The Write Focus: October 2024

We have a theme of Dances of October for this episode ~ although one of our two poems doesn’t mention dancing and the other doesn’t mention October. How are we connecting these two works to that theme?

Well, my brain said “Put them together”, and here we are.

The first poem is by African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. He’s barely anthologized anymore, but that doesn’t mean he should be neglected. Dunbar is an excellent writer with diverse style in different forms, including prose and plays. His verse elevates him above the one-trick ponies who are studied because they represent a type (Louise May Alcott, e.g.).

Our other poem is a lesser-known work by the famous William Butler Yeats.

Follow along as we find unexpected connections with these two unconnected poems. We’ll also add in a few writing lessons that will help all writers.

TIMINGS

00:00 Welcome
00:40 Introduction
01:35 Dunbar’s “October”
07:09 First Lesson for All Writers
08:46 Yeat’s “To a Child Dancing in the Wind”
12:44 Second Lesson for All Writers
15:35 Reaching New Meaning / Dunbar & Yeats
17:25 Third Lesson for all Writers, A & B
18:25 Last Words / Closing

Total Run Time = 20:32

LINKS

Paul Laurence Dunbar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Laurence_Dunbar

“October” https://poets.org/poem/october-2

William Butler Yeats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Yeats

“To a Child …” https://www.poetryverse.com/william-butler-yeats-poems/child-dancing-the-wind

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

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What sparks a love of poetry?

The highbrow puzzles of e.e. cummings or the imagism of Ezra Pound. The lyrical music of John Keats or Christina Rossetti. The logical jumps and intellectual gymnastics of the metaphysical poets. The gimmick that marks Ferlinghetti. The emotions that lurk in a Longfellow sonnet. The intriguing story-songs that we just examined last month.

None of the above sparked my love of poetry. They deepened my love and enriched it, teased me by simultaneously engaging mind and heart.

My love of poetry was sparked by my mother. She gifted her daughters with a love of birds, of flowers, of nature itself. She quoted poems that she’d memorized over the years, poems that echoed with her love of nature, and those poems still echo for me. When I saw poetic lines expressed in nature, poetry lived for me.

Over my years, I’ve found more poems that live, some highbrow, some with a lowbrow snicker, some middlebrow which are frowned upon by intellectuals as “not clever enough”. I say if the poem is to a person’s taste, then who has a right to disrespect their choice?

And so we come to this episode’s poems, two that reveal autumn’s glory, both with marketing and writing ideas for anyone interested in a writing-focused life.