#sonnet to byron

[burningvelvet]

This excerpt from The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Thomas Medwin is KILLING me.

Medwin was Shelley's cousin; he knew Shelley and Byron and their circle, and later fabricated much of what he wrote about them, to the hatred of Mrs. Shelley. However, considering Shelley's frequent complaints even in letters of his complex jealousy toward Byron (and subsequent guilt for it), and considering Shelley's dramatic use of language, I can completely imagine him going on heated rants about "the Byronic Energy." That's so him. This is the same dude who wrote a poem for Byron starting with the lines "If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill / Pleasure" and ending with the lines "the worm beneath the sod / May lift itself in worship to the God" like ummm! . . . bro was enchanted . . . the Byronic Energy really did take his powers . . .

[eironeiakaielenkhos]

Childe Hradwin’s Sojourns, Canto the First, LI

[babylon-crashing]

unchaste

“Till taught by pain, men know not water's worth” ~ Lord Byron.

To hear that far-off rumble, that faint praise

mixed in with the boom-dread of the breaking

waves. To half halt in doubt; there shall always

be doubt. Praise, as in lament, rumbling

in the wet sand. Doubt shall be my grave's end.

Doubt and this throaty and forbidding maw

that you call the surf. To enter. To transcend.

To be sucked away. Blowjobs and lockjaw.

Spasms junoesque. Unchaste. Pungent. Cum

lost on the surge. All the things I've done mean

nothing. Stings of indifference. The sea rose

does not care even as I grow hard and numb.

I love laments that are crude and obscene;

like a note found in my abandoned clothes.

[popolodipekino]

modestia a parte

scriveva shakespeare:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (da Sonnet xviii)

riprendeva byron:

But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think; ’Tis strange, the shortest letter which man uses Instead of speech, may form a lasting link Of ages; to what straits old Time reduces Frail man, when paper - even a rag like this - Survives himself, his tomb, and all that’s his. (da Don Juan)

il secondo sembra volerci aggiungere un sottile velo di discrezione, quasi a dire ma no, non è mica merito mio, è che le cose vanno così e possiam solo ringraziar gli dei per questo; shakespeare invece è diretto ed esplicito: questo l'ho scritto io e scritto l'ho perché nel tempo duri (e durerà). sensazione personalissima: quella di byron è una posa. (nel caso: così sia.)

(só que: anche i geroglifici - per dire - son sopravvissuti ai millenni, però adesso chi li sa leggere più? va be', teniamoci shakespeare e byron - finché durano, gente)

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Ladies of Llangollen

Mary Shelley: sup fuckers Shelley: what's going on here Lord Byron: [tossing hair] ah mary what a vision you are Lord Byron: [tossing hair] percy and i were just about to visit the ladies of llangollen Shelley: why are my boyfriends sneaking around together behind my back

Mary Shelley: what the hell is this ladies of llangollen bullshit Lord Byron: [tossing hair] ah see mary it's a most curious thing Byron: [tossing hair] two women living together Byron: [tossing hair] science simply can't explain it Mary Shelley: they're lesbians byron

Byron: [tossing hair] no see it's these 2 women living together Byron: [tossing hair] and their lady servant too Byron: [tossing hair] explain that! Mary Shelley: what's so hard to understand? it's a fuckin polycule Mary Shelley: we're literally in one

Lord Byron: [tossing hair] lesbians? Byron: [tossing hair] oh ho ho only cuz they haven't met me yet! Byron: [tossing hair] isn't that right percy old man? Percy Shelley: yes dear

Byron: [tossing hair] now we're off! Mary Shelley: why're you going all the way to llangollen Mary Shelley: we got perfectly good lesbians at home Byron: [tossing hair] what? Mary Shelley: you heard me fucker

Mary Shelley: byron are you just going to llangollen to hide from your ex girlfriend Byron: [tossing hair] ha ha mary what a ridiculous notion Byron: [tossing hair] ha ha just uh Byron: [tossing hair] ridiculous

Mary Shelley: so it wouldn't bother you if caroline lamb also visited the ladies of llangollen then Byron: [tossing hair] it wouldn't bother me at all Byron: [pausing mid hair toss] why? is she there? what did you hear?

[at llangollen] Byron: [tossing hair] delightfully devilish byron, caroline lamb will never think to look for you here Caroline Lamb: [barging into llangollen] WHERE'S BYRON Lamb: I KNOW HE'S HERE Lamb: DON'T YOU LESBIANS LIE TO ME Lamb: I CAN SMELL HIS AXE BODY SPRAY

William Wordsworth: i was so inspired by those ladies of llangollen that i wrote a sonnet about them Wordsworth: "there once was a girl from nantucket..." Mary Shelley: that's not a fuckin sonnet Wordsworth: uh excuse me i think i know sonnets

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing References: For the Poets

A List of: Terminology Part 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ Genres

Forms: Tercet ⚜ Quatrain ⚜ Cinquain ⚜ Sixaine ⚜ Septet

Forms: Ottava Rima ⚜ Spenserian Stanza ⚜ Sonnet

Found Poetry ⚜ Hamartia & Hubris ⚜ Meter ⚜ Mood & Motif

Imagery ⚜ Irony ⚜ Common Metaphors ⚜ Mixed Metaphors

Symbolism ⚜ Theme ⚜ Tone (Examples)

How to Write Poetry ⚜ How to say, "I love you"

Famous Lines

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice (T. S. Eliot)

He was my North, my South, my East and West (W. H. Auden)

"Hope" is the thing with feathers (Emily Dickinson)

I wandered lonely as a cloud (William Wordsworth)

She walks in beauty, like the night (Lord Byron)

‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all (Tennyson)

To be or not to be: that is the question (Shakespeare)

Poetry Prompts

Poetry is... ⚜ First Lines ⚜ Last Lines Part 1 2

List Poem ⚜ Persona Poem ⚜ Poetic Map ⚜ Portrait of a Poet

Lemons ⚜ No Words ⚜ Rewrite ⚜ Untitled

Talking to Art ⚜ The Invisible ⚜ The Persona ⚜ The Same Thing

Writing Notes

Emotions ⚜ Fossil Words ⚜ Palindromes ⚜ Writers' Sleep Habits

George Orwell: On Poetry ⚜ Nonsense Poetry

Virginia Woolf: On Words ⚜ Sensory Words ⚜ Terms of Endearment

Symbolisms: Colours Part 1 2 ⚜ Food ⚜ Numbers ⚜ Storms

Writing Resources PDFs

[howaheartbreaks]

A collection of all the times Colin refers to Penelope.

Previously I had posted of all the times in Season 3, Part 1, and now I’ve gone through the entire series because I’m a bit mad. Anyway, enjoy!

What have I found out?

In regency times, referring to a young women by their first name at all was frowned upon unless they were engaged or married, let alone a nickname. It’s clear Colin and Pen have been friends for a while and she’s “she’s a very good acquaintance of the family”. Whether or not he sees her as a younger sister in the very beginning, Colin breaks societal rules with Penelope throughout all three seasons by always using her nickname Pen, full name or other examples such as being alone with her. It establishes that they have an intimate friendship and that he is very comfortable with her.

In early season 1 and 2 he calls her Pen in full earshot of his family, her family and members of the ton and yet no one blinks an eye. He call her Penelope when he has a more intense moment with her (Penelope, what a barb) or when he’s being more formal, and the former is probably because he’s realising his feelings are moving into an inappropriate place for him to call her Pen. In all of season 1 and 2, he only calls her “Miss Featherington” once, and that is when he dances with her instead of Cressida.

Season 2 he begins to call her Penelope more regularly, and when he’s speaking to other people about her as it’s more societally correct. He still calls her Pen a lot but his conversations seem to be more direct to her but it establishes the changing nature of his relationship, especially at the end of Season 2 when he says “I will always protect you, Penelope, you are special to me” but also uses it for the “I would never court Penelope Featherington” line.

Season 3 establishes that things have changed, as he seems to become more conscious of what her name means to him.

When Colin refers to Pen in public or with his family, he refers to her as Penelope, never Miss Featherington and not Pen. When Colin and Pen are alone, he uses the pet name Pen. It is reserved for her, like an intimate moment. The few times he uses her full name in private is either serious matters - eg will you marry me, trying to be formal or in reverence because he holds her in such high esteem.

When Colin finds out about Pen as LW, he stops calling her Pen altogether until their resolution at the Dankworth-Finch ball.

SEASON 1

“Good day, Pen” - Colin stops to talk to her at her house when he calls on Marina in their first conversation, “A wretched sonnet indeed” “Lord Byron he is not.” It’s established they have a very sweet, familiar relationship with her though it’s clear it’s a friendship.

“Pen” - Colin approaches her directly at the Vauxhall ball enquiring about Marina, they dance after Cressida spills the drink on her. “I am to escort Miss Featherington to floor.” He refers to her politely in mixed company.

“Penelope, what a barb.” He approaches her at the Trowbridge ball. They share an intense look at each other much longer than necessary.

Colin calls on Marina in episode 5. “I am uncertain of my travels at the moment, Pen” he say, still referring to her affectionately while he courts Marina. At this stage he calls her Pen in front of her/his family.

At their engagement dinner she chases after him in the hallway, asks him to speak and tells him of Marina’s love for Sir George: “Pen, of course”, “Trust me Pen, do not fret.”

After Marina’s scandal he sees her at the Hastings ball across the room and approaches her (he’s always approaching her). When he sees her, his mouth drops open and he looks very nervous. He does this several times and it’s his “in love” look - similar to how he looked at Marina, but he’s lacking his usual charm because he’s nervous and probably ashamed. He offers his apologies. “Pen” “Colin” they say at the same time. “I was a fool” “You were not a fool. You merely believed yourself in love. One should never apologise for that, when One finds oneself in such an incredible position one should declare it assuredly, fervently, loudly.” He’s looking so proud and comfortable with her in this scene that he drops her name again, “I have something I wish to tell you as well, Pen. I am leaving. Itwas actually you who inspired me. You kept reminding me how much I longed for travel.” He licks his lips nervously before he says this. (Her face is so heart broken Nicola’s lip does a little quiver) Then, “Should we dance, Pen?” He’s trying to engage with her and actually looks sad when she rejects him and he watches her leave. His eyes widen and he stares after her open mouthed. And of course, he looks to her house as he leaves for the summer.

Season 1 Count

Pen: 8

Penelope: 1

Miss Featherington: 1

Season 2

After his very intense gaze at her in the drawing room after he returns from his travels (his in love look), Pen and Colin do not get to speak. He sees her at the races and his mouth gapes again when he sees her, and he’s very happy, “Pen!” “Pen, how have you been?”

They run into each at Lady Danbury’s party and Pen remarks about all the interest shown to Edwin when they barely know her, “Not a devotee of mystery, Pen?” He speaks about finding connection with someone so he didn’t feel lonely and her letters were so encouraging, “I thought, If Penelope can see me this way, surely then I can too.” He says that he is sworn off women, “I am a woman,” she notes. “You are Pen, you do not count. You are my friend.” The way he says Pen is quite reverent. She takes it as an insult that he doesn’t see her as a woman but my take is that he sees her above them. “Pen” is something more.

He next says her name when the Ton arrive at Albury Hall in Episode 4 and Eloise has been reading her women’s rights pamphlets. (The first scene with just Colin, Eloise and Pen together): “Prepare yourself for many a quotation, Pen.”

Colin goes to see Marina who tells him that he’s just a boy and to move on, and there are people like Penelope who care for him. “Penelope?” They run into each other on the stairs later my Colin is still dwelling on what Marina has said. “But, I suppose there is no use dwelling on the past. I am indeed thinking of the future. Pardon me, Pen.”

After Anthony’s wedding is on hold, Pen approaches him in the garden as he drinks from a flask and they speak about their purpose. He stares it her in awe as she speaks about hers, “Your dreams are grander than you let on, Pen.”

She inspires him to take up an investment and goes to her house to speak to Jack Featherington when she hears his voice and enters the room, “The lady of the hour.” He asks her to walk him out, “Our relationship has taken place so naturally of the years, one could take it for granted. You have always been so constant and loyal, Pen.” At this stage he’s decided this venture will help them both. Portia turns up and Pen and Colin look guilty for standing so close. “Miss Penelope was just seeing me out.”

At the Featherington Ball, Colin takes Pen’s hand and pulls her into the drawing room to expose her cousins plan, “I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, Pen, but I have looked into him and believe him to be a mere charlatan.”

After his speech to Jack, Colin downs a drink and takes Pen to the floor to dance. “I will always look after you, Penelope, you are special to me.”

And queue the extreme whiplash as we get Colin with the boys, “Are you mad? I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington, not in your wildest fantasies, Fife.”

Season 2 Count

Pen: 9

Penelope: 5

Penelope Featherington: 1

Lady of the hour: 1

Season 3

Here we go! There’s definitely a shift in this season because she’s starting to look at her differently. He stops referring to her as Pen unless he is with her alone and reverts back to Penelope as Pen starts to become too intimate for him.

After he has returned from his travels, Colin approaches Pen at the presentation while she stands alone. “Pen, it is good to see you.” (“Is it?” She asks. Take him down, Pen!)

“And what of Penelope?” - he asks Eloise of their friendship.

At the Danbury ball she runs past him after Cressida has trodden on her dress. “Pen! She did not look well did she?” To the boys before he runs after her. He slipped on her name in this scene.

“Pen,” He addresses her alone as he approaches her. “Is something wrong, Pen, between us?” He whispers softly before telling her he misses her. Says “Pen” when he tries to speak up after she calls him out for saying he wouldn’t court her and girly walks out leaving his ass alone.

The next day he rushes to see her to make amends alone in her garden. “And I am most certainly not ashamed of you, Pen.”

In the market scene during their lessons, “Pen, living for the estimation of others is a trap. Once you break free, the world opens up.”

When she mentions that Bridgerton house is where she feels most comfortable, he rushes to get her to over. “Penelope, I have eagerly been awaiting your visit,” he addresses her in front of the footman. It’s the first time this season he calls her Penelope, but not alone (Rae doesn’t seem to count to Colin either). He moves her to the drawing room alone where he tries to set the scene for their imaginary ball, “Imagine it with me, Pen.”

When he catches her reading his journal, “Pen, were you reading that?” Even when he’s mad he still calls her by her nickname.

In the carriage to the ball with Eloise he returns to calling her “Penelope?” Something he has never done in front of El in the past.

At the ball Colin encourages her to flirt with Lord Basilio and she gets nervous as he is a Viscount and he says, “and you are Penelope Featherington, do not forget that”. When he says her name he says it in reverence, in glowing praise where he respects her name. Others usually use disdain when referring to the Featheringtons but as mentioned in season 2, Colin is not in the habit of consorting with those he holds in low esteem (and when he comes to his senses see how he completely drops the toxic lord squad).

Lord Basilio runs off crying about his horse: “Pen, what happened?” They laugh together and it’s so adorable.

The crowd talks gossip about them and Penelope runs off, and he exclaims “Pen!” As he runs after her. He slips in public and it’s always when he’s worried and running after her. As soon as he confronts Eloise he says, “did you tell anyone of my helping Penelope? What could Penelope have possibly done to warrant your maltreatment?”

He comes to her house and she asks him to kiss her. He changes to “Penelope,” to potentially protest, or to say something but she cuts him off. Her full name is a formal response after she has asked something uncomfortable of him, but it’s also used when he starts to view her more seriously.

In his dream he calls her by her nickname, “Pen, I’ve not been able to sleep, not been able to eat, I can barely… speak these days.” It’s tender and intimate. His dream is so romance novel.

After their kiss he is feeling ~feelings~. He speaks to her so formally under the willow tree, “good day” and they are both so adorably awkward. They are trying to be more formal with each other in a sudden interest in propriety, because their familiarity is what lead to the kiss and she feels like they need to take a step back by distancing themselves. He doesn’t know how to conduct himself because calling her Pen is too intimate and he’s only just putting together consciously what that intimacy means to him, “Penelope, I wish very much for your happiness.”

The next time he addresses her by name is the end of episode 4!!!

Colin interrupts her and Debling’s dance after he realises Debling will propose, “Pen, you cannot marry him.” He’s calling her Pen in the middle of the dance floor, but if you haven’t figured it out at this point, Colin is so far beyond the rules of society and nothing matters to him except breaking off this engagement.

Which brings us to (drumroll)… the carriage scene!

He chases down the carriage and flings the door open, “Penelope!” Is it formal now, is it because he’s more serious about her? Is it because there’s still people around. He tries to make his excuses before fumbling around to, “He’s not right for you, Pen.” Smoochy touchy feely, “For gods sake, Penelope Featherington, are you going to marry me?”

Part 1 Count:

Pen: 13

Penelope: 10

Penelope Featherington: 2

Use of Penelope has increased substantially for a few reasons. 1. He’s speaking of her to others more regularly. 2. He only refers to her to others as Penelope now. 3. He uses Penelope directly with her instead of Pen in serious/emotional/charged situations.

Part 2:

“Hyacinth, I do not think Penelope can breathe.” He’s so adorable in this scene, and still referring to her to his family as Penelope.

He starts professing his love to her to his brothers: “My feelings for Penelope are not a thunderbolt from the sky, I have known her a very long time and perhaps I have always felt something for her, but only foolishness was not realising it sooner.”, “Perhaps I shall go and see Penelope now.”

Portia implies Pen entrapped Colin to get him to propose to her when just yesterday she was expecting a Debling marriage, but our hero swoops in with one of his many gallant speeches, “Your daughter did not entrap me, I proposed to her out of love, nothing less. And were not so narrowly concerned with your own standing, you might see that Penelope is the most eligible amongst you. In the future, I advise you not to sully our Bridgerton name by suggesting otherwise.”

He takes her alone to their new place, and he stares at her reverently as he confesses, “I will always stand up for you. Because I love you, Pen.” Her name is soft and intimate and meaningful to him.

Eloise is mad at him and he says, “I apologise for not telling you earlier about my feelings for Penelope”, “And it was Penelope this and Penelope that and Penelope and I are going to read Don Quixote and we are going to be knights. Penelope is going to be your sister, soon. There is a time that would have been your greatest dream. It would mean the world to me to have your blessing and I know it would mean a great deal to Penelope, too.”

At their engagement party (gosh what an episode), he approaches her with, “My bride-to-be.” (Squee)

Colin begins his engagement party speech,“It was my atrocious riding that allowed me to meet Miss Featherington… Pen, and I am so grateful to be here with her tonight.”

It is the first time this season he calls her Miss Featherington and it’s in front of family and friends and wider ton members, but it’s also the first time he publically announces her as Pen this season and to a wider social. Both in the same sentence!

He begins to call her Pen again when they are around family and friends, something he hasnt done since last season, “Pen, where did you run off to? I was looking for you.”

“Pen!” When she faints.

BOY is so stressed the next morning when he comes to call on her. “Pen! Are you well? I’ve been worried.” Once he’s a bit more relieved, he sinks back into more of a formal greeting in front of her mother (who is now awkwardly chaperoning now for the first time ever…) “Good day, Miss Featherington… for now.”

At the Kent Ball, poor baby Colin is feeling like he has done something wrong and says he wants to try writing his memories on its own as, “I want to be worthy of you, Pen.”

At this stage, Colin finds out that Pen is Lady Whistledown when she rushes from the party to print. In their confrontation he does not use her name, only “You are Lady Whistledown.”

At this point his feelings for her are supremely altered as although he loves her, he cannot deal with her being Lady Whistledown and the affection and familiarity he had with her is distanced.

When he confronts Eloise, he says “I saw you leaving a private room with Penelope before I found her.”

He does not even say her name in their tense conversation viewing the wedding breakfast room with her mother. He also does not say her name when they run into each other on the street outside of the modiste and have their moment of passion. He used to use her nickname in such reverence, in comfort, in intimacy and now cannot bring himself to say it.

The next time he says her name is during their wedding speech (my heart). “I, Colin Bridgerton, take thee, Penelope Featherington, to be my wedded wife.”

After they are married and she tries to run when the Queen appears, “Penelope, you are a Bridgerton now.” It is the more formal version of her name, but combined with their now shared last name.

Just when we think they are reconciling, Pen tells him she will not give up Whistledown. He sleeps on the couch on their wedding night and does not say her name again until she shows up at his house with Eloise and Portia present, “Penelope, what are you doing here?” Though I will add, although he’s very angry with her, Colin’s protective (and hot) husband mode switches on as he angrily states, “If miss Cowper spreads this gossip it will besmirch our Bridgerton name, and I will not have anyone blackmailing my wife.”

Welcome, Colin “My Wife” Bridgerton, I hope we see you in season 4. 🥰

He continues his protective streak with Cressida, “does she know of your blackmailing my wife?” But even when he speaks with Cressida to plead for her mercy, he keeps it formal: “This last year I found myself yearning to head word from home, from Penelope in fact, but I did not hear back from her”, “Penelope is no villain.”

For most of this speech it feels like Colin is speaking to himself as he tries/realises that he is forgiving her, “There is Whistledown, and there is Penelope”, “For her hand in your troubles, I know Penelope feels remorse. If even Penelope can find grace for you, do you not see that the ton too will forgive you.”

When Colin tearfully returns, having failed from his talk with Cressida he admits, “Perhaps Penelope was right, it would have been better to just pay her.”

Once Penelope reveals herself as Lady Whistledown and gives her speech to the ton, Colin approaches her. She offers an annulment and he is upset at it, “Pen,” (the first time he’s called her Pen since he found out she was Whistledown!!) “Every since I found out you are Whistledown, I have done everything I can to try to separate you from her. But the other day I went back and read all of the letters you sent me, your letters have always been the ones I am most eager to read, and I realised… you are her. You have always had one voice, there is no separating you from Whistledown… I love you. Now, will you please do me the honour of joining me on the dance floor, Mrs Bridgerton.”

I think it’s super clever that they used her name as another way he tried to separate her from Whistledown and something I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t a super nerd and wrote this. The things you notice! When he refers to her as Pen again it’s clear that all of his concerns are gone and he’s happy with her again AND referring to her by her married name is the perfect final main story finish.

Bonus Epilogue:

“I could not have written my book without the help of Philomena’s aunty Penelope.”

Season 3 part 2 Count:

Pen: 7

Penelope: 20

Penelope Featherington: 1

Miss Featherington: 2

My bride-to-be: 1

My wife: 2

Mrs Bridgerton 1

TOTAL COUNT S1-3

Pen: 37

Penelope: 35

Penelope Featherington (in full): 4

Mrs Bridgerton: 1

Miss Featherington: 3

Lady of the hour: 1

My Bride-to-be: 1

My Wife: 2

TOTAL COLIN REFERENCES TO PEN: 81

PS: if anyone has a gif of Mrs Bridgerton please let me know I can’t find one!!

Anything I’ve missed let me know!

[eironeiakaielenkhos]

Childe Hradwin’s Sojourns, Canto the First, LII

[sadnymi]

The Tortured Poets Department: {Slytherin boys version} A Headcanon.

[Mattheo Riddle-Theodore Nott-Lorenzo Berkshire-Blaise Zabini-Draco Malfoy

The Department: These five delinquents may not be penning sonnets, but they cause enough drama to fill a Shakespearean tragedy. They're the rebels, and champions of chaos at Hogwarts.

The Name:  name, bestowed upon them by Professor Abraxas Rookwood, a man as obsessed with forbidden muggle literature as he was with the Dark Arts, was a cruel irony. Rookwood, with his melancholic readings of Byron and Shelley, saw their broodiness reflected in these young Slytherins, They became the Tortured Poets, their "poetry" scrawled not with ink, but with blood and fear.

The Rules (Unbreakable):

Loyalty is Our Blood Oath: Mess with one of them, you mess with all of them. This unwavering loyalty is their foundation.Betrayal is a fate worse than expulsion. A single transgression could result in a "disappearance," a fate worse than Azkaban.

Secrets are sacred currency: What's shared in the dimly lit corners of the Department stays there. Unless it involves a particularly juicy Ministry scandal, then all bets are off (courtesy of Blaise Zabini's insatiable gossip appetite).

Darkness is a double-edged sword: They embraced their darkness, honing it into a weapon against those who deserved it - revel in darkness too long, and it devours you whole.

Art over Arson: Destruction wasn't the goal. The Department aimed to leave their mark with a touch of twisted artistry.A perfectly sculpted ice sculpture of a screaming victim, a whispered poem etched on a sleeping rival's forehead, a haunting melody tinged with despair echoing through the halls.

No Scars: The mark of a Tortured Poet was discretion.��Leaving physical evidence was a rookie mistake. The true artist left only a shattered spirit.

No Outsiders: The Department is a closed casket. New members are hand-picked, tested, and broken before being deemed worthy.

Never Love, Only Possess: Love is a weakness, a vulnerability they cannot afford. Possession, domination – these are the true expressions of power. ( a rule they all broke )

The Members:

- Mattheo "The Mastermind" Riddle:

The brains behind the operation. Heir to a dark legacy, Mattheo possessed a chilling charisma that masked a calculating mind. He wielded curses with grace, his voice a silken threat, capable of weaving hypnotic lies or unleashing venomous truths. Mattheo is cunning and calculating, always two steps ahead with a plan so outlandish it just might work. He's the one who assigns roles and ensures their targets get a taste of their own medicine (or worse).He embodies the darkness, a shadow that chills even the bravest hearts.

Theodore "The Artist" Nott:

With a talent for manipulating shadows, Theo could create phantoms that danced on the walls, whispering secrets and igniting paranoia. brewed potions that twisted emotions and conjured illusions that blurred the lines between reality and nightmare. His signature move: A shroud of darkness that swallowed the victim, leaving them alone with their inner demons. He was also The department's strategist. His mind, as sharp as a serpent's fang, weaved intricate webs of psychological manipulation.He took a perverse pleasure in dissecting his victims, unraveling their secrets with a chilling detachment.

Lorenzo "The Charmer" Berkshire:

The Charmer. Lorenzo's weapon of choice is not a wand, but his silver tongue. He can disarm with a smile and deceive with a single word. Information is his currency, secrets his trophies. He is the Department's siren, luring the unsuspecting into a web of lies. tongue that could weave illusions as real as dreams. His victims, lulled into a false sense of security, often found themselves entangled in compromising situations or facing fabricated scandals.

Blaise "The Blackmailer" Zabini:

Blaise has a knack for finding dirt on everyone and isn't afraid to use it to his advantage .He's the one who gathers intel and makes sure no one double-crosses the Tortured Poets. He was the Shadow Dancer. Elusive and acrobatic, Blaise was the Department's phantom. He could infiltrate even the most secure locations, leaving behind unsettling calling cards – a misplaced object, a cryptic message scrawled on a dusty window pane.

Draco "The Distraction" Malfoy:

Draco was the prodigy, a master of forbidden spells before he even reached adulthood. His talent fueled a quiet arrogance, but his loyalty to the group was undeniable. He was their muscle, the unleashed storm of magic when subtlety failed.He saw emotions as a map, effortlessly navigating the labyrinthine corridors of fear and hope.

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The Tortured Poets Department existed in the shadows of Hogwarts, a clandestine group teetering on the edge of sanity. They were not poets, but dark artists, sculpting fear and pain into a twisted form of power, a chilling testament to the allure and danger that lurks in the human heart.

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[shkatzchen]

I feel bad if my Sims have to reread the same books all the time, especially when I'm using the romance books to hold off the "single and loving it" lifestyle (honestly, can't my sims be both romantic and waiting for the right person rather than having romantic interactions with everyone without the game thinking they don't want a relationship?). So I made some clones of the romance books (which provide a flirty buff) and added some 16th-19th century love poetry with a nice cover and voila! A collection of nine new books sims can buy to indulge their romantic side.

Just what poetry will you and your sims be reading?

Queen Elizabeth I "On Monsieur's Departure"

Shakespeare's Sonnets (featuring 116)

Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"

Sir Walter Raleigh, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"

Anne Bradstreet, "To my Dear and Loving Husband"

Robert Burns, "A Red, Red Rose"

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester "A Song of a Young Lady to her Ancient Lover."

George Gordon, Lord Byron "She Walks in Beauty"

Elizabeth Barrett Browning "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways"

Base Game Compatible.

Download from SimFileShare here.

Made with S4S.

[portrait-paintings]

Portrait of John Keats

Artist: Joseph Severn (British, 1793–1879)

Date: 1821-1823

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London

About John Keats

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They were indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death. By the end of the century, he was placed in the canon of English literature, strongly influencing many writers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1888 called one ode "one of the final masterpieces".

Keats had a style "heavily loaded with sensualities", notably in the series of odes. Typically of the Romantics, he accentuated extreme emotion through natural imagery. Today his poems and letters remain among the most popular and analysed in English literature – in particular "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Sleep and Poetry" and the sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer". Jorge Luis Borges named his first time reading Keats an experience he felt all his life.

This portrait Severn, who had nursed his friend in Rome, described the circumstances recreated in this posthumous portrait: 'This was the time he first fell ill & had written the Ode to the Nightingale on the morning of my visit to Hampstead. I found him sitting with the two chairs as I have painted him & was struck with the first real symptoms of sadness in Keats so finely expressed in that poem.'

[poppletonink]

Poetry 101: The Best Poems To Start Your Journey Into The Land Of Verse

Ozymandias by Percy Shelley

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe

If by Rudyard Kipling

The Lady Of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson

O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

The Tyger by William Blake

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Porphyrias' Lover by Robert Browning

[marlinspirkhall]

I'm amazed that Annabella Byron said “my daughter will NOT be a wretched artist, get this child an abacus” and it actually worked. She was so lucky that Ada Lovelace didn't have a teen rebellious era where she dabbled in sonnets.

[theink-stainedfolk]

The Wandering Sonnets

Prologue

The soft tick of the clock was the only sound that filled the room, the day slipping quietly into evening. Aspen Wilder, now 65, sat by the window in his small, dimly lit study. The light from the setting sun cast long, amber streaks across the floor, fading into the corners where dust motes danced lazily in the air. The world outside seemed to hum with the same quiet rhythm of his life—slower now, quieter than the rush of days that had come before. There were no more urgent meetings, no more voices to argue with, no more mornings that demanded he rise before the light broke the sky.

Instead, there was this room—this place of solitude and memories. Time had marked him, a man now of gray hair and thoughtful eyes, the sharpness of youth mellowed into reflection. Yet, his thoughts often felt like they belonged to a younger man—one who had once burned with ideas, ambitions, and dreams that, at the time, had felt too big for the small, dusty classrooms of Harcourt School for Boys. But that was long ago, wasn’t it?

He glanced at the clock once more. The hour was just past four, the quiet of the late afternoon creeping in. Aspen shifted in his chair, one hand idly brushing against the familiar, weathered leather of the chair’s armrest. It was the same chair he had sat in for years—since long before he had let go of his dreams, before he had become the quiet figure he was today.

He hadn’t expected a phone call at this hour, certainly not one that would send ripples through the calm of his life. But then again, life had a tendency to surprise him when he least expected it.

The phone rang.

The shrill sound startled him, its sharpness jarring against the quiet of the room. Aspen reached for the receiver on instinct, his fingers curling around the cool plastic, but his heart already knew the message that would come. He had felt it in his bones for months now—an unsettling feeling that never quite left him, a heaviness that seemed to grow heavier with each passing year. The weight of loss.

He pressed the receiver to his ear.

“Aspen?” came the voice on the other end, a voice that held the weight of years, yet still managed to crack with the pain of the moment. "It’s Leslie... he’s gone. I—"

Leslie. Aspen closed his eyes. He had heard the names of his friends whispered in the back corners of his mind—Percival, Byron, Remus. But Leslie... Leslie had always been the one who held everything together, the one who refused to let their group fall apart, even when life pushed them all in different directions.

The news hit like a sudden storm, like a gust of wind that knocked the breath from his lungs. Leslie, the scientist, the quiet thinker, the boy who once dreamed of solving the mysteries of the world, was gone. Just like that.

"How?" Aspen found himself asking, though he knew better than to ask. He had seen this coming. Every year, another friend, another soul lost. Death had always been their silent companion.

“Cancer,” the voice continued, the word barely hanging in the air. "He went quietly... we couldn’t do anything."

Aspen’s eyes moved to the photograph on the desk—a faded, yellowed picture of the eight of them standing together, laughing. It was a moment frozen in time, an image of innocence before the years had worn them all down, before the world had torn them apart. Before they were scattered by the weight of the paths they had chosen.

"Of course," Aspen whispered, his voice breaking slightly. "I’ll be there."

He hung up the phone slowly, staring at the receiver as if it might hold the answers to questions he didn’t dare ask. Leslie was gone. And now, the last of the eight boys was gone. Only he remained. The last wandering sonnet.

It wasn’t the kind of funeral that would echo in history, nor the sort that would stir emotions in the hearts of thousands. It was quiet, like the life Leslie had led—simple, dedicated to his work, dedicated to them all. There were no speeches, no elaborate displays of grief. Only family, a handful of old acquaintances, and a few former classmates who had stayed in touch over the years. They filed in one by one, paying their respects, exchanging solemn glances, and then slipping away as quietly as they had come.

Aspen stood in the back, his eyes fixed on the small, polished box that contained the man who had once been the center of their group. He was nearly invisible among the crowd, a shadow lingering at the edges. He couldn’t bear to be seen—couldn’t stand to let anyone see the rawness of his grief. Instead, he stood still, the wind biting at his skin, as if it might help him keep it together.

The memories came flooding back—flooding over him like an endless tide.

The endless nights they spent in their literary club, the poetry readings, the laughter echoing off the walls of their secret meetings. The conversations that had stretched into the early hours of the morning. The dreams they had shared of the futures they would carve out for themselves. Leslie, with his bright eyes, his questions, always pushing them to think bigger, to dream bigger.

Aspen was pulled back to that moment in time, to the moments they’d all shared. But they were gone now. All of them—except for him.

The funeral was over. Aspen returned home to his quiet apartment. It was the same apartment he had occupied for years, the same one he had locked himself away in after the others had gone their separate ways. A small, almost humble space. It was his sanctuary, and yet, now, it felt like a tomb.

As he entered his study, the one place where he could be alone with his thoughts, he found himself standing in front of the shelf where his journals and notebooks were stacked. He reached for the oldest one, the one he hadn’t touched in years—the one that had been there for him when everything else had fallen apart.

A notebook. A legacy. A record of his life and the lives of his friends.

The ink had faded over time, but it was still there—the same handwriting, the same thoughts he had poured out so many years ago. He flipped through the pages, tracing the lines that had once been filled with hope, dreams, and ambition. Dreams that seemed so distant now.

He had been afraid to open it for so long. Afraid to face what it would bring up. But now, it felt different. Now, it felt like the time had come to revisit their story.

A story he had never told. A story they had never told.

With a deep breath, Aspen opened the first page and began to write.

“We were eight boys once. Eight boys who saw the world through the lens of books, of poetry, of thoughts too big for our small town lives. We were dreamers, wanderers, and we found in each other the courage to believe that we could be something more.

But now, I am the last one left. The last sonnet in a song that’s fading away.”

Here, Aspen begins his story—a story of youth, of dreams, of friends lost and memories fading. It is his tribute to those who shaped him, to those he could never forget. And as the pages fill with words, Aspen realizes that maybe—just maybe—writing their story is the only way to bring them back.

---

My ♡s: @paeliae-occasionally @willtheweaver @drchenquill @wyked-ao3 @the-inkwell-variable @corinneglass @seastarblue @keeping-writing-frosty @oliolioxenfreewrites @vesanal @dauntlessdraupadi

[literaryvein-reblogs]

more literary terms

Asyndeton: The omission of a conjunction from a list ('chips, beans, peas, vinegar, salt, pepper').

Elision: The omission of one or more letters or syllables from a word. This is usually marked by an apostrophe: as in 'he's going to the shops'.

Feminine Rhyme: a rhyme of two syllables in which the final syllable is unstressed ('mother | brother'). If an iambic pentameter ends in a feminine rhyme the last, unstressed, syllable is usually not counted as one of the ten syllables in the line ('To be or not to be, that is the question' - the 'ion' is unstressed and takes the line into an eleventh syllable). Feminine rhyme can be used for comic effect, as it is frequently in the works of Byron: 'I've spent my life, both interest and principle, | And think not what I thought, my soul invincible.' It can also be sometimes used to suggest a feminine subject-matter, as in Shakespeare's Sonnet 20, which is addressed to the 'master mistress of my passion' and which makes extensive use of 'feminine' rhymes.

Polysyndeton: The use of multiple conjunctions, usually where they are not strictly necessary ('chips and beans and fish and egg and peas and vinegar and tomato sauce').

Topos: from a Greek word meaning 'place', a 'topos' in poetry is a 'commonplace', a standard way of describing a particular subject. Describing a person's physical features from head to toe (or somewhere in between) is, for example, a standard topos of medieval and Renaissance poetry.

If these writing notes helped with your poem/story, please tag me. Or leave a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!

Literary Terms pt. 1 ⚜ More: Word Lists