Either RR did it on purpose, or he had such a good ear he was able to do it unconsciously. However, I think the poem above is good poetry, and I give RR extra points for writing so well as a teenager.Īll that alliteration, employed so skillfully, cannot be accidental. I think RR’s metrical poems fall short of what I would call good poetry. There is a strong vein of alliteration running throughout this poem. I have translated many Old English and Middle English poems in my day, and I like to think that I can tell the difference between alliterative verse and prose. That is damn impressive POETRY, especially for the age at which it was written. That is NOT prose hacked into looking like poetry. With its orseair-stued aroyles of urniture, And the imagery is very poetic, along with the alliteration: That is poetry in the oldest English tradition, alliterative verse. For example the and and sounds in the first two lines: The first staple of English poetry was not meter or rhyme, but alliteration. Yes, some free verse poems are prose hacked into looking like poetry with line breaks. I’ve been writing poetry seriously since age 13, and editing and publishing poetry for three decades, so I do have some experience. Thomas Jefferson was not the best father to the children he raised as slaves, but he is still highly regarded as a president, generally. I remember another poet, George Held, saying that when Reagan passed by he found himself “unaccountably waving.” Many of his political opponents liked RR as a person. He pulled out of Lebanon and didn’t try to “liberate” Libya, for instance. He did pretty well in other areas, such as helping to bring down the Berlin Wall without firing a shot and keeping the US out of major wars. Like most presidents, Reagan left a mixed record. Lulled by the erratic ticking of a dozen clocks. With its horsehair-stuffed gargoyles of furniture,įaint lights from gold and silver and bronze, Many the day I spent deep in a huge rocker The best part was that I was allowed to dream. If we’re going to judge Ronald Reagan as a teenage poet, how about using this poem? And on the personal level, he was not a good parent.īut he did try writing poetry as a teenager…ġ1 thoughts on “ Odd poem: ‘Life’ by Ronald Reagan, age 17” His foreign policy was riddled with lies and law-breaking. On the other hand, he was largely responsible for the destruction of the American middle class, the increasing inequality of American society, and the beginning of the breakdown of public services by defunding – now impacting public education, environmental protection, etc. Ronald Reagan (as illustrated in The Hypertexts) was a charming, witty, self-deprecating person. However, kudos to a 17-year-old to put together a strong, optimistic view of life, part faith-filled, part commonsense, a view that he retained throughout his life. Let’s face it, it’s doggerel–the meter comes and goes, sometimes three and sometimes four stresses in a line the second and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme, but there is a lot of repetition. We suffer so, when little things go wrong?
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