Hi all,

I was at that poetry open mic a couple of weeks ago and a man there was talking about a society of poets who rewrite classic works without the letter ‘e’.

It seemed like a fascinating idea and his version of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken was excellent and very funny.

I decided to have a go myself. It’s my first time and oh my God it was hard. I was soon to discover that ‘e’ is in a LOT of words!!!

Anyway, I wanted to do one of my favourites, Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley. When it comes to words without ‘e’ I hadn’t realised how hard it would be to mention the sea, as just about every word has an ‘e’ in it: water, sea, ocean, wet, river etc.

Apart from that, I would make progress and then remember that Shelley’s poem rhymes, and mine didn’t. Not only did I have to contend with the limitation of words, but also with making it rhyme. AAAAGGGHHH!

This is what I managed: it was a lot of fun, very challenging and rewarding to get to the end. Hope you enjoy it. Shelley’s original is beneath it (or below, no, under, no, aagghh, so difficult).

Amorous Philosophy

Disgorging fountains to a tributary fall,

And rapid brooks join vast, salty pools,

Wild air mixing always in God’s draughty hall,

Which sugars our mood like apricot fools,

Nothing in our world is solitary,

All things by the Lord’s holy word,

In individual spirits join voluntary,

Can I with yours go forward? 

Look on high mountains tasting Shangri-La,

And surf clasping trough and summit both;

Sibling blooms gain no pardon nigh or afar,

If family act in scorn to halt fair growth.

And softly sun rays our world go clasping,

Shafts of moonlight kiss its main on nights so cool,

To what can it amount, this work so charming,

If thou kiss not this individual?

---

And here is the original…

Thanks for reading,

All the best,

Richard