Prententious? Moi?

I neglected to point out that yesterday was National Poetry Day when I included some Pope in the blog yesterday. It is possible therefore that readers in the colonies and elsewhere overseas - all those in the UK will undoubtedly have known of the occasion; this blog only attracts the most superior kind of eyeballs - may possibly, and correctly, have assumed that I am an intellectual pseud, full of cultural pretensions.

I must plead guilty as charged and ask for many other counts of charlatanism to be taken into account. However, whilst you may all give up on me, please don't give up on poetry.

"To have great poets, there must be great audiences." - Walt Whitman

"One merit of poetry few will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose." - Voltaire

As for including the Raphael yesterday:

"Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks." - Plutarch

The Summons

The painting above is by Tim Cole aka Colartz and is reproduced with no permission whatsoever; although I'm sure that he wouldn't mind. It was always my favourite, but someone else bought it before we could.