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poetry/mantyk/shakespeare

Appreciating Shakespeare Video & Intro to Hollow Crown’s Richard II Production

The Society
August 19, 2023
Education, Essays, Poetry, Shakespeare, Video
8 Comments
. . . . . Appreciating Shakespeare by Evan Mantyk Why do people think Shakespeare is so great? Why do they keep returning to his plays 400 years later? And for other classical literature, even thousands...
poetry/woodruff/culture

Can Long Poems Still Work? A Discussion Topic from Julian Woodruff

The Society
August 17, 2023
Culture, Essays, Poetry
80 Comments
. A Discussion on Long Poems by Julian Woodruff  In her second comment to the thread trailing my recent poem “The Heavy Launch of the Siegfried Idyll” (July 29), Margaret Coats suggested I “begin a...
poetry/salemi/essays

The Cultured Hedonist: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
August 13, 2023
Essays, Poetry
31 Comments
. The Cultured Hedonist Art responds to our need of pursuing an activity without end, for the pleasure of the pursuit, whereas morality compels us to follow a determinate path to a definite end. —Emile...
poetry/curtis/essays

‘Paradise Lost Satan Found in the Modern’: An Essay by Michael Curtis

The Society
August 5, 2023
Art, Essays, Poetry
9 Comments
. Paradise Lost Satan Found in the Modern by Michael Curtis The guardian prince Saint Michael, spiritual warrior, leader of the Army of God, cast into Hell Satan.  And there it is.  Yet, Satan is not content...

An Essay on Geoffrey Chaucer: ‘The Great Legitimizer’ by Euphrates Moss

The Society
July 6, 2023
Chaucer, Essays, Poetry
4 Comments
. The Great Legitimizer by Euphrates Moss Up from the barbaric yawp of Beowulf and routing through Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), an Italian poet of great distinction, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s-1400) created...
poetry/tweedie/reviews

Book Review: Poems with a Wink and a Smile by James A. Tweedie

The Society
June 22, 2023
Essays, Poetry, Reviews
14 Comments
. Reviewed Book: Laughing Matters: Poems with a Wink and a Smile by James A. Tweedie, Duncrest Press, 2023 by Theresa Werba This collection of humorous poetry by the excellent James A. Tweedie is more than a...
poetry/mantyk/from the society

Introduction to SCP Journal XI and First Section of Poems

The Society
May 18, 2023
Essays, From the Society, Poetry
5 Comments
. Below is the SCP Journal XI Introduction written by lead editor and SCP co-founder Evan Mantyk. After the Introduction is the complete first section of poems and art from Journal XI. Other Journal XI...
poetry/salemi/essay

Poetry As The Philosophers’ Stone: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
May 12, 2023
Essays, Poetry
44 Comments
. Poetry As The Philosophers’ Stone by Joseph S. Salemi The alchemical art, though long in disrepute, is nevertheless of great antiquity.  Supposedly founded by Hermes Trismegistus, a Ptolemaic Greek reflex...
poetry/mantyk/essay

Poems by Human Beings Versus Poems by AI Poems by ChatGPT: Take the Quiz

The Society
April 22, 2023
Essays, Haiku and Senryu, Limerick, Poetry, Villanelle
30 Comments
. Human Poetry Versus ChatGPT's AI Poetry Can you tell the difference between artificial intelligence poetry and human poetry? by Evan Mantyk and Mike Bryant Artificial intelligence, most notably ChatGPT, is...

Essay: ‘On the Musical Language of Poetry’ by A.J. Illingworth

The Society
April 12, 2023
Essays, Music, Poetry
21 Comments
. On the Musical Language of Poetry In Defense of the Classical Style . by A.J. Illingworth The historical connection between music and poetry is no secret. Homer, in the first line of the Iliad, instructs...
poetry/whidden/poetry is dead

Modernism and the Murder of the People’s Poetry and Art: An Essay by Phillip Whidden

The Society
February 15, 2023
Art, Essays, Music, Poetry
60 Comments
. Modernism and the Murder of the People’s Poetry and Art In Response to “Poetry Died 100 Years Ago this Month” by Matthew Walther in the New York Times . by Phillip Whidden First, let’s have a sonnet...
poetry/essay/Salemi/transgressive

Transgression, Fake and Genuine: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
January 23, 2023
Essays, Poetry
40 Comments
. Transgression, Fake and Genuine       by Joseph S. Salemi When Henry Harland and Aubrey Beardsley brought forth their groundbreaking periodical The Yellow Book in 1894, its very first issue contained the...

‘I Met a Shepherdess’ by Guido Cavalcanti, Translated by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
January 8, 2023
Essays, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation
22 Comments
. I Met a Shepherdess  by Guido Cavalcanti (c. 1250-1300) translated by Joseph S. Salemi I met a shepherdess in a small copse. More beautiful than starlight, the girl seemed. Her hair was blonde-ish, with a...

‘Calendar Poems’: An Essay by Margaret Coats

The Society
January 1, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Found Poem, Poetry
39 Comments
. Calendar Poems by Margaret Coats January loves what goblets hold, And February complains of cold. March plows the fields with furrows new, And April nurtures each flower’s hue. Dew on the grass, and leaves...

Henny and Sal: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
November 14, 2022
Education, Essays, Poetry
12 Comments
. Henny and Sal by Joseph S. Salemi My father, Salvatore J. Salemi, was a noncommissioned officer in G-2 (Military Intelligence) during the Second World War. Although he was 29 years old in 1942, he was...

An Essay on John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
October 20, 2022
Culture, Essays, Poetry
24 Comments
. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: A Restorative from the Restoration by Joseph S. Salemi John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, stands out because of his double-barreled reputation: he was a savage satirist, and...

‘Obedience’ by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, Translated by Joseph S. Salemi (with a Long Note)

The Society
September 13, 2022
Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry, Translation
16 Comments
. Obedience by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791-1863) translated from Romanesco by Joseph S. Salemi It’s not true, Christians, what you have been told— That you need endless patience to obey. Obedience...

A Rebuttal to Michael Burch and An Encouragement to Poets, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
September 3, 2022
Culture, Essays, Poetry
68 Comments
. by Susan Jarvis Bryant This is a word of encouragement to all those poets out there who use their art to get a grave point on current issues across. Never let those who criticize you shut you down. Never...

A Conceit or Just a Similitude? Two Brief Illustrations from Sir John Suckling, by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
August 25, 2022
Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
. A Conceit or Just a Similitude? Two Brief Illustrations from Sir John Suckling by Joseph S. Salemi One of the earliest things one learns in poetry is the distinction between a simile and a metaphor. In...

Persia, Ferdowsi, and the Shahnameh: An Essay by Adam Sedia

The Society
August 17, 2022
Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry, Rubaiyat
3 Comments
. POEMS THAT BUILT A NATION PART II. Persia, Ferdowsi, and the Shahnameh by Adam Sedia A previous essay highlighted how the Finnish national epic poem, the Kalevala, spurred the development of Finnish culture...

‘Creativity, Originality, and Eccentricity’: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
July 22, 2022
Essays, Poetry, Shakespeare
38 Comments
. Creativity, Originality, and Eccentricity by Joseph S. Salemi I don’t know why it should be so, but I have a propensity to attract the attention of eccentric persons. Three times, at three separate...

A Definition of Formal (or “Classical”) Poetry: A Short Essay by James A. Tweedie

The Society
July 7, 2022
Essays, Poetry
22 Comments
. A Definition of Formal (or “Classical”) Poetry by James A. Tweedie One of the frequent comment threads on SCP involves the subject of the nature of poetry, including what it is and how it exists as an...

How to Write Haiku: What Makes a Good Haiku?

The Society
June 29, 2022
Education, Essays, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry
47 Comments
. How to Write Haiku What Makes a Good Haiku? by Margaret Coats The required 5-7-5 syllable form alone does not make a haiku. A good haiku ⦁ presents an observation of nature, or of human activities in...

Classical Poetry and the Martial Ethos: An Essay by Andrew Benson Brown

The Society
June 13, 2022
Culture, Essays, Homer, Poetry
6 Comments
. Classical Poetry and the Martial Ethos by Andrew Benson Brown . The Heroic Age Towards the end of “Egil’s Saga,” one of the masterpieces of Icelandic literature, the eponymous hero composes a verse to...

Expansive Poets, Classical Poets, and the Future of Poetry: An Essay by Michael Curtis

The Society
May 31, 2022
Essays, Poetry
5 Comments
. Expansive Poets, Classical Poets, and the Future of Poetry by Michael Curtis Modern poetry is not—it is neither poetry nor modern.  Poetry is words lined in measure, of some three seconds length, the...

Review of Modern Art: An Exhibition in Criticism, a Book of Poetry by Michael Curtis

The Society
May 27, 2022
Art, Essays, Poetry, Reviews
11 Comments
. Reviewed Book: Modern Art: An Exhibition in Criticism, by Michael Curtis, National Civic Art Society, 2022 by Evan Mantyk On May 12, 2021, a terrible painting somehow sold for $103 million. It depicts a...

‘Crank Out a Few, Please’: Observations on Poetic Composition by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
May 3, 2022
Education, Essays, Poetry
22 Comments
. Crank Out a Few, Please by Joseph S. Salemi Many years ago, when I was in graduate school, I attended a seminar on Vergil’s Eclogues. These are the lovely bucolic verses that Vergil modeled on the earlier...

A Call for Secession: An Essay on Poetry and the Arts by Adam Sedia

The Society
April 22, 2022
Culture, Essays, Poetry
60 Comments
. A Call for Secession by Adam Sedia The fine arts currently lie atrophied in utter decline and degradation. Poetry is no exception. Ever since the advent of modernism in the decades leading up to the First...

‘A Clamshell in Concrete’ (and a Short Note) by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
April 8, 2022
Beauty, Blank Verse, Essays, Poetry
24 Comments
. A Clamshell in Concrete  I was a child in kindergarten class. My mother held my hand as we trod on The sidewalk leading to the boulevard. This was 1951. The path Was paved in smooth cement, and at the...

Respected Irish Poetry Journal Publishes Ridiculously Faked Woke Poetry

The Society
March 25, 2022
Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
9 Comments
. From The Burkean: Icarus magazine currently holds the reputation of being Trinity College’s — if not Ireland’s — premier poetry journal… with contributions from Seamus Heaney and John...

Comparing Translations of Charles d’Orleans, by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 9, 2022
Beauty, Essays, Poetry, Rondel, Translation
34 Comments
. "I Heard Chapman Speak Out Loud and Bold" by Margaret Coats My title quotes “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” a sonnet by John Keats. When Keats first read Homer, the voice he heard was not...

‘The Poem that Built a Nation: Finland and the Kalevala’: An Essay by Adam Sedia

The Society
February 28, 2022
Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry
13 Comments
. The Poem that Built a Nation: Finland and the Kalevala by Adam Sedia Nowhere perhaps is the power of poetry more apparent than in its ability to unite a culture---literally to build a nation. Homer’s epics...

Rescuing Contemporary Poetry from Vers Libre: An Essay by Leland James

The Society
January 21, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
36 Comments
. Rescuing Contemporary Poetry from Vers Libre The conservative & informal vs. the free Before addressing my thesis, let me explain my choice of the word conservative in identifying a category of poetry,...

Poetic Pitfalls: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
January 5, 2022
Education, Essays, Poetry
18 Comments
. There are a number of ways to go wrong in poetry. Unfortunately, the Poetry Establishment is only willing to admit the existence of a select few of them. The others are either kept under wraps, or disguised...

Review of A Thing With Feathers, by J. John Nordstrom

The Society
January 4, 2022
Essays, Love Poems, Poetry, Reviews
2 Comments
. Reviewed Book: A Thing With Feathers, by J. John Nordstrom, independently published, 2021 by Andrew Benson Brown A Thing With Feathers is the debut novel of J. John Nordstrom (the pen name of Joseph J....

‘What Foo Dogs Can Teach Us’: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
November 26, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
19 Comments
. Many years ago I gave a talk at a scholarly conference at Queens College, C.U.N.Y. My section of the conference was dedicated to contemporary translation, and the bulk of the papers presented were deadly...

Reading [Classical] Poetry Will Save the World: Crisis Magazine

The Society
November 14, 2021
Culture, Essays, Poetry
5 Comments
. Below is an excerpt from a Crisis Magazine article "Reading Poetry Will Save the World" by Auguste Meyrat, published November 13, 2021. (The article was passed to me by poet Joe Tessitore.) . For those who...

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Free PDF

The Society
November 6, 2021
Alliterative, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry
7 Comments
Following the introduction below is a translated version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in PDF made free for download for teachers, students, and interested readers by the Society of Classical Poets. It...

‘Pope Sylvester II and Meridiana’ by Joseph S. Salemi (and an Essay on Dramatic Monologues)

The Society
October 24, 2021
Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
11 Comments
. Pope Sylvester II and Meridiana Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert de Aurillac (946-1003), is said to have had a demonic succubus named Meridiana who not only satisfied his sexual needs but also served as his...

An Interview With Leading Poet and Petrarch Translator A.M. Juster

The Society
September 21, 2021
Essays, Interviews, Poetry, Translation
6 Comments
A version of this interview originally appeared in The Epoch Times by Evan Mantyk A widely published translator of ancient Latin texts, a former high-ranking government bureaucrat, and an incredible poet who...
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  1. Margaret Coats on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 5, 2025

    Frank, my dad's family is from the Pottsville area (Schuylkill County) where roads seem the same--until summer arrives and the…

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘Frivolity from Quality’ and Other Poems by Russel WinickJune 5, 2025

    Russel, there was a short-lived scandal now some years back, because high-prestige Oxford University Press fired editors to employ marketers.…

  3. Frank Rable on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 5, 2025

    Thank you, Stephanie! I 'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you dodge the potholes. All of them. Now…

  4. Margaret Coats on ‘The Institute of Peace: Constitution Avenue, N.E.’: A Poem by Michael CurtisJune 5, 2025

    It's hard to imagine a building of more hollow appearance. The poem depicts hard edges to the hunger of this…

  5. Stephanie Pickering on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 4, 2025

    I thoroughly enjoyed this, I close my eyes and can feel each pothole pitching the vehicle to and fro. It…

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