Reviews for Right Royal

The average rating for Right Royal based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-02 00:00:00 Clinton Ehret My first poetry collection of 2016 is one of two written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Yes, that Arthur Conan Doyle. I was surprised when I saw the title at Project Gutenberg and naturally was curious about how Sherlock's creator would handle rhyming. This book is divided into three sections: Narrative Verses and Songs, Philosophic Verses, and Miscellaneous Verses. I most enjoyed the Narrative Verses. In my opinion Doyle does much better telling long stories in rhyme than when he offers shorter pieces. Poems such as The Groom's Encore and Bendy's Sermon were not only creative, they were fun to read. In the first we hear a story of a young man who was told by his doctor that he needed to quit drinking, but it was not until he saw what he thought was a hallucination during a foxhunt that he decided the doctor had actually given him good advice. What does he see? That is between the reader and the groom telling the story, I am not going to spoil anything! In Bendy's Sermon, we meet Bendigo, who gave up his prize-fighting career to become a minister. But what happens when some ex-opponents attend one of Bendy's preachings in order to heckle him? He resists as long as he can, but finally Bendy tells the Lord how he has behaved himself ever since leaving his sinful ways, and has given every day to Him.....and then: But now, dear Lord"'and here he laid his Bible on the shelf' "I'll take, with your permission, just five minutes for myself." And he proceeds to deliver a different kind of sermon to his old 'friends'. I thought this poem was clever, and it was apparently quite famous at the time this book was published (1911). My two favorites were A Post-Impressionist, about an English artist who gets dejected at his lack of success after the French Impressionists arrive on the art scene. He gives up and throws his most recent painting out onto the rubbish pile in the rain. But the next morning he feels bad so he fetches the canvas and starts thinking about how he might be able to repair it. Then The Famous Art Critic arrives and the rest is history. The best poem in the collection was The Outcasts, a somber yet moving piece about three women who are considering their lives and what they should do with them. I expected a few things to happen here, but I was surprised at what actually did happen in the final stanza. I had issues with a few of these poems. The ones that talked about the British Empire being God's architect on Earth (to paraphrase the sentiment). The ones which spoke of soldiers from India being childlike and simple. The ones praising post-Boer War Africa whose hero breeds Are blending into one, Grant that she tread the path which leads To holy unison. These all felt too full of the power of conquest, arrogance, and a holier than thou attitude which has always been repulsive to me. I might have given another star in my rating if these poems had not been included. That type of sentiment is better left in the past where it belongs. I have read most of the Sherlock Holmes stories in my school days, but never really cared for them, to tell the truth. Now I can say that I like some of Doyle's poetry, but other verses were nothing of real interest to me. Next on my Doyle radar are two historical novels he wrote about the 100 Years War. I will be back Someday to talk about them.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-04-04 00:00:00 Roy Biv It seems that most of the popular writers of the time (late 1800's, early 1900's) took a try at poetry. Some were more successful than others. Doyle actually does a pretty good job on several of his poems. The one thing I would note about them, is that they are very masculine in tone. If you are looking for sweet love poems, this is probably not the place to find them. But there are poems about subjects that are seldom found in poetry, such as fighting and war. Some are a little sappy, but there are some gems in the mix.