Every blog needs a fine tune.

Frances Cornford

With what attentive courtesy he bent

Over his instrument;

Not as a lordly conqueror who could

Command both wire and wood,

But as a man with a loved woman might,

Inquiring with delight

What slight essential things she had to say

Before they started, he and she, to play.

I liked this poem for a few reasons; its length, and that it has to do with music. Cornford in this piece is looking at the relationship that the guitarist has with his instrument- but then using that to also look at the way the guitarist looks at the woman.

'With what attentive courtesy he bent over his instrument...". The diction that Cornford uses to describe that grace that the guitarist uses with his instrument seems almost parallel to the way he is seemingly looking at the woman he loves. I am not saying that he is loving her as if she is an object, although it may sound that way, I am saying as a musician myself that the love for that music is definitely something that is irreplacable... and is absolutely fantastic.

As far as structure goes with this poem, it is set up in one big stanza but is almost set up in couplets because of the rhyme scheme, each of the pairs of lines have a rhyming scheme at the end which adds a noticable rhythm. The rhythm is not just by accident obviously, especially if this poem is about music itself there will definitely be a slight musical "tune" to it you could say.

With the combination of rhythm, and overall theme, I would have to say that this would be one of my favorite poems all year. :)

The Guitarist Tunes Up