Lyr Req: Overheard on a Saltmarsh (Harold Monro)

Subject: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 03:31 AM

Years ago I remember learning a poem that started off "Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?"
"Green glass, goblin".
That't all I remember of it, and I'd love to know what it is and who wrote it. Maybe it has even been set to music. Can anyone help out on this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: jofield
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 09:17 AM

It is from a wonderful book of children's poetry called "Silver Pennies", edited by Blanche Thompson, first published in the '20s. Many of the poems were then quite contemporary (Sandburg, Vachel Lindsay, etc.), and the art nouveau illustrations are perfect. "Silver Pennies" has been reissued in a slightly enlarged format and is available on Amazon for about $20. Or there are still many original copies out there in varying conditions. Now -- in a little while I'll post the poem ("Heard on A Saltmarsh"), after I copy it out of the book.

James in Bristol, RI

Subject: Lyr Add: OVERHEARD ON A SALTMARSH (Harold Monro)
From: jofield
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 09:55 AM

And here it is:

"Overheard On a Saltmarsh", by Harold Monro


Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?

Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?

Give them me.

    No.

Give them me. Give them me.

    No.

Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
Lie in the mud and howl for them.

Goblin, why do you love them so?

They are better than stars or water,
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man's fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring.

Hush, I stole them out of the moon.

Give me your beads, I desire them.

        No.

I will howl in a deep lagoon
For your green glass beads, I love them so.
Give them me. Give them.

        No.

---

My mother introduced me to "Silver Pennies" when I was little, and this has always been about my favorite poem as well. There are many poems in the book that could be set to music; there's a Vachel Lindsay poem that begins,

"Down cellar," said the cricket,
"Down cellar," said the cricket,
"Down cellar," said the cricket,
"I saw a ball last night."

This would be great for music. Hope this helps. Let me know if you need further info.

James in Bristol, RI

Line Breaks <br> & other HTML stuff added.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: jofield
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 10:32 AM

I had all the original line breaks when I typed this out -- each of the "better than"s is a new line, for instance -- but the Mudcat server program strips them out. (There is a way to preserve them, but I can never remember it in the event.) Anyway, you get the idea.

BTW, "Silver Pennies" also has poems by W.B. Yeats and Robert Frost, both very musch in their primes in 1925.

James

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 10:44 AM

That wonderful poem is also in a book I still have and love entitled, "Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle". I'm at work and it's at home so I can't provide any details at the moment.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 04:10 PM

James - Thank you thank you thank you! I never thought I'd find it again! I've been searching everywhere!

Not so easy to set to music without losing the natural rhtyhm of the speech, but who knows ...

Silver Pennies sounds worth a look. Amazon, here I come.

Animaterra - any more details would be very welcome.

I think you're both very clever!

Callie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 04:18 PM

Callie, if you'd like to find an original copy, try www.bibliofind.com or, www.bookfinder.com.

James, that is really a lovely poem. Thank you for posting it for us all to read. And, in case you are new to the Mudcat, WELCOME!

(Now I want to go design a new beaded necklace inspired by this poem. I shall have to polish up the sea glass I gathered a few winters ago, at Misquamicut!)

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 04:50 PM

There are several copies of various editions available at Bibliofind, for about the same price as the new one mentioned at Amazon. To learn more, just click here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 05:24 PM

"Reflections on a Gift of Wtermelon Pickle..." And other modern verse ed. Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders and Hugh Smith Published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. NY 1967
This was my first introduction to "modern" poetry and I loved it as a child and I love it now- it lives in my bedside bookcase and I look into it at least every year or so. The title poem is priceless. Maybe I'll check Amazon later to see if it's around.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Áine
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 06:14 PM

Here you go, James. I hope I got the line breaks right.

--

"Overheard On a Saltmarsh" by Harold Monro

Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?

Green glass, goblin.
Why do you stare at them?

Give them me.

No.

Give them me.
Give them me.

No.

Then I will howl all night in the reeds,
Lie in the mud and howl for them.

Goblin, why do you love them so?

They are better than stars or water,
Better than voices of winds that sing,
Better than any man's fair daughter,
Your green glass beads on a silver ring.

Hush, I stole them out of the moon.

Give me your beads,
I desire them.

No.

I will howl in a deep lagoon
For your green glass beads,
I love them so.
Give them me.
Give them.

No.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 06:54 PM

Ah! The line break champ! Thank you all. By the way, what's the best place to buy so that Mudcat gets a percentage? Callie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Bert
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 07:30 PM

refresh - thread of the week

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Feb 00 - 08:52 PM

Callie, click on the leaping mudcat up top where it says, "support the Mudcat" and that will lead you to a clickie for Amazon so that the Mudcat gets credit for your purchase. If you wnat to get one of the originals at Bibliofind, you could always just send a donation in to Max, anyway.

kat

P.S. to get line rbeaks where you want them, just type in the "less than" symbol < then the letters BR, right up against it, then close it with the "more than" symbol >

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 10 Feb 00 - 08:03 AM

Look, I'm sorry to be asking obvious things (at least I haven't asked "how do I make a blue clicky thing"?)but what does "Refresh - Thread of the Week" mean? and when & how does one 'refresh' (no advice on abluting required thanks) Callie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: jofield
Date: 10 Feb 00 - 09:33 AM

I think Bert thought the thread interesting and declared it "thread of the week". By doing so he "refreshed" it -- brought it back to the top of the list.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Bert
Date: 10 Feb 00 - 09:34 AM

Every week on Mudcat Radio I choose a thread that in my opinion is the best one that week.

This week I chose two, this one and the 'desert recipe' thread.
It's just for fun, you don't win any prize or anything. You refresh a thread simply by posting to it.

Bert,

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 10 Feb 00 - 07:09 PM

Thank you Bert & Jo. Now I am wise. Callie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: Callie
Date: 27 Feb 00 - 08:31 PM

jofield:

A copy of Silver Pennies arrived in the post today. It is an absolutely beautiful book. Thank you very much for suggesting it.

The first page I opened had the following poem on it:

STUPIDITY STREET

I saw with open eyes Singing birds sweet Sold in the shops For the people to eat, Sold in the shops of Stupidity Street.

I saw in vision The worm in the wheat, And in the shops nothing For people to eat; Nothing for sale in Stupidity Street.

-Ralph Hodgson

--Callie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nymph, What Are Your Beads?
From: GUEST,jofield, from Paris
Date: 28 Feb 00 - 06:00 PM

Callie --

"Silver Pennies" was the favorite book of my childhood. It has had a longer-lasting effect than even the Pooh books -- and that's saying a lot. Whenever I go into a used book store now, I instinctively roam the children's section looking for it. I have two original copies now -- from the '30s, I think -- plus the reprint you just got. The originals are slightly smaller, but otherwise your copy is exactly the same.

I recently reread Blanche Jennings Thompson's forward -- how ahead of her time she was! Her advice to teachers is *still* so progressive, and for 1925 it was positively prescient. I wonder who she was and what became of her.

The illustrations are just perfect, aren't they?

My favorite poems are "Overheard On A Saltmarsh", "Fog" (Carl Sandburg), "Animal Crackers to Eat", "The Potato Dance" (Vachel Lindsay), and "The Moon Is the North Wind's Cookie"...but there are so many great ones. (I am in Paris right now and don't have the book in front of me.)

Let me hear how your discovery of this wonderful book progresses.

A bientôt, James