Poet
During the 1940s, Metcalfe returned to a favorite childhood pastime: writing poetry. Metcalfe wrote hundreds of short poems about the human condition that appealed to people across a vast spectrum of careers and backgrounds. His first book of poetry, entitled "Portraits", contained 750 poems; he later published at least sixteen other titles. Metcalfe mused about love, friendship, life, religion, time, old age, youth, candy, vacations, holidays, envy and numerous other subjects. His poetry also appeared in Hallmark greeting cards.
Metcalfe indicated that he started writing poetry as a teenager, when he "used to fall in love with all the girls and write poems to them to win them over. It didn't always work, but it was worth trying." In later years, in the dedication of one of his books of poetry, he promised his readers that he "will not touch my pen, except it be in prayer to God, or praise of my fellowmen."
Metcalfe wrote and published at least seventeen books of poetry:
- Portraits (1947)
- Poem Portraits: A Collection of Verse (1948)
- Poem Portraits: 107 Selected Poems (1948)
- Garden in My Heart: Poem Flowers of Faith and Friendship (1949)
- Poems For Children (1950)
- James J. Metcalfe's Portraits: 100 Selected Poems (1950)
- More Poem Portraits: A Further Collection of Verse (1951)
- My Rosary of Rhymes: Poetic Beads of Faith and Friendship (1952)
- Love Portraits (1953)
- Love Portraits (1954)
- Portraits: 100 More Selected Poems (1954)
- Daily Poem Portraits (1954)
- Garden in My Heart (1955)
- Portraits: 100 Selected Poems (1956)
- Poem Portraits of the Saints (1956)
- Poem Portraits of Inspiration (1958)
- Poem Portraits for All Occasions (1961)
Read more about this topic: James J. Metcalfe
Famous quotes containing the word poet:
“The poet will write for his peers alone. He will remember only that he saw truth and beauty from his position, and expect the time when a vision as broad shall overlook the same field as freely.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A poet who makes use of a worse word instead of a better, because the former fits the rhyme or the measure, though it weakens the sense, is like a jeweller, who cuts a diamond into a brilliant, and diminishes the weight to make it shine more.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Mr. [Christopher] Smart the poet was here yesterday.... This ingenious writer is one of the most unfortunate of men—he has been twice confined in a mad house.... How great a pity so clever, so ingenious a man should be reduced to such shocking circumstances. He is extremely grave, and has still great wildness in his manner, looks and voice—’tis impossible to see him and to think of his works, without feeling the utmost pity and concern for him.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)