Poets' Corner

Hi nethryk:

Beatiful stamp indeed. I love the engraved ones.

That stamp conmemorates her death on 1957, that is why she look asleep.

By the way, she lived her last years and passed away in USA.

All the best !

José

radiola
Great post about Gabriela Mistral. What a great poet. I never heard of her before. Poetry is my other hobby although I didn't write since last summer.

Hi timbres667!

I like this topic.

Yes, Gabriela Mistral, also Pablo Neruda and many others are our greatest and beloved poets. It seems Chile is a land of poetry.

Only for curiosity, why do you use "timbres" (in spanish) on your user name?

All the best !

Saludos de José

radiola - Thanks. My principal collecting interest is intaglio (recess) engraved stamps. Would you happen to know the name of the engraver of this Gabriela Mistral stamp? It's not listed in any of my stamp catalogues.

Jacint Verdaguer I Santaló (1845-1902) is regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a Catalan national revival movement of the late Romantic era. Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Verdaguer, engraved by Pablo Sampedro Molero, and issued by Spain on February 22, 1972, Scott No. 2026, Edifil No. 2398, plus an undated photo of the poet (which was probably the model for the stamp's design), and a brief excerpt from Verdaguer's poem La Maladeta (a mountain in the Pyrenees), translated into English by Ronald Puppo.

- nethryk



From La Maladeta

Years passed, centuries piled on centuries,
Before this bone-frame of primeval giants
Dressed itself in topsoil and timberland,
Before the crags grew moss, the meadows flowers,
Before the forests filled with thronging birds,
The thronging birds with song.

- Jacint Verdaguer

Yes, Jacint Verdaguer (Folgueroles, 1845 - Vallvidrera, 1902) is considered Catalonia's National Poet. For this reason Andorra, who shares everything (but political status)with us, honored him.



I'll put a fragment of a most popular Verdaguer's poem: Canigó. A mountain, on the French-controlled Northern Catalonia, which is a symbol for Catalans

The two belfries of Cuixà and Sant Martí del Canigó monasteries are talking:

El que un segle bastí, l'altre ho aterra
més resta sempre el monument de Déu
i la tempesta, el torb, l'odi I la guerra
al Canigó no el tiraran a terra,
no esbrancaran l'altívol Pirineu


What one century erects, the next brings low,
But God's enduring monument stands long;
Nor raging winds, nor war, nor wrath of men
Will overturn the peaks of Canigó,
The soaring Pyrenees will not be bent.

Hi nethrik:

The name of Gabriela Mistral's stamp is José Moreno, the greatest engraver of Chile's stamps.


Born in Spain in 1905 and died in Chile in 1981.
He worked in important institutions of Spain, France, U.K. and Argentina. For instance the prestigious Waterlow and Sons on U.K.
Arrived to Chile in 1931, working for over 45 years and showing his artistic talent on the engraved issues of banknotes and postal stamps, increasing the prestige of "Talleres de Especies Valoradas", in that time the institution in charge of manufacturing of them in Chile (now is called Casa de Moneda) and creating a school of engravers around him.

The year 1945 was the period when our postal stamps had become to the highest level of quality and beauty, obtaining a well deserved world reputation, thanks to the José Moreno's talent.

Here some beauties:







All the best !

Jósé

radiola
Excellent post about José Moreno, some beautiful stamps he engraved.

About me, i'm from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. My first language is french and "timbres" is the french for "sellos". Like me you write a good english. Your posts are very interesting.

Antônio Frederico de Castro Alves (March 14, 1847 — July 6, 1871) was a Brazilian poet and playwright, famous for his Abolitionist and Republican poems. (Wikipedia)



O Navio Negreiro Part 1

We are on the high sea… Mad in space
The moonlight plays — golden butterfly;
And the waves run after it. . . tiring
As a band of frenzied infants.

We are on the high sea… From the firmament
The stars jump like foam of gold. . .
The sea in exchange lights phosphorescence,
— Constellations of liquid treasure…

We are on the high sea… Two infinites
There narrowed in an insane embrace,
Blue, golden, placid, sublime..
Which of the two is ocean? Which sky?…

We are on the high sea.. . Opening the sails,
To the warm breath of the maritime winds,
Sail-boat brig runs to the flower of the seas
Like the swallows brush in the wave…

From where do you come? Where do you go? Of the wandering ships
Who knows the course if the space is so immense?
On this Sahara wild horses the dust raise,
Gallop, soar, but leave no trace.

Happy the one who can there, at that hour,
Feel from this panel the majesty!
Below — the sea, above — the firmament!…
And in the sea and in the sky — the immensity!

Oh! what sweet harmony the breeze brings to me!
What soft music from distance sounds!
My God! how sublime an ardent song is
Through the endless waves drifting without destiny !

Men of the sea! Oh rude sailors,
Toasted by the sun of the four worlds!
Children who the storms lull to sleep
In the cradle of these deep abysses!

Wait! wait! let me drink
This wild, free poetry,
Orchestra — is the sea, that roars by the prow
And the wind, that whistles in the ropes.

Why do you retreat so, sprightly boat?
Why do you evade the diffident poet?
Oh! if I only could follow your course
That reflects on the sea— mad comet!

Albatross! Albatross! Eagle of the ocean,
You who sleep in the mist of the clouds,
Shake your feathers, leviathan of space
Albatross! Albatross! give me those wings.
(Poemhunter.com)

Hi timbres667:

I thought the word timbres in spanish... but you are right is the same in french. I am new on SC and probably there are spanish fellow here. Its is matter to find them....

Kind regards and all the best !

José

would like to share the poets and saints stamp set of 6 of India, issued in 1952



9p - Kabir (1440-1518 AD): a 15th century poet and saint of India.

1a - Tulsidas (1533-1634 AD): a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama. A composer of several popular works, he is best known for being the author of the epic Ramcharitmanas, a retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana in the vernacular Awadhi.

2a - Meera (1498 - 1547 AD): an aristocratic Hindu mystical singer and devotee of Lord Krishna from Rajasthan and one of the most significant figures of the Sant tradition of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,200–1,300 prayerful songs or bhajans attributed to her are popular throughout India and have been published in several translations worldwide. In the bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Lord Krishna.

4-1/2a - Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869 AD): a classical Urdu and Persian poet from India during British colonial rule. He is also known as the last great poet of the Mughal Era.

4a - Surdas: a 15th century blind saint, poet and musician, known for his devotional songs dedicated to Lord Krishna. Surdas is said to have written and composed a hundred thousand songs in his magnum opus the 'Sur Sagar' (Ocean of Melody), out of which only about 8,000 are extant. He is considered a saint and so also known as Sant Surdas, a name which literally means the "slave of melody".

12a - Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941): a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: the Republic of India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Cursus, radiola, timbres667 & Voyager - Excellent posts. Thanks.

Nils Johan Einar Ferlin (1898-1961) was a Swedish poet whose poems were marked by both melancholy and humor. Several of his poems were set to music and became popular songs. Here is an image of a stamp designed after a photograph by Kurt Bergengren of a statue of Nils Ferlin by Swedish artist and sculptor Karl Gote Bejemark (1922-2000) erected in Filipstad, engraved by Arne Wallhorn, and issued by Sweden on February 10, 1983, Scott No. 1449, Facit No. 1245, plus a photo of Ferlin and an English translation (by Fred Lane) of one of his poems, I folkviseton ("In Folk-song Fashion").

- nethryk



In Folk-song Fashion

Love comes along, love drifts away
No-one can tell us the reasons.
But here by thy side, love, I know I shall stay
through all the passing seasons.

My heart, it is thine; thy heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, thine; thy happiness, mine
- thy tears, they are mine when thou cryest.

Love is so strong, so wonderously strong
- naught in the world makes it yield.
Roses spring up from the hardest of ground
as sunshine spreads over dark fields.

My heart, it is thine; thy heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, thine; thy happiness, mine
- thy tears, they are mine when thou cryest.

- Nils Ferlin

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is generally acknowledged to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Here is an image of a stamp honoring Pushkin, designed by Sándor Légrády (1906-1987), printed by photogravure on bluish paper, and issued by Hungary on November 14, 1959 as one a set of four stamps publicizing the Soviet Stamp Exhibition in Budapest, Scott No. 1265, SG No. 1609, plus an English translation of Pushkin's poem, The Dream.

- nethryk



The Dream

Not long ago, in a charming dream,
I saw myself -- a king with crown's treasure;
I was in love with you, it seemed,
And heart was beating with a pleasure.
I sang my passion's song by your enchanting knees.
Why, dreams, you didn't prolong my happiness forever?
But gods deprived me not of whole their favor:
I only lost the kingdom of my dreams.

Aleksandr Pushkin
Translated by Yevgeny Bonver

Happy birthday (May 31) to Walter "Walt" Whitman (1819-1892), American poet. Here is an image of an airmail stamp featuring a portrait of Whitman and a scene (presumably) in the lake village of Ganvie, Benin, which lies in Lake Nokoué, designed and engraved by Pierre Forget, and issued by Dahomey (Benin) on April 30, 1970, plus a detail from an engraved portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer (1826-1919) of a daguerreotype (1854) by Gabriel Harrison (1818-1902) which was probably the model for this stamp's design, and a short poem from Whitman's best known poetry collection, Leaves of Grass (1855).

- nethryk




Among the Multitude

Among the men and women the multitude,
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,
Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother,
child, any nearer than I am,
Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me.
Ah lover and perfect equal,
I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,
And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.

- Walt Whitman

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), mentioned above by radiola, was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda. Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of Pablo Neruda and the Chilean national flag, designed by Albín Brunovský, combined engraved by Josef Hercík and photogravure, and issued by Czechoslovakia on January 4, 1974, Scott No. 1918, plus an undated photo of the poet and a translation of one of his poems, entitled Bird.

-nethryk



Bird

It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air -
and there, night came in.

When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography -
I saw how wings worked,
how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.

- Pablo Neruda

José Julián Martí Pérez (1853-1895) was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. Here is an image of a stamp featuring a portrait of José Marti and the Cuban national flag, designed by László Kékesi, and issued by Hungary on November 30, 1973, Scott No. 2259, plus a photo of Marti and a short sample of his poetry, in translation.

- nethyrk



Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca

I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly
And for the cruel person who tears
out the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.

- José Marti