I have a line of poetry going round and round in my head, in the same way that sometimes happens with a tune. I came across it in Hermione Lee's tome of a biography of Penelope Fitzgerald.
They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead.
It was translated by William Johnson Cory from a eulogy by the Greeek poet Callimachus (310BC-240BC) who also wrote A big book is a big misfortune ! (I did enjoy the book but felt it was much too long, including as it did a thorough analysis of every book written by Fitzgerald and reviews by Fitzgerald of other authors' books..)
It is the rhythm of the line that appeals to me as well as the drama of the statement, and about the same time as I read it I came across this which I had copied down on a scrap of paper -
'One more iambic pentameter and you're history' whispered the deputy librarian.
which struck me as very funny, and even funnier when I looked up the source and found the cartoon. See here.
Here is the first verse - not in iambic pentameter - I had to go and look that up too! Isn't the internet wonderful?
They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to bear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.
Now it will be in your head too!
More about the poem here.
I seem to be veering from the sublime to the ridiculous lately.
I think it's the weather.
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