even read poetry at the time. About 15 years ago I was going through a very traumatic time in my life and poetry just started coming out of a place in my subconscious. It was mostly raw and angry and full of emotions and questions. A few of those poems I would actually still consider pretty good, although I have learned what “good” (acceptable) poetry is through a lot of classes, workshops and critiques over the years.
Who have been the greatest literary influences in your life?
I have no influences in poetry because I wrote poems before I read any contemporary poets. In my fiction writing however, I think I’ve been influenced by every novel I’ve ever read. I can’t choose one particular author, but over the years I just felt that I could express myself in writing fiction as they had. Hopefully I have a style all my own.
What was the process you went through when getting your poetry published and the resulting thoughts and feelings?
I have published individual poems in a number of journals at this point, but I am working on a book collection to publish soon, I hope. A poem is like one of your babies- you work on it and nurture it over a period of time and you come to love it. It’s part of you. When a poem is accepted for publication is very satisfying, even thrilling. You will see all your efforts come to fruition and your work is validated. Publishing is a long and tedious process. The markets for fiction and poetry are competitive and your chances of publication are slim, but you’ll never be published if you don’t try. Another poet advised me that when a rejection comes in, just refold the poem, stuff it in another envelope and send to the next place!
‘Flying Over Midnight‘ was your first novel. What is it about?
To be honest it is about that traumatic time in my life that I mentioned earlier. It is about a woman with two children whose life is turned upside down and the emotional and spiritual crises she goes through. I wrote the book I would have liked to have read at that time in my life in hopes that it would touch someone else and give them hope. I call it my learning book - instead of studying writing I actually did it.
You write a blog called “Coexist” How important is religion in your life and the issues that face the world today?
I saw “Coexist” on a bumper sticker one day and thought that one word provided the solutions to all the world’s problems. Just think if we all knew how to coexist peacefully! We’d have no need for newspapers and news programs! While I am a churchgoer, I find the word religious somewhat confining. Religion is a set of man-made traditions and rituals for the most part. I find many of those rituals meaningful and important, but I also believe that religion is not always Godly. I am a very spiritual person and I believe that we all are spiritual - it’s just that the world we live in pushes out the opportunities to know our spiritual sides unless we make concerted efforts to know ourselves and have a relationship with God.
Who is Anais Nin?
She was a writer of the 1930’s who was ahead of her time as a female writer and a bit of a feminist. Her most famous work is her seven published diaries, which I admire for her honestly and her beautiful writing.
You are a special education teacher. What does your job mean to you?
I love kids and have always been proud to be an advocate for special needs children. The job is thankless and often stressful, but most of that comes from government and administrative decisions and not the children.
Tell us more about your family and how they have influenced your writing.
I think being a mother has had the biggest influence on my life and my writing. The focus of my new book is really a young unwed mother’s struggles to raise her daughter. I didn’t plan this story , it sort of wrote itself. I was not an unwed mother, but the sacrifice and love that mother’s have for their children is universal. I have a son and daughter both in their twenties now and I can’t imagine my life with out them.
Diane Vogel Ferri, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for ‘Pen Me A Poem’. I appreciate it greatly. Below is one of your poems which you very generously agreed to share.
Stalking
The blue heron has been at the edge
of the pond all morning stalking fish
with surreal patience, with the stillness
of a lawn ornament or my unmoving
body lying next to yours at night.
He makes no sound, just like us.
The fish does not know that the heron
is there, even though surely it could look up
and see what is so close.
The heron crouches low, just as I am
sometimes, as we are,
half of what could be.
Then the great bird sees what it wants,
its mouth plunges into the water and pulls
out the prize that will sustain its life.
The fish does not fight the inevitable.
The heron stands proudly upright to savor
the moment before swallowing the fish whole.
© Diane Vogel Ferri
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