With what attentive courtesy he bent
Over his instrument;
Not as a lordly conquerer who could
Command both wire and wood,
...
O why do you walk through the fields in gloves,
Missing so much and so much?
O fat white woman whom nobody loves,
...
A young Apollo, golden-haired,
Stands dreaming on the verge of strife,
Magnificently unprepared
For the long littleness of life.
...
When I was twenty inches long,
I could not hear the thrush's song;
The radiance of the morning skies
Was most displeasing to my eyes.
...
MY father's friend came once to tea.
He laughed and talked. He spoke to me.
But in another week they said
...
I wakened on my hot, hard bed;
Upon the pillow lay my head;
Beneath the pillow I could hear
My little watch was ticking clear.
...
I laid me down upon the shore
And dreamed a little space;
I heard the great waves break and roar;
The sun was on my face.
...
I Had a little dog, and my dog was very small;
He licked me in the face, and he answered to my call;
...
As on the highway's quiet edge
He mows the grass beside the hedge,
The old man has for company
The distant, grey, salt-smelling sea,
...
Brave English language, you are strong as trees,
Yet intricate and stately. Thus one sees
Through branches clear-embroidered stars. You please
...
The poplars in the fields of France
Are golden ladies come to dance ;
But yet to see them there is none
But I and the September sun.
...
I ran out in the morning, when the air was clean and new,
And all the grass was glittering and grey with autumn dew,
I ran out to the apple tree and pulled an apple down,
And all the bells were ringing in the old grey town.
...
The Shadows flickering, the daylight dying,
And I upon the old red sofa lying,
The great brown shadows leaping up the wall,
The sparrows twittering; and that is all.
...
I am a Witch, and a kind old Witch,
There's many a one knows that--
Alone I live in my little dark house
With Pillycock, my cat.
...
The thistles on the sandy flats
Are courtiers with crimson hats ;
The ragworts, growing up so straight,
Are emperors who stand in state,
...
Frances Cornford should not be confused with her husband Francis Cornford. Frances Crofts Cornford (née Darwin) was an English poet. She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Ellen Crofts, born into the Darwin — Wedgwood family. She was a granddaughter of the British naturalist Charles Darwin. Her elder half-brother was the golf writer Bernard Darwin. She was raised in Cambridge, among a dense social network of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and was educated privately. In 1909, Frances Darwin married Francis Cornford, a classicist and poet. They had 5 children: Helena (b. 1913), John (1915-1936), a poet and Communist who was killed in the Spanish Civil War. Christopher (1917-1993), an artist and writer Clare, who became the mother of Matthew Chapman Hugh Frances Cornford published several books of verse, including Poems (1910), Spring Morning (1915), Autumn Midnight (1923), and Different Days (1928). Mountains and Molehills (1935) was illustrated with woodcuts by Cornford's cousin Gwen Raverat. She wrote poems including The Guitarist Tunes Up: With what attentive courtesy he bent Over his instrument; Not as a lordly conqueror who could Command both wire and wood, But as a man with a loved woman might, Inquiring with delight What slight essential things she had to say Before they started, he and she, to play. One of Frances Cornford's poems was a favourite of the late Philip Larkin and his lover Maeve Brennan. All Souls' Night uses the superstition that a dead lover will appear to a still faithful partner on that November date. Maev, many years after Larkin's death, would re-read the poem on All Souls: My love came back to me Under the November tree Shelterless and dim. He put his hand upon my shoulder, He did not think me strange or older, Nor I him. Although the myth enhances the poem - it can be read as the meeting of older, former lovers. She is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.)
The Guitarist Tunes Up
With what attentive courtesy he bent
Over his instrument;
Not as a lordly conquerer who could
Command both wire and wood,
But as a man with a loved woman might,
Inquiring with delight
What slight essential things she had to say
Before they started, he and she, to play.
The Guitarist Tunes Up Frances Cornford “The Guitarist Tunes Up” is the poem that tells us about the difference between creative instinct and possessive instinct. (Ghreeza) Frances Cornford says that the guitarist is an artist who is well aware of the behaviour of the guitar¬¬ – an instrument made of wire and wood. He knows where and how should he strike on the strings of the guitar to bring about certain musical sounds. He bears creative instinct. He is not like a ‘lordly conqueror’ who possesses all wire and wood of the lands but cannot bring about any musical tone out of them. The poet compares the guitarist (an artist) with a man who is in love with a loved woman. The lover knows how and what should he do to bring about desired reactions of his beloved before they play the sport of love. So, the guitarist is like the man who is in love with a woman and is not like the ‘lordly conqueror’. The poem comprises 8 lines. The lines bear perfect rhymes. They are like couplets. Every succeeding line is two third of the first line except the last one. There is beautiful image of ‘wire and wood’ which suggests much much more meaning. The beauty of the poem lies in its suggestiveness, imagery and rhythm. Repetition, alliteration, assonance, consonance create lasting rhythmical effect on our ears.
If we look at this poem closely, we will see that it is full of simile- direct comparison with its elements between two persons, items and so on. Generally speaking, the most prominent comaprison in this poem is made between a guitarist with a guitar and a lover with a beloved person. The real musicians ask permisson before playing the instrument. The same thing is applied between a couple before making love. Whenever a lover wants to be happy, making love, with his beloved, there is no doudt that the request should be done by attention and full of respect. Another point regarding the ' The Guitarist Tunes up ' is that the word 'play' is an important word because it is 'play' with which we can make a link between a guitarist with a guitar and a lover with a beloved person.
The princess and the gypsies