Inexhaustible Moments of 1955, Part 5

1955 blogging, part 5 of 5

Inexhaustible Secrets of 1955

In these long breaks between the signature 21 Essays series, I thought I might try a new feature focused on possibilities for future series.  I’ll spin the roulette wheel to pick a year (or set of years) and then brainstorm on some potential essay topics.

So... first up on the random year generator:  1955.  And here’s my fifth and final 1955 series possibility:  21 essays on “Sestina,” a poem by Elizabeth Bishop.

It’s time for tea now;  but the child
is watching the teakettle’s small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house…

                                      excerpt from “Sestina”

                                      by Elizabeth Bishop

In 1955, Elizabeth Bishop published Poems: North and South—A Cold Spring, which collected a remarkable group of her poems.  “Sestina” is far from the best known, but I find it bewitching.  Everything in the grandmother’s house has secrets to communicate.  I’ve known and loved houses like that.   I think each item merits an essay:  the stove, the almanac, the iron kettle, the teacup, the picture, and, of course, the inscrutable house itself.

This is the last of my official 1955 ideas (with no promises that I’ll necessarily be getting to any of them…) but I’ve got one more bonus entry of additional classic 1955 movies that I’ve saved for last.  I’ll post it tomorrow.

Next year up on the random year generator:  1963.  (Coming soon…)

Next blog series:  6 essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929)
as part of the  “For the Love of Film”
Film Preservation Blogathon
May 13-18, 2012

© 2012 Lee Price