The Ballad[e] Of Imitation
If they hint, O Musician, the piece that you played
Is nought but a copy of Chopin or Spohr;
That the ballad you sing is but merely 'conveyed'
From the stock of the Arnes and the Purcells of yore;
That there's nothing, in short, in the words or the score
That is not as out-worn as the 'Wandering Jew,'
Make answer-Beethoven could scarcely do more-
That the man who plants cabbages imitates, too!
If they tell you, Sir Artist, your light and your shade
Are simply 'adapted' from other men's lore;
That-plainly to speak of a 'spade' as a 'spade'-
You've 'stolen' your grouping from three or from four;
That (however the writer the truth may deplore),
'Twas Gainsborough painted your 'Little Boy Blue';
Smile only serenely-though cut to the core-
For the man who plants cabbages imitates, too!
And you too, my Poet, be never dismayed
If they whisper your Epic-'Sir Eperon d'Or'-
Is nothing but Tennyson thinly arrayed
In a tissue that's taken from Morris's store;
That no one, in fact, but a child could ignore
That you 'lift' or 'accommodate' all that you do;
Take heart-though your Pegasus' withers be sore-
For the man who plants cabbages imitates, too!
POSTSCRIPTUM-And you, whom we all so adore,
Dear Critics, whose verdicts are always so new!-
One word in your ear. There were Critics before . . .
And the man who plants cabbages imitates, too!
poem by Henry Austin Dobson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
One who imitates what is bad always goes beyond his model; while one who imitates what is good always comes up short of it.
quote by Francesco Guicciardini
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
All that I desire to point out is the general principle that Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.
quote by Oscar Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.
quote by Oscar Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Art imitates life. Life imitates high school.
quote by Brad Holland
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
An adult is still a child
A child imitates its mother with air.
An adult imitates models to seem fair.
A child imagines a child in a doll
And enjoys tending it with fantasy.
An adult imagines some ones in his
And experience bliss in fantasy.
A child fears and pretends ignorance.
An adult dreads and pretends innocence.
Though old, still a child, I amuse myself
Though wise, still a child, I fool myself.
12.06.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Life imitates art more than art imitates life.
quote by Oscar Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.
quote by Oscar Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
on IMitation (will that anger you?)
L'imitazione del male supera sempre l'esempio; comme per il contrario, l'imitazione del bene e sempre inferiore.]
Respicere exemplar
vitae morumque jubebo
Doctum imitatorem,
et veras hinc ducere voces.
Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari,
lule ceratis ope Daedalea Nititur pennis,
vitreo daturus Nomina ponto.
Dociles imitandis Turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus
C'est un betail servile et sot a mon avis Que les imitateurs.]
Der Mensch ist ein nachahmendes Geschopf.
Und wer Vorderste ist, fuhrt die Heerde.
Paradoxically though it may seem,
it is none the less true
that life imitates art far more
than art imitates life.
Imitation is suicide.
One who imitates what is bad always goes beyond his model; while one who imitates what is good always comes up short of it.
No man ever yet became great by imitation.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us
to an understanding of ourselves.
Most people are other people.
Their thoughts are someone else's opinions,
their lives a mimicry,
their passions a quotation.
Those who do not want to imitate anything,
produce nothing.
To be as good as our fathers we must be better,
imitation is not discipleship
Insist on yourself; never imitate.
Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.
Imitation, if noble and general,
insures the best hope of originality.
And now, weigh the pros and cons
why have i imitated you
and you imitating me
the great writers
above speak beforehand before us
and i have not heard ever
one of them complaining
or angry
perhaps
they are not to shortsighted
insecure
and shallow and short-tempered
precisely, they are great.
and here's the last saying for the day:
Imitation is the sincerest flattery.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Majestic Tree
They bow to the winds that pass
The beautiful majestic trees,
With arms up toward the skies
They laugh in the summer breeze.
They provide shade and shelter for the bee,
He plants history, who plants a tree.
They provide lumber for houses, and barns
For a roof to cover our heads,
Lumber for aeroplanes, ships and cars
And for caskets, to bury our dead.
This is only a few uses you see
He plants history, who plants a tree.
They provide rest for the weary man
Food and protection, for many wild things,
Home and sanctuary, for millions of birds
And rock their babies to sleep in swings.
Their magestic grace so wild and free
He plants history, who plants a tree.
poem by Della Hodgson James
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The immature artist imitates. Mature artists steal.
quote by Lionel Trilling
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Green And Red
Colors we love and make
Most prominent are
Green and Red
Since we are made from
the green of plants
filled with chlorophill
and we made
Of haemomoglobin
Deriving from fruits
Nuts and grains of plants
And the birds and animals
Who eat them, we cannot
Survive without the green
In this blue planet
Full of trees, plants and grass
To end up in them
Through the soil
Which feeds all colors
So dear to eyes and brains.
Ravikiran Arakkal
poem by Ravikiran Arakkal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Flowering
Flowers are a part of speech too plain,
The language of it is the kingdom of plants.
Offering, exactly conferring, and inferring,
They compute to loosen their offspring.
The wind imitates the parts of the wind
With flowing power, brains are dead.
Often time is allowing a flower to be fed
By the water of the floor, the gestures are bleeding.
May water rise from its stem and flourish in its organs,
Its organs, its organs concentrate too believably.
Flowers work outside as do their people,
So much has contrived the flower to be.
poem by Naveed Akram
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The writer of stories or of novels settles on men and imitates them; he exhausts the possibilities of his characters.
quote by Salvatore Quasimodo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
When plants die
A recent poem by Chumfo asked
“Where do plants go when they die?
I’m not sure what to answer
But this is my reply:
Plants go where old dogs go
Where fields of greenery lie
Plants wake up in enchanted mist
that’s where they go when they die
Where there’s ol dogs and children
And lot’s of fertilizer… to boot
fresh spring rains…Deep dark loam
And potting soil to take root
Where there’s no Jolly Green Giant
No blight and no aphids too
Just the sun… the rain…the bird’s refrain
And a lot of good cow poo
poem by David Whalen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The House Plants
the plants, they are your friends
especially the ones in your room
if you are sensitive to their feelings
you will know they are there trying
to reach out to you all the time
when it quiets down
the television not playing
and the children not prancing around
you would feel another kind
trying to communicate with you
their invisible hands would even
try awaken that faculty in you you
could use to communicate with them
the plants know, we were all once
relatives and they remember that part
in you which will still embrace them
even in the densest of forests
just take a look at the roses,
they can be man's closest friends,
better than the dogs
they slow down their evolution just so that
they can help man express
their love with more charms
men are yang and plants ying
when the two embrace
productivity starts to grow
men breathe out to give the plants
a life and plants breathe out too
to give men a life
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Know, cabbages, that there is spinach in the stew.
Like the gardener's dog, that neither eats cabbages himself, nor lets anybody else.
Beauty....... of what?
The earth wait's the sky drizzles
Seasons come and seasons go
With the smell of weather
The farmer chooses to decorate his farm
A farmer believes every leaf
Of the plant as its own
At every point protects and nurtures
The plants every leaf
The farmer that stood by
That plants every need and move
The plants have no respect for him
The farmer doesn't even find out
Who caste the evil eye
But all that's left is his ruined farm of hope
What was ones a living green
Is now nothing but flying sand?
What did I plant and what did I get?
What did I plant and what did it become?
Wonders the helpless farmer
Even when crying on the inside
Smiles just for its plants
A farmer believes every leaf
Of the plant as its own
At every point protects the plants every leaf
What did I want and what did I get?
Is all the farmer could think
poem by Kiara Davar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Tickets
The ticket was sold, in the soil of waters and roots,
Profiting from the sale of plants, a real awakening.
The gardeners travelled to a gathering so great,
Locomotion no problem, making progress against the weeds.
What are these plants? Plants give soil a trouble,
When do flowers reckon their demise?
The tickets have cancelled the talk of the nation,
Then the stages ended for the whole conversation.
poem by Naveed Akram
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!