Anyone else see a connection between the below 2 poems or am i just looking at them too hard? The "Lucy" in both share the same name (obviously), both are compared with the sky, to stuff in nature, and take the poet away from themselves (whether that be through drugs or love). I know i'm probably just being silly, but when i came across that Wordsworth poem it reminded me of the Beatles song and i sort-a hope that it happened like this ~ Lennon or McCartney were reading poetry one day and came upon Wordsworth's poem and thought it would be cool to make a sort-of "follow up" poem - Make another poem about this Lucy character because, i mean, no matter the century, there have always been poets writing about "Lucies" (women) for as long as poetry has been around. (i think anyway...) So give 'em a read and tell me if you see a connection or if i'm just hallucinating... - If you know the inspiration for the Beatles song that would be very helpful too! Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, A girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, Towering over your head. Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, And she's gone. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies, Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers, That grow so incredibly high. Newspaper taxis appear on the shore, Waiting to take you away. Climb in the back with your head in the clouds, And you're gone. Lucy in the sky with diamonds, Picture yourself on a train in a station, With plasticine porters with looking glass ties, Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle, The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes. She dwelt among the untrodden ways She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love: A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye! Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky. She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and oh, The difference to me!
I see few similarities, and the ideas the two works try to show are different. The first is describing an LSD trip, while the second ... Well, I actually stopped reading when I reached the love-dove rhyme. No poem with that rhyme in it is worth reading (and I, unlike most these days, actually appriciate a good rhyming song/poem).
Yeah, i made the point about one being about drugs in my initial post - nothing new there... I think i'm over this whole thing though ~ I was just being dumb and looking too much into it. (Times like these i, once again, wish that i could delete a thread...) Thanks for sort-a looking at 'em though!
As I recall hearing a long time ago, John's son came home with a drawing of a classmate/girlfriend and that was the inspiration for the song... or at least the name (Lucy), but that may have just been made up about the origins of Lucy in the Sky with Diamond (LSD - being the more obvious implication). I have to appreciate your imaginative analogy of the relationship that may very well exist between the two pieces. It reminds me of an English paper I once wrote comparing and contrasting the Orwell book Animal Farm to the Pink Floyd album Animals. My teacher loved it. I hope to unearth it one day, just to see what kind of dope inspired correlations I came up with in an effort to make the grade. So the title of this thread caught my eye because it's the same as the title of the first release by this amazing local punk band, Destroy Everything. Since this is the "poetry" section, you may also find interest in the lyrical content... http://destroyeverything.com/lyrics.html
whether or not this is true, it is alice in wonderland that john claimed the song to be inspired from. he said that the surreal imagary was what inspired him. so there you go... and by the way...not all poems with rhyming couplets are not worth a listen! a lot of the time it is to show some sort of significance between to two words!!!! check out liz lochhead's "rupunzstiltskin"...its got a few rhymes...but they hav a point...happy reading!
i see a very human connection... both suggest change in life in mind and heart and memories........ the state of mind when every we do alter ourselves with drugs as above and the human state of the fear of what it is to change or grow in nature ie child to adult...... seed to tree..... how you will view all life after the change either with drugs or as a human grows... ie lucy in sky,,, seeing past reality marmalade skies.... in all life how would lucy fit back in to sociaty after her trip away... back to life love.. then to grow old..... she dwelt... living on earth all life grows old returns to earth leaving behind memories good or bad .being in sociaty whilst growing and seeing more than the reality around more than love.....or the mossy stone... just my opinion lovenpeace from saff good luck.....
