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Poetry/Questions Answered by Expert Clare Washbrook

SubjectDate Asked
finding Walt Whitman poem10/6/2009
  Q: I try to find the text of the poem by Walt Whitman called "Joy Shipmate Joy." When I search the ...
  A: Ana If you want everything that he has written then you need to buy a "Complete Works" not ...
world book encyclopedia poetry9/30/2009
  Q: I am looking for a poem that my 3yr old daughter learned in 1987 after hearing my read it to her ...
  A: Becky, That's "The Shiny Little House" by Nancy M Hayes. The full text is below. I hope that ...
poetry9/24/2009
  Q: I'd like to know the author and title of this poem. A long time I have lived with you- and now we ...
  A: Chris, The poem is recorded as "author unknown" and either appears with no title or "Native Spirit ...
Can you identify this extract from a poem, it is driving me mad9/21/2009
  Q: Naught man can do what have I left undone. The Poet is saying that what he has left undone could ...
  A: Paul, It's a misquote from Robert Browning's 'The Patriot'. Misquotes are always hard to locate. ...
poem identification9/17/2009
  Q: Can you identify the poem, quoted by my mother over the years "Oh why do you walk in the fields in ...
  A: Margaret, This is a very short poem by Frances Cornford called "To a Fat Lady Seen From the ...
Badly remembered quote9/13/2009
  Q: Since high school days (fifty years ago) I have recalled, badly, a few lines of poetry that involved ...
  A: Douglas, That sounds to me like Excelsior by Longfellow. The words "onwards and upwards" are not ...
Need Help Finding a Poem9/6/2009
  Q: I've been looking for this Christmas poem fro some time now. I can't remember the author or the ...
  A: Amanda, The poem you are looking for is below this message! I hope that helps, CL Washbrook The ...
"Nature" Poetry8/7/2009
  Q: When we study history of 18th or 19th century English poetry, we surely witness growth of a love of ...
  A: Raj, Nature has always been a dominant part of poetry. It dominates the Haikus of the Japanese ...
Can youplease identify these poems?8/2/2009
  Q: I'm having problems identifying the poems from which the following extracts come and wondered if you ...
  A: Helen, I do not know the specific book you are speaking of; children's compilations are ten a penny ...
In Goya's Greatest Scenes7/16/2009
  Q: in my English IV class last year, we were studying the Beats and came across Ferlinghetti's "In ...
  A: Chelsea, First off; the hyperbole in that piece; "plagued by legionaries" "demented roosters" ...
possible William Wordsworth poem7/1/2009
  Q: Can you please identify these partial lyrics? Not in entire forgetfulness...Our life's star hath had ...
  A: Don, It is Ode:Intimations of Immortality. This is considered Wordsworth's greatest achievement ...
Find the peom "I am not what you see..."6/19/2009
  Q: A nursing home social worker and I are trying to find a poem we remember that may have a line "I am ...
  A: Sally, Apologies for the late response - for some unknown reason, AllExperts reactivated my page ...
Finding the poet of a poem5/26/2009
  Q: I'm looking for the name of the author of a poem. the poem reads : One broken dream is not the end ...
  A: Shikha, This is always attributed as anonymous. No-one knows who wrote it. These inspirational ...
British weather poem5/20/2009
  Q: I am trying to track down a poem that I haven't heard for ages. It goes through the British year ...
  A: Robert, It's "A Song of The Weather" by Michael Flanders OBE (songwriter - Flanders and Swann); a ...
Wordsworth5/19/2009
  Q: What impact does the fact that 'There was a boy...' is written in blank verse have upon the poem?
  A: Joanna, Wordsworth played with the connection between eye and ear. He believed that how something ...
Julio Noboa Polanco4/28/2009
  Q: I am looking for the proper attribution for the poem "Identity." It appears often on the Web, but ...
  A: Betty, As Polanco is a Hispanic American, this is WAY outside my area of expertise (clearly stated ...
History on poem4/20/2009
  Q: Ring around the rosy, A pocket full of posies; ashes, ashes we all fall down! I would like to know ...
  A: The Black Death is one of the English names for the Bubonic Plague (the disease itself), it isn't ...
History on poem4/20/2009
  Q: Ring around the rosy, A pocket full of posies; ashes, ashes we all fall down! I would like to know ...
  A: It has nothing to do with China at all. As far as I am aware China doesn't have a version of it. ...
spiritual life4/1/2009
  Q: Someone said: "My spiritual life is like the slow reworking and rebooting of a computer at regular ...
  A: Luke, It's a very cautious spiritual attitude. Reading the small print, following the instructions ...
author of poem3/27/2009
  Q: I'm trying to find the author of the following poem, which was found in my grandfather's bible after ...
  A: Carol, I can't give you a definitive answer but I do not recognise it and it does not appear in any ...
name of poem about an earl and his dog3/22/2009
  Q: I read a poem to my students years ago and can no longer find it. It was about an earl with his ...
  A: Joanne, The story you are talking about is unquestionably that of Beth-Gelert, a 13th century Welsh ...
Yahweh3/15/2009
  Q: It's a song "Yahweh". The author of this song said: I think every line in this song is underscored ...
  A: Luke, I think the title gives it away. Yahweh is a name of God. This is a prayer. Yes, I think ...
one verse3/10/2009
  Q: I'd like to ask you about one verse from a song. "You were pretty as a picture It was all there to ...
  A: Luke, I don't think it has anything to do with Africans. It's about a thoughtless, mean girl. ...
I also was looking for the poem-"which loved best" by joy allison3/6/2009
  Q: I have hunted for years for the whole poem. My mother always read it to me. I have her "graded ...
  A: Dottie, It would seem that you have your answer already. However, this system requires me to ...
GONE2/22/2009
  Q: it was helpful. At the next gig we played "Gone" for Michael Hutchence(Michael was an Australian ...
  A: Luke, You don't need to clue me in on who these people are Luke. I'm in my thirties, I lived ...
spilling over2/21/2009
  Q: Nice picture. A singer says: "Please" is a song about terror really. Are there ever any excuses for ...
  A: Luke, 1. Yes but also in a bomb attack people are literally thrown off the ground. I was present ...
identify poem?2/19/2009
  Q: In the movie "The Proposition" (Australia Western), a poem is often presented in the background, but ...
  A: Mike, It is not a poem per se; although that entire film has a basis in poetry it is mostly ...
19th Century Romanticism2/18/2009
  Q: Can you suggest two or more nineteenth century romantic poems I could refer to when writing about ...
  A: Lizzie, There are lots that you could choose but my choices are below. The two poets I have chosen ...
your instructions2/17/2009
  Q: The song is based on the idea that sex is a conversation of sorts. On one level it's purely carnal ...
  A: Luke, Talking is communication - not always effective, not always conveying properly, rarely ...
e. e. cummings2/8/2009
  Q: Poem no. 37 of cummings' "95 Poems" begins, "handsome and clever and he went cruising." When I first ...
  A: Douglas, Yes, I read it as a war poem. One can always come up with many readings for cummings' ...
it would come2/6/2009
  Q: I found it in your profile when I clicked on "View past answers", but I cannot rate it from there :) ...
  A: Luke, They mean "the spirit of the band". That they did not need or want to rely on signiture ...
sliding down........2/5/2009
  Q: Sorry for not rating your last answer/s, but I think I didn't receive them. Something's been going ...
  A: Luke, Sliding can be taken almost literally, like the action - easy, without additional effort ...
sliding down........2/5/2009
  Q: Sorry for not rating your last answer/s, but I think I didn't receive them. Something's been going ...
  A: Luke, It means just having fun and not getting deep or meaningful. It is about the insubstantial ...
the fly2/5/2009
  Q: it was helpful :) I cannot figure out some of the things this guy is talking about. Bono from U2 ...
  A: Luke, Bonus for you! This was in the "Question Pool" (where experts send questions they cannot ...
I thank you God for most this amazing2/2/2009
  Q: I am a matric student in South Africa and have been given the above mentioned poem to analyze. I ...
  A: Evodia, Your teacher really ought to be going over poetry analysis with you and this needs to be ...
Housman1/30/2009
  Q: I understand what the poem is saying and the msg behind it. The thing that i dont understand is how ...
  A: Sara, 1) The date it was written 2) It does not follow classical poetic forms 3) The subject ...
Wilde's influence on prison reform1/11/2008
  Q: I'm a student from France (sorry for mistakes) preparing a master in sociology. I would like to ...
  A: Sebastian, I have no idea where you read that but the poem had no effect on prison reform. Some ...
emily dickinson1/9/2008
  Q: Have you ever read Emily Dickinson's poem about the Darkness? If so, what is the structure of the ...
  A: Chrissy I assume that you mean 419 "We Grow Accustomed to the Dark". Dickinson doesn't adhere to ...
interpretation of "Poets to Come"1/8/2008
  Q: Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come! Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I ...
  A: Dan, Whitman is addressing poets of the future. He is aware that he cannot understand what is to ...
Rilke's epitaph.9/16/2007
  Q: Rilke wrote his own epitaph and it goes as follows: Rose, oh pure contradiction, joy of being ...
  A: Fernando, This is actually a topic of much academic debate, never resolved satisfactorily. So ...
song9/15/2007
  Q: There's the song: Coldplay - Beautiful World Lyrics print version Bones are sinking like stones ...
  A: Luke, Song lyrics are only sometimes akin to poetry. They are often chosen simply for the sound ...
old children's poem9/9/2007
  Q: I am looking for the words to an old poem that our mother would recite to us. I can only remember a ...
  A: Penny, It is "Which Loved Best" by Joy Allison. Text below. smiles CL Washbrook "Which Loved ...
poem on abortion8/17/2007
  Q: I am looking for a poem that is on abortions I don't recall the Arthur or when it was written but I ...
  A: Brenda, I do not know of any signed "Unborn child" but that may be a liberty taken by a website. I ...
Which poem8/15/2007
  Q: What poem is this line from - "We shall lay our hands on the basilisk"
  A: Marilyn, It is not from a poem. This is Oscar Wilde's vision of the future of art. "Dragons will ...
Need to find an author's name8/14/2007
  Q: The poem is "The Rock of Ages" and is a Christian poem. It sites the biblical story of the house ...
  A: Wanda, It is an amateur poem which only exists on that site. If your Granddaughter is set on using ...
Line from a poem8/14/2007
  Q: Which poem and could you please tell the poet's name does this line come from? 'I want to die a ...
  A: Lorraine, This line is slightly incorrect, which may be why you could not find it. This is "Let Me ...
Structure of a poem8/8/2007
  Q: What is the 'structure' of a poem? Is it its form, title etc? And how is different from 'style'? I ...
  A: Valerie, This is a huge question. One could write an entire book on structure but at its most ...
childrens' poetry8/6/2007
  Q: 'The moon has a face like the clock on the wall' This is from a childrens' verse. Do you know the ...
  A: Allys, The poem is called "The Moon". It was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and was published ...
Poetry Identification8/3/2007
  Q: Please identify and check the following: Some alas! their labour ended Now have passed within the ...
  A: Christopher, I have done a line search through an academic journals repository and through several ...
Poetry Identification8/2/2007
  Q: Please identify and check the following: Some alas! their labour ended Now have passed within the ...
  A: Christopher, It might help me if you could give me any information on where this came from. I am ...
Rudyard Kipling7/29/2007
  Q: Can you tell me which of Kipling's poems had the following lines? I'm going huts trying to think of ...
  A: Claude, I assume that you want the full text and not merely the title; it is below! I do not know ...
anniversary poem7/25/2007
  Q: I am looking for a poem that I believe I heard on Writer's Almanac. It is a poem about an ...
  A: Julie, Most "anniversary" poems are nasty sycophantic greeting card rhymes of dubious skill. The ...
Poem for a funeral7/18/2007
  Q: Could you recommend for me a poem for a child's funeral.. I want to read a poem at his funeral.. I ...
  A: David, My sympathies. As a teacher and mother I can think of nothing worse. This is a difficult ...
keats7/16/2007
  Q: after studying the major odes of keats, it seems that the allprevailing theme in it is the ...
  A: Atif, Firstly, I cannot offer you a more one to one discussion because this is a public question ...
please identify the poem7/14/2007
  Q: the quotation I remember - I carry your heart within my hear where is this from?
  A: Betsy, It is "i carry your heart with me" by ee cummings. Full text below. The lack of ...
attempting to identify poem7/1/2007
  Q: remember part of line: poem was regarding arguement; harsh words analogous to foot prints left ...
  A: Jayne, Proud Words By Carl Sandburg Look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, ...
English poetry6/17/2007
  Q: Can you please identify the poem whose first line is "When in disgrace with fortune and men's ...
  A: William Shakespeare - Sonnet #29 When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep ...
Where's this from?6/15/2007
  Q: "Remember when you were young, you shone like the That's all I have. Do you know if it came from a ...
  A: Jo It is a line from an old film - "It's a Wonderful Life" - and it is said by Clarence the angel ...
Trying to identify a poem on imperfections6/13/2007
  Q: This is going to be a vague question but after trying several searches, I figured I'd ask an expert. ...
  A: Viren, More information would help. It is difficult to identify a poem just from a general topic. ...
On the topic of dramatic monologues6/9/2007
  Q: Good morning, Clare. I have two poems here, namely "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Hopkins and ...
  A: Valerie, "Spring and Fall" is not a dramatic monologue, it is a lyrical poem. In fact, it was ...
Emily Dickinson - (poem without title)6/8/2007
  Q: I think its about being nobody and somebody. There's one quote , which I don't understand. To tell ...
  A: Diana, In this poem, the voice of the poem introduces itself as unimportant. Dickinson mocks the ...
Please help me identify this poem6/7/2007
  Q: The three of us sitting together in those desert landscapes- the White Palace, the Checkerboard Bar- ...
  A: Greg, I have no idea what this poem is or who wrote it. I wish I did, it has definite potential. ...
trying to find a poem's author6/6/2007
  Q: I'm looking for the name of the author of a poem. the poem reads: the tide recedes but leaves ...
  A: Laura, The author is in dispute and usually credited as Anon. It is only ever used for obituaries ...
Poetry5/28/2007
  Q: If all the seas were (something else) and all the Earth (was something else) this was a poem I was ...
  A: Brian, Okay, so not one of the figures, simple and old. There is an old nursery rhyme which is ...
compairing poetry5/27/2007
  Q: I'm trying to prepare myself for my exams in two weeks time. My tutor is not offering any revision ...
  A: Nadine, It would help to know which board you are with and which section. Is this A-level? I know ...
name of a poem5/27/2007
  Q: My mother would recite the following lines of a poem to me. I imagine it is from 1930 or 1940. I ...
  A: Roy, This is one verse of one version of a folk rhyme which was prevalent in Victorian English ...
Poetry5/27/2007
  Q: If all the seas were (something else) and all the Earth (was something else) this was a poem I was ...
  A: Brian, This sounds like one of many examples of an ancient rhetorical figure. There are dozens of ...
Classic Literature5/27/2007
  Q: Clare, My name is Ashleigh and i am a high school student. I am doing research for a term paper ...
  A: Ashleigh, I think the term "Canon" has been rather slackly applied by the person drafting this ...
Line from a poem (or a song?)5/17/2007
  Q: Do you know where the line, "Come into my arms,you bundle of charms" comes from? It sounds like a ...
  A: Maureen - there is an update at the bottom of my original answer. Scroll down to read it! Original ...
line of poetry5/14/2007
  Q: When I was a very small child, my grandmother taught me poems to recite. The line that haunts me is ...
  A: Darlene, Is there anything else at all that you can remember? A theme or topic? Are you in the UK ...
poem by Charles Harpur5/12/2007
  Q: I'd just like to know please, what year is the poem "the battle of life" by Charles Harpur written ...
  A: Yes, obviously it was written before then but there is no possible way of knowing when. Only six ...
origin of line (quote?)5/7/2007
  Q: Jack Smith, famous LA Times guy used this line in one of his best columns but could never find its ...
  A: Matt, "She Stoops to Conquer" play by Oliver Goldsmith dated 1771 "Spend your kisses well for ...
poem identification5/1/2007
  Q: This morning while listening to a wonderful older gentlemen make an acceptance speech for a civic ...
  A: Tim, No poem strikes me as fitting but it does sound like it could be a translation of Ludwig ...
POETRY4/25/2007
  Q: I had this poem in high school in English class in 1949.This is all that i can remember about it( ...
  A: Clarence, Many people state that this is anonymous and that it begins with "fleecy locks" and is ...
who wrote thia poem please4/23/2007
  Q: I was that which others did not want to be. I went where others did not want to go and did what ...
  A: Jon-paul, There are many versions of this - one for every service industry and military ...
Poetry4/19/2007
  Q: I am trying to find the name of a poem and the name of the author but all I know is one line in the ...
  A: Bonnie It is most likely that you have remembered the title of a William Carlos Williams poem. If ...
Identifying poems4/10/2007
  Q: Please forgive me for wasting your time if I am in the wrong spot. I was given 5 poems and would ...
  A: Angie If the text of the verses were published then I might be able to identify them and their ...
Frost Poems4/10/2007
  Q: I need help classifying Frost first poem "Greece." Is it an ode, or other form?
  A: Jeff It would pass as an ode - yes! There is no other traditional form that it would fit and it ...
Poem I.D.4/9/2007
  Q: I would like to know the name of the poem and author of the poem with the first line- "At last a ...
  A: Ah - well - sentences in tests like this are never from texts! They are invented by the examination ...
Poem I.D.4/9/2007
  Q: I would like to know the name of the poem and author of the poem with the first line- "At last a ...
  A: Evan I know many marvelous poems involving jugglers but there are none of note or merit that I know ...
speakers attitude4/5/2007
  Q: In my lit class we are working on the poem "To His Coy Mistress". We are suppose to write an essay ...
  A: Sarah There is no correct answer here! The crux of the issue is whether you believe that he means ...
William Carlos Williams poem4/4/2007
  Q: I am writing a critical analysis on The Rose by Williams. Is this imagery or deconstruction of an ...
  A: Nancy It is about a painting! "Flowers" by Juan Gris You can find it here; ...
?11/13/2006
  Q: Why don't you pay your child support?
  A: I am answering this only to remove it from the database - it is not a question that is meant for ...
I need your idea11/13/2006
  Q: First of all, I want to apologize for wasting your valuable time. Hi . . ., I’m Davin.I am writing ...
  A: Davin This would be better addressed to those who offer analysis as a service! It seems a little ...
Question?11/12/2006
  Q: Who is the author and the title of the work for the following excerpt: WHere the great wall of ...
  A: Robert Louis Stevenson (book - A Child's Garden of Verses) Poem X Travel I should like to rise ...
Name of Poem?11/7/2006
  Q: In 1962 a fellow 7th grade student signed my autograph book. She began with a poem; "when the ...
  A: There are various versions of this but the following came from a Victorian autograph book! No-one ...
Rudyard Kipling's IF11/7/2006
  Q: Could you please help me to interpret a line from Kipling's poem "If". "Or, being lied about, ...
  A: David, I am answering this question to clear it from the pit of sacrificial questions. Experts ...
Information about a poem10/30/2006
  Q: I came across a reference to a line in a poem supposedly by e e cummings, "our second coming made ...
  A: It has no title and is unsatisfyingly but typically short - it was in "73 poems" in 1963 - below is ...
line of poetry10/28/2006
  Q: I can recall a bit of poetry that impressed me, but I can't locate it in Bartlett's. It concerns ...
  A: "Success is counted sweetest" Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To ...
Kipling's IF10/26/2006
  Q: Could you please help me to interpret a line from Kipling's poem "If". "Or, being lied about, ...
  A: David, I am answering this question to clear it from the pit of sacrificial questions. Experts ...
Please help!10/18/2006
  Q: Ohh Im sorry! But no, that is not the poem, I have done a search myself and that is the poem I keep ...
  A: Dzel, Not a usual school poem then. In that case, thinking in the broader field, it might be ...
hello~10/18/2006
  Q: OH! I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you the name of the poem, it's called "Bright Star" by John ...
  A: Christine, I don't know of anything similar. Teaching websites link to that or refer one to exam ...
hello~10/18/2006
  Q: Excuse me, hi! I am looking for a site for critics on poem. I need to find one and you told me ...
  A: Christina, I need a little more information. Generally there are not sites which are entirely ...
Please help!10/17/2006
  Q: When I was in high school in the 10th grade, my language arts teacher read a poem in class, he said ...
  A: Dzel, You ask if "ANYONE" knows which poem you are talking about - I don't know how clear the site ...
I need help10/16/2006
  Q: Can you refer me to a website that will give the the authors name if i have their quote.
  A: Frank, There are lots of quotations site on the internet. This is the oldest - use search with ...
John Keat's Poem10/13/2006
  Q: BRIGHT star! would I were steadfast as thou art - Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night, And ...
  A: Christina, Poets often use half rhymes when they can't find pure rhymes. Your examples ...
metre10/11/2006
  Q: I asked you a question about feet (in the poem 'Epitaph on a tyrant'), and you said "sometimes one ...
  A: Jan, It can work both ways. The feet can inform us as to the metre and the metre can inform us as ...
Children's poem10/10/2006
  Q: I am looking for a poem entitled "My brother" by M. Ridlon? I have had no luck finding it. Can you ...
  A: Myra, I have never heard of the poet in question, so I assumed that this is outside my expertise ...
pentasyllabic feet?10/9/2006
  Q: I've been trying to scan 'Epitaph on a tyrant,' and came up with this (where U is short and / is ...
  A: Jan, I think that the main problem you are encountering is that you are treating each word as a ...
whose list to hunt10/9/2006
  Q: analysis for poem whoso list to hunt
  A: Ahmed, You really need to give more information when asking a question. I can't just do your ...
On Romantic poems10/9/2006
  Q: I have recently taken a course on Romanticism.I read Wordsworth's Lucy Gray,and I found it a story ...
  A: John, You must have a terrible teacher! Romanticism reduced to the basics; The Romantics came ...
complete poem and author needed10/6/2006
  Q: I read a quote from an Agatha Christie novel which went something like: 'The days passed slowly, one ...
  A: Barb, I don't recognise it as it stands. That doesn't mean that I cannot give you an answer. It ...
Rhymes which rhyme when read but not when spoken10/4/2006
  Q: I'm still unclear, though: to take the example of 'proved' and 'loved,' _would_ they have rhymed at ...
  A: Mera, No, it is quite the other way around. Most poetry is meant to be read aloud. Although, ...
old children's peom10/4/2006
  Q: ------------------------- gosh, i can't believe your answer was so fast. I was totally pleased to ...
  A: Bonnie, No problem. I'm not sure I understand your reference to "how many other people" but I can ...
old children's peom10/3/2006
  Q: i know only the first few lines of a poem that i heard as a child from my mother Come little leaves ...
  A: Bonnie, It is "Come Little Leaves" by George Cooper. The full text is below. COME LITTLE LEAVES ...
Rhymes which rhyme when read but not when spoken10/3/2006
  Q: Poetry often has two rhymes (where rhymes should be following the pattern of the rest of the rhyme ...
  A: Mera, There can be various reasons depending on the particular words. The English language is ...
Poem by J H Reynolds (1796-1852)10/3/2006
  Q: Clare - that's fantastic. Many thanks! I'd love to take a look at The Garden of Florence but it ...
  A: Charles, I believe that there may be an American version of it on the Gutenberg Project site. It ...
Poem by J H Reynolds (1796-1852)10/3/2006
  Q: I am conducting some research on a poem by Reynolds entitled 'On the Picture of a Lady'. I wonder if ...
  A: Charles, You can't find it because it isn't actually an entire poem, it is part of a larger work. ...
lochinvar9/29/2006
  Q: can you explain to me the poem lochinvar by sir walter scott
  A: Nayan, Sorry about the delay in response; for some reason the site didn't inform me of this ...
ID a poem9/28/2006
  Q: heard a sweet poem at a child's funeral. The reader left before I could ask him where he found the ...
  A: Tom, It's called "To all Parents" and is written by Edgar Guest. The sentiment in this poem is ...
Meaning of this poem...9/21/2006
  Q: Could you possibly tell me what this poem is about? Because I really can't tell... It's called "How ...
  A: Emily, I am not familiar with the poet. I know that he is an Australian poet and that Australian ...
IIdentification of poem, author unknown9/19/2006
  Q: I'm trying to find a copy of a poem, I found when my grandmother died in 1981. A partial quote that ...
  A: Kathy, It is an untitled poem by Mary Elizabeth Fry which hit the public eye in a most unusual way. ...
paradise lost by milton9/14/2006
  Q: in book4 of paradise lost by milton there is a tussel between satan and god can you give references ...
  A: Raymond, "Paradise Lost" is not only based upon Scripture. It is also based on other religious ...
poetry9/13/2006
  Q: what english poet lareate first used the terms March madness and in what context? Not Henry V. ...
  A: Alex, My answer remains the same. Geoffrey Chaucer is the only Poet Laureate I know of who has ...
World war1 poem9/10/2006
  Q: I am trying to trace a World War One poem written from the viewpoint of a bullet. Greaves? ...
  A: Mattie, I think what you are looking for is "What The Bullet Sang" by Bret Harte. It is pre-WW1 ...
Poet and info. for the following rhyme9/8/2006
  Q: What greater death can a man have? Than to fight the impossible odds, For the ashes of his ...
  A: Alan, This is a misquote from a poem called "Horatius" by Lord Macaulay (AKA Baron Macaulay AKA ...
poets9/8/2006
  Q: How many hours a day does a poet have to write?
  A: What an odd question? The poem which won me an award took 12 minutes to write! I may write all ...
Poetry9/6/2006
  Q: I have been writing for several years and have a large amount of excellent poetry... I write often ...
  A: Matt, Okay, I am going to be blunt here - to be helpful (you may hate me for a minute but you will ...
keats9/1/2006
  Q: after studying the major odes of keats, it seems that the allprevailing theme in it is the ...
  A: atif, Hello. I am going through old questions which were neatly side- stepped by other experts by ...
AUTHOR OF POEM8/21/2006
  Q: Would love to know the author of a love poem with the beginning sentence: "Love while you may the ...
  A: Bob, Not a problem! There isn't much more of it, your quote was half the poem. The rest is below. ...
dogs and the wishes of a child8/21/2006
  Q: Please could you help me identify quotes from two poems that I have cherished all my life: 1. I ...
  A: Loraine, No problems there - they are both by well liked but lesser known female English poets. ...
identify poem by unknown author8/18/2006
  Q: i had a eulogy poem for years,unforntuntly i have lost it. i believe it's titled REMEBER ME. Some ...
  A: Sandra, I am happy to say that I can identify your poem (although it is not strictly a poem - it ...
john keats8/17/2006
  Q: Ive read a lot of poems where the poet claims that truth and beauty are the same, for example Keats ...
  A: Atif, Generally speaking (not focusing on Keats), examining this idea (the transposition of truth ...
I'd like to identify a poem8/17/2006
  Q: I have a cross stitched, framed poem that I found in a yard sale that I love, but I don't know who ...
  A: Sara, It is not a poem. It a quote from a Danielle Steel novel called "Family Album". I am told ...
Need help locating this poem8/15/2006
  Q: I am looking for a poem that ends: Then they came for me and it was too late
  A: This is from an untitled poem about the Nazi's. It has always been claimed to have been written by ...
Marianne Moore's Poetry8/14/2006
  Q: however, according to the numbers of the lines. Those version you gave me do not fit my version. ...
  A: Addile, There have only been three versions of the poem that have been published officially, that ...
Marianne Moore's Poetry8/14/2006
  Q: Miss Washbrook: How are you doing? Hope the weather in England is sunny, but comfortable! I read ...
  A: Addile, I am not sure which version you are using, so I shall try to cover all three. The first ...
english8/10/2006
  Q: Why is and was Romeo and Juliet such a popular play through out history and how has it been ...
  A: David, It is always difficult to say why something is popular. Plays which have a longevity of ...
Emily Dickinson #17328/8/2006
  Q: I am trying to understand Dickinsons poem #1732. Is there any insight as to your interpretation and ...
  A: Jess, No it's not about miscarriages. It is about how death makes one feel. The two deaths are ...
no subject8/6/2006
  Q: I HAVE TO MAKE AN ANLYSIS ON "THE ANSWER" BY RUDYARD KIPLING. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD HELP ME ...
  A: Leila, I need to know what level of education you are currently studying at. Age and ...
Abortion8/4/2006
  Q: that will helpbtu this certian one is like month one im grownign so fast month 2 i can hear you ...
  A: Nakkeia, I don't know the exact poem that you are after. Spike Milligan's is the only famous poem ...
Robert Frost: Acquainted with the night8/4/2006
  Q: I have been thinking about Frost's "Acquainted with the Night". From what I understand, the speaker ...
  A: Art, Robert Frost often writes about rural New England, where he lived - he loved the place. This ...
Abortion8/3/2006
  Q: I have a friend that i need to give this poem to asap... it tells fromt he baby point of view by the ...
  A: Nakkeia, This is one of my all time favourite poems. It is called "Unto Us" and was written by ...
a poem8/3/2006
  Q: i am trying to locate a poem for a friend who is ill. it is a poem his late mother read to him when ...
  A: Diane, The only poem I can think of that 'mostly' fits the information is "Casabianca" by Felicia ...
MAya Angelou, Still I Rise, Phenominal Woman, and Equality8/2/2006
  Q: i need to Know what analtical points connect Still I rise, Phenomenal Woman, and Equality for an ...
  A: Star, First and foremost, you will need to become acquainted with feminism. Maya Angelou is a ...
What poem is this?7/21/2006
  Q: My 93 year old mother wants to know the name of the poem of which I have the first line. Fred Smith ...
  A: Jack, I've heard talk about this poem before but I have yet to find an actual copy of it. The ...
Lost Poem7/15/2006
  Q: I am looking for a poem for my Mother. She can not remember all of it. It starts out like this: I ...
  A: Teresa, The author is unknown. The full poem follows. Bring Me All The Flowers Today. I would ...
Author of the poem7/12/2006
  Q: The poem goes as follows: If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and ...
  A: Shirley, It is called "If" and is by Rudyard Kipling. It is officially the most popular and famous ...
Poetry from the 80's7/3/2006
  Q: About twenty years ago I found a poem in a book of poetry from that time that I have been trying to ...
  A: Betsy, I think what you are looking for is "Identity" by Julio Noboa Polanco. Let them be as ...
Who is the author of this poem?6/26/2006
  Q: I have been trying for 30 years to identify this poem's author or origin. Can you help? The name ...
  A: Stevie, It is actually called "Life's Lessons" and is by John Henry Newman. Life's Lessons I ...
Poetry Identification6/22/2006
  Q: I have been asked to identify a poem from a single line, most people recognise the line but no-one ...
  A: Matthew, I think it is most likely to be a misquote of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; My dream is of ...
need help identifying poem....6/20/2006
  Q: This is the only line that i can remember from this 18th cent. poem Please help me indentify the ...
  A: Lynn, It is "First Love" by John Clare. It is 19th Century not 18th by the way. John Clare ...
name and author of poem6/9/2006
  Q: Do you know this poem, probably Victorian, British, romantic. "Mother, mother wake me up for i'm to ...
  A: Angela, You may have recieved a blank answer to this question, my apologies, the allexperts ...
Re: Poetry6/8/2006
  Q: Washbrook, how are you? I have to do a presentation soon on a poet. I have chosen to do John Keats. ...
  A: Diane, For a ten minute presentation you should make sure that you give more time to the focus, ...
music of poetry6/6/2006
  Q: Example of a poem that best illustrates "the music of poetry." Explain.
  A: Shirley, You didn't give me a lot of information to go off there. As I do not know what level of ...
Poem Identification6/1/2006
  Q: My mother has asked me to try and track down a poem with the first line "May the best hour in the ...
  A: Helen, I am afraid that I do not know of a poem that begins with that line. There is "The Best ...
Ducks Tails5/21/2006
  Q: Back in 1968 I learnt a poem about ducks for a school competition. Now in my late forties I can t ...
  A: Greetings Emerson, The poem is called "Ducks' Ditty" and comes from "The Wind in the Willows" by ...
A.E. Housman5/9/2006
  Q: my teacher wanted us to find a critical analysis paper on A.E. Housman's "is my team plowing". Do ...
  A: Sorry but the only sites that I know that have that kind of paper available for free are those ...
Could you possibly identify a poem?5/7/2006
  Q: There is a line i have long known from a poem, and i'm trying now to find the poem from which it ...
  A: There are two possibilities, but they are connected. The following is "Requiem" by Robert Louis ...
What is this poem?5/7/2006
  Q: I am trying to find a poem that I heard years ago at a festival. It was about witches drowning ...
  A: Sofia, You're lucky I'm not a fusty old snob and love all kinds of music. Music is the most common ...
John Agard5/7/2006
  Q: I am studying for my GCSEs and missed a couple of sessions on Poems from Other Cultures through ...
  A: Chloe, Does your school not offer revision sessions? You should be able to go over missed work ...
mystery poem5/5/2006
  Q: I apologize for not haveing more for you to work with. The only other thing I can remember about ...
  A: Bill, Ah, now that helps a lot. I believe that "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell is what you ...
mystery poem5/5/2006
  Q: I read a poem in High School (long ago) and the story of it was a fellow is romancing a young gal ...
  A: Sorry but it doesn't ring any bells. Many people have used the phrase "If I had eternity" and "time ...
Feminist Poetrry - Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou5/3/2006
  Q: I am writing a research paper on any literary topic of my choice for the final assignment of a ...
  A: Websites for Emily Dickinson http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/dickinson.html ...
Leverson?4/28/2006
  Q: I was recently at a poetry reading where someone read a poem about peace/war. I wrote down the name ...
  A: I think you mean Denise Levertov. Her poetry is highly emotional and she spent some time ...
Thomas Hardy's THE FROZEN GREENHOUSE4/27/2006
  Q: I am trying to find the text online for Hardy's poem. Well, here's a copy/paste of an email I sent ...
  A: Jerry, Sorry but I don't have the text of that poem. I know it was published in Winter Words in ...
robert frosts stopping by woods on a snowy evening4/26/2006
  Q: What is thi poem about i really cant figure it out can u tell me? i would really appreciate it thanx ...
  A: Like most of Frost's poems, 'Stopping By Woods' can be read on several levels and, again like most ...
Hello4/11/2006
  Q: I am learning how to analyze poems, poetry was something my mother liked and since her death I had ...
  A: I am not sure what you understand already; it is difficult to guage people's levels of comprehension ...
My sister learned a poem in...4/5/2006
  Q: My sister learned a poem in school when we were kids, 40 or so years ago. It started out very sweet ...
  A: I should probably have mentioned that Dorothy Parker wrote many poems under the banner "Love Song". ...

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Clare Washbrook

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Expertise

I can answer questions on English Poetry both classical and modern. I can identify British poems if you have a partial quote. I can deal with both the content and construction, as well as the historical and personal contexts. I do not offer complete analysis of entire poems. My expertise is limited to British writers and the odd noteworthy American; I cannot answer questions on foreign poetry or translations. I do not limit my responses to stock interpretations by regurgitating other writer's opinions. I will distinguish between accepted interpretation and personal analysis but I don't think text book recitation helps one to actually understand how to analyse poems oneself. I will reject homework questions, non-poetry English questions, anything written in text speak and anything to do with amateur poetry.

Experience


Organizations
The Poetry Society

Publications
The Radio Times, Books by Dogma, "SO" Magazine, NUS publications, Other Poetry, OED, Publications by PTS others

Education/Credentials
BA (HONS) Literature (Theatre minor), MA (current accreditation)

Awards and Honors
Bronze Award - International Poetry Awards 2004

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