Saturday, April 30, 2022

NaPoWriMo #30 - Cento from Emily Dickinson's Nature Poems


Today's final National Poetry Writing Month #NaPoWriMo challenge #30
is to write a cento. This is a poem that is made up of lines taken from other poems. My source was from "Nature" in "The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson." I made sure to annotate the title of each poem (scroll to the bottom of this post to see the annotated version.)

 From the Latin word for "patchwork," the cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poets." https://poets.org/glossary/cento  




"Nature, the gentlest mother,
will there really be a morning?
two butterflies went out at noon

the day came slow, til five o'clock
an awful tempest mashed the air
it sounded as if the streets were running

apparently with no surprise
she slept beneath a tree
not knowing when the dawn will come

how the old mountains drip with sunset
the moon was but a chin of gold
as children bid the guest good-night

* * * * *


I.                Nature, the gentlest mother,
II.               will there really be a morning?
XVIII.       two butterflies went out at noon
IV.              the day came slow, til five o'clock
XXI.           an awful tempest mashed the air
XXXIV.     it sounded as if the streets were running
LXXVI.      apparently with no surprise
LXXXIV.    she slept beneath a tree
LXXXIX.   not knowing when the dawn will come
CX.             how the old mountains drip with sunset
CIII.            the moon was but a chin of gold
LXVIII.       as children bid the guest good-night


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