on heroes
I couldn’t resist the TOP prompt this week…..here’s my tongue-in-cheek look at the dangers of basing your expectations for love and men on novels…….the Heathcliffs, Darcys and Rochesters; I mean we all did it, didn’t we?
Heights
Up on the moors by Haworth
the palette grey, bleak, wind
rioting across stone and grass.
A lover behind me who recited
Daddy to me on our first date
now pulling his face and
failing to see the point –
but they were fictional
he says in defence of
feeling bored but
I hear her call his name
her tone desperate, her love
the eternal rocks beneath, little
visible delight but necessary.
I am Heathcliff she said
and with those words my
expectations changed.
I look over my shoulder at
lover boy who has realised which
side his bread’s buttered and
pipes up shall we visit Plath’s
grave now, sealing his fate.
Tags: wuthering heights, heroes, TOP
March 27, 2008 at 7:49 am
‘the eternal rocks beneath, little visible delight but necessary’ is from Wuthering Heights. And Daddy is of course Plath’s.
March 27, 2008 at 8:02 am
Oh, dont get me started on this subject LOL, i always went with the ‘bad” boys, and used to get swallowed up and spat out, as i became older, there was this strange pattern develpong, a sort of reversal.
great poem, it made me laugh, lover boy is such a funny expression….but what you wrote is too true, brilliant, as usual.
March 27, 2008 at 9:08 am
“Daddy” on the first date? Bad move. Nice write.
Is England as chilly as France, this beginning of spring?
March 27, 2008 at 9:23 am
Yep, dark brooding man, do I ever hear you, Enigma
. Yep, that’s sort of riding for a fall isn’t it, Rethabile GRIN……And yes, it’s been snowing off and on here for days brrrrrrr.
March 27, 2008 at 9:47 am
“Exquisitely crafted narrative poem,” he says. Captures the characters in a glimpse and literary context.
March 27, 2008 at 9:53 am
Clever and definitely tongue-in-cheek!
March 27, 2008 at 10:47 am
yes Jo–clever write–enjoyed it
March 27, 2008 at 11:35 am
I relate! Definitely went through “the Heathcliff stage” for a long time. Had to learn the hard way that the rugged type was not all my type!
A fun post!
Gemma
March 27, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Oh, Lord. Laughing so that I can barely type.
But while Plath has long since palled, I still read the Brontes with delight.
—
“Am I very ugly, Jane?”
“You always were, you know.”
—
Charlotte runs the fantasy both ways: that somehow, no need for advertisement or display, the riches of our inner life will be manifest to… someone. Ai. Not in the fallen world, I’m afraid.
March 27, 2008 at 3:20 pm
excellent use of alusion. a pleasing effort.
March 27, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Superb. I knew those expectations and, alas, some of the disappointments. Your first stanza builds a novel of its own!
March 27, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Oh I don’t know Dale, that’s a kind of pessimistic view…….I’ve always preferred ‘inner worlds’ over looks (we’ve all got our failings……
). If I had to pick, I think Rochester would be my favourite of the three, he’s the most rounded and Jane Eyre, my favourite of the three novels, though P&P is almost perfect.
March 27, 2008 at 5:07 pm
You know how we women operate, don’t you jo? At least in the poem you have the hindsight of a woman who has seen a few too many Heathcliffs.
Great poem, witty and wise.
I still like Sylvia Plath as well as the 19th century greats.
March 27, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Oh, Jo… I shouldn’t laugh, but this one tickled me! Poor lover boy… he can’t win!
Dark and brooding is so romantic when you’re a teenager reading Bronte - I thought so too
But you’re so right, it’s a dangerous hook to hang your hopes on.
I sure wouldn’t have been enthralled with the romance of a Heathcliff skulking around a hospital room during our oldest’s early years - LOL! The romance of humor, loyalty, and an even temper is worth it’s weight in gold… outside of the realm of fiction, anyway.
March 27, 2008 at 5:58 pm
whereas i am an avid lover of all things plath,, i do not find the romance in her that i would in say,, wuthering heights….
however,, never having been much of a romantic… the pain that “loverboy” was able to identify with,, coupled with his understanding of plaths “daddy” would probably have drawn me in hook line and sinker!!!!!
March 27, 2008 at 8:39 pm
This is so rich! Heathcliff, Plath, moors. These words hold so much. You used just the right number of them. And that last stanza with “loverboy” is priceless! Unfortunately, my “loverboy” would think that Heathcliff was a candy bar, that Plath was really a path in the woods where we could go necking, and that I’d spelled Coors wrong!
Thank you for taking me away for a few minutes!
March 27, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Oh god, I loved those last lines.
Now I’m laughing.
March 27, 2008 at 9:52 pm
deliciously clever as always!
March 27, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I’m going to have to echo some comments before and say the first word that came to mind after reading your poem was….clever. I liked it very much - nice work.
March 28, 2008 at 12:36 am
I wrote about Heathcliff in my other blog, a while back. Dark and brooding, yes. Romantic..I wouldn’t call him that.
You captured it well..
creatures of eerie night
March 28, 2008 at 12:45 am
You know, I can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said. I just need to come here first.
March 28, 2008 at 1:06 am
Yeah, very cleverly done! (don’t you just hate that word, cleverly?)
March 28, 2008 at 4:11 am
I’m glad you couldn’t resist!
March 28, 2008 at 6:50 am
Thank you guys, this was fun. I’m smiling at Gautami’s comment……I would call him romantic, quintessentially so…….I mean he didn’t whisper sweet nothings but he loved her passionately, absolutely faults and all…….how many do that?
March 28, 2008 at 8:46 am
Cool,
March 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Well, give lover boy points for trying! Nice contrast in atmosphere.
March 28, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Heathcliff sure is popular this week. And so nicely done.