Talk Poetry to Me!
Apr 23, 2025 1:26 pm
Dear Readers,
Aranjuez: forest, rich with flowers,
Through which the tangled Tajo glides,
Within your thousand brilliant colors
A meadow where my heart resides.
And how your songbirds flattered me!
I’d swear they’d sung for me alone.
I offer them this melody:
A poem, my own peculiar tone.
So begins the poem "Farewell to the Royal Gardens at Aranjuez" by 18th century Spanish poet María Rosa de Gálvez.
But WHY am I quoting poetry? Well, first because I'm Charlie and poetry sings in my blood. 🤣
But secondly because I discovered this poet while researching 18th and 19th century female poets and translators for my next release: Much Ado About Hating You. I adore discovering new to me poets, and I feel robbed having only just discovered de Gálvez's work. It reminds me in ways of William Wordsworth's "Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey"--the joy of being in a natural setting bursting with life, the communion with nature, the interplay between nature and artistic creation.
More interesting is the thrum of change and growth, of personal and emotional perseverance that hums along each line the closer to the end you get.
In many ways, my heroine Beatrice experiences the same thing when she returns to Slopevale Manor for her friend Evie's wedding. And she, too, finds growth and strength in her time there.
If you want to read the entire poem, here's a link to a webpage that includes both the original Spanish and the English translation!
And if you're wanting to make sure you have Beatrice's story in your kindle ASAP on May 19, it's up for pre-order now here.
Discover a New Book
Have you read the books collected in a new collection of Historical romances for April? Check em out!
Happy reading, everyone!
Charlie
(Now in Kindle Unlimited!)
(these books are in KU)
