Vol.2 (08) - The Psychology of Style — John Middleton Murry

The Psychology of Style

The Second Lecture from the Book: “The Problem of Style” by John Middleton Murry

Ferrick Gray

The Yellowed Page

Volume 2, Issue 8

Prefatory Remarks

Recapping from Murry’s first lecture, The Meaning of Style, he gave three possible uses of the word style:

1. as personal idiosyncrasy.
2. as a technique of exposition; and
3. as the highest achievement of literature.

Personally, I believe the third to be very difficult to identify regardless of the attempt at definition. For me, it is more an opinion, but Murry may enlighten each of us as we progress through his lectures.

Vol.1 (01) - The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

by Rudyard Kipling

Ferrick Gray

Snippets

Volume 1, Issue 1

I feel I have been missing something for many years. Finished this little book the other day, likely a couple of hours reading. I did not take a great deal of notice because to was engrossed in the stories. I cannot recall having read anything by Rudyard Kipling. Nothing was ever offered up as a youngster and nothing at school, but now was the time to rectify the situation.

Vol.2 (02) - The Rape of the Lock—Canto II

The Rape of the Lock—Canto II

Ferrick Gray

Working with Pope

Volume2, Issue 2

This analysis uses the version from:

The Twickenham Edition of the Poems of Alexander Pope

General Editor: John Butt

Volume II — The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems

The Five Canto Version of 1714

Edited by Geoffrey Tillotson

The Broadwater Press Ltd, 1963

Vol.2 (08) - Annabel Lee

“Annabel Lee”

An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem

Kenneth Daniel Wisseman

Poetically Speaking

Volume 2, Issue 8

Poe and ‘Annabel Lee’

October 9, 1849, a poem was published in the New York Daily Tribune. It would be the last poem of a poet I consider the greatest American romance poet to ever live. Many of his poems were of ladies he flirted with. He was an admirer of lyrical poetry, not so much of narrative poetry. Like me, his favorite poets no doubt were the great English romance poets, Byron, Tennyson, and Shelley. Lord Tennyson himself said of Poe that ‘he was the most original genius that America has produced’. T. S. Eliot once wrote, ‘Only after you find that a poem by Poe goes on throbbing in your head do you begin to suspect that perhaps you will never forget it.’ One interesting note about Poe’s last Poem is that Poe took certain steps to make sure that this poem was published; perhaps this was due to him knowing he had just created one of the world’s greatest love poems, his masterpiece and wanted to make sure that the world saw such beauty. Sadly, he never lived to see his poem published because he would die under very mysterious circumstances just two days before its publication. Oddly, one manuscript has a slightly different last line. Perhaps the poem we read today is not the one he intended; though in close inspection the more melodious word ‘sounding’ instead of the phrase ‘side of the’ sounds better to my own poetic ear, and is the one used today.

Vol.2 (07) - Lord Byron's “The Tear”

Lord Byron’s—“The Tear”

Ferrick Gray

The Yellowed Page

Volume 2, Issue 7

Prefatory Remarks

Byron wrote some magnificent poems (Don Juan), some very beautiful and touching poems (She Walks in Beauty), yet somehow, I feel his work is overrated. For those of whom are devoted followers, there is no need to get upset over my statement. I too enjoy some of Byron’s poems, especially his later work. His work was more coherent than Shelly, far more interesting than Wordsworth (or was that Turdsworth), and more dynamic than Keats (that little dirty blackguard). His poetry reflected the legend, or perhaps the legend reflected the poetry.

Vol.2 (07) - “The Sound of Autumn—Part I” by Kenneth Daniel Wisseman

“The Sound of Autumn”—Part I

written by Kenneth Daniel Wisseman

Analysis & Critique by Ferrick Gray

Poetically Speaking

Volume 2, Issue 7

Prefatory Note

When it comes to using the descriptor critique, one needs to realize that critiques are not necessarily negative in their presentation or design. Criticism may of course be constructive or destructive. Destructive sounds very negative, but negative criticism may also work in a positive manner if the writer cares to accept it.

The poem I have chosen is written by Kenneth Daniel Wisseman (Wisseman from here on) and is included in his debut book—To Look Upon Eurydice. It is also written in one of my favorite forms, that of terza rima. Hopefully many will know of this form from Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).

Vol.2 (06) - The Egoist — An Individualist Review

The Egoist

An Individualist Review

Ferrick Gray

The Yellowed Page

Volume 2, Issue 6

Something most have forgotten about, but more than likely have never heard of—one of the early modernist periodicals, The Egoist. I have printed a few of these publications to read. The main reason was for the input made by Pound and Eliot, two of the men of 1914 so they say. Pound suggested the change of name from The New Freewoman founded by Dora Marsden to The Egoist and succeeded in making it more of a literary review rather than a feminist journal. It is interesting that subscriptions dropped greatly over their publication from 1914 to 1919.