{"id":1356,"date":"2009-10-16T10:48:48","date_gmt":"2009-10-16T10:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meeseeks:5080\/blog\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2022-01-18T11:57:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T11:57:11","slug":"poems-six-oclock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/poems-six-oclock\/","title":{"rendered":"Poems: Six O'Clock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, two poems on the same theme, the first by Joe Stickney<\/a>, published in 1905.   The image is a famous Australian painting, Collins St, 5pm<\/em>, by John Brack, painted in 1955 and now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Six O’Clock<\/em>
\nNow burst above the city’s cold twilight
\nThe piercing whistles and the tower-clocks:
\nFor day is done. Along the frozen docks
\nThe workmen set their ragged shirts aright.
\nThro’ factory doors a stream of dingy light
\nFollows the scrimmage as it quickly flocks
\nTo hut and home among the snow’s gray blocks.-
\nI love you, human labourers. Good-night!
\nGood-night to all the blackened arms that ache!
\nGood-night to every sick and sweated brow,
\nTo the poor girl that strength and love forsake,
\nTo the poor boy who can no more! I vow
\nThe victim soon shall shudder at the stake
\nAnd fall in blood: we bring him even now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
\nThe second poem, by TS Eliot, was published in 1917, and is number I from the Preludes<\/em>:<\/p>\n

The winter evening settles down
\nWith smell of steaks in passageways.
\nSix o’clock.
\nThe burnt-out ends of smoky days.
\nAnd now a gusty shower wraps
\nThe grimy scraps
\nOf withered leaves about your feet
\nAnd newspapers from vacant lots;
\nThe showers beat
\nOn broken blinds and chimney-pots,
\nAnd at the corner of the street
\nA lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
\nAnd then the lighting of the lamps.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

References:<\/em>
\nT. S. Eliot [1917]:  Prufrock and Other Observations<\/em>.  From: Collected Poems 1909-1962<\/em>. London, UK: Faber and Faber, 1963.   (Prelude I, page 23.)
\nTrumbull Stickney [1966]: The Poems of Trumbull Stickney<\/em>. Selected and edited by Amberys R. Whittle.  New York, NY, USA:  Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. (Poem XXXI, page 174.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, two poems on the same theme, the first by Joe Stickney, published in 1905.   The image is a famous Australian painting, Collins St, 5pm, by John Brack, painted in 1955 and now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Six O’Clock Now burst above the city’s cold twilight The piercing whistles and the tower-clocks: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","p1","y2009","m10","d16","h10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10499,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356\/revisions\/10499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}