{"id":2441,"date":"2011-04-14T14:05:02","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T19:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=2441"},"modified":"2011-04-14T14:05:29","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T19:05:29","slug":"poets-and-poetry-sonnets-of-a-portrait-painter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2011\/04\/14\/poets-and-poetry-sonnets-of-a-portrait-painter\/","title":{"rendered":"Poets and Poetry: Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter"},"content":{"rendered":"

April is National Poetry Month, so it seems fitting to share\u00a0 the work of a few of our local poets each week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Arthur Davison Ficke, son of prominent businessman Charles August Ficke<\/a>, was born in Davenport in 1883.\u00a0 Although he studied law and worked with his father, he eventually made the decision to be a full time author and poet—a decision he never regretted.<\/p>\n

He is best known for two things:\u00a0 a poetry hoax<\/a> he and his friend Harold Witter Bynner pulled on the literary world, and his lovely sonnets.\u00a0 In 1914, a collection of some of his best sonnets were gathered into a single volume,\u00a0 Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter.<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

XIX<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strange! To remember that I late was fain
\nTo yield death back my poor undated lease,
\nSo wearied had I at life\u2019s gate in vain
\nAsked wonders, and been doled not even peace.
\nI had grown sceptic of the exalted will
\nThat winds not ever nearer to its aim.
\nGrey seemed all lures, all calling voices still;
\nRest only seems salvation . . . Then you came
\nAnd filled my dusk with stars. I understood
\nAt last what coward languor had been mine.
\nAnd as your sweetness stung my brain and blood
\nLike the wild rapture of some winged wine
\nI stormed the gates that crusts to beggars give!
\nLife decks its halls for him who dares to live . . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April is National Poetry Month, so it seems fitting to share\u00a0 the work of a few of our local poets each week. Arthur Davison Ficke, son of prominent businessman Charles August Ficke, was born in Davenport in 1883.\u00a0 Although he … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[550,600],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-arthur-davison-ficke","tag-poets-and-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-Dn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2445,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions\/2445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}