Completed: Shorter Poems by Alexander

I finished this some days ago. The remaining fifty pages or so did not disappoint, just like the previous 450. I could tell, throughout, which poems had been assigned to this book's once-owner in school, with pencil scribbles in the margins, mostly illegible to me. Original price: 40 cents.

I only tabbed one poem in the last 50 pages - the book overall has about a dozen neon orange post-its sticking out in various locations. This doesn't indicate that I didn't enjoy the final pages, just that there wasn't anything I wanted to immediately come back to apart from this quote. It is from a poem called "Out Of The Night" by W. E. Henley, who I have not heard of before. It is a poem of conquering adversity and of the indomitable soul, and the final stanza is:

'It matters not how strait [sic] the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.'

It is a perfect poem to read on a day when you are feeling defeated because of the circumstances surrounding you.

Since I was a teenager, I have collected poems, quotes, and inspirational tidbits in a beautiful leather-covered notebook. I once had another notebook, but lost it to a former friend when I was 17. The current incarnation was started upon arrival at university, and I have been steadily filling it ever since. Many of the poetical works I read in this book will find their way into my 'Quotes Book' (no, it doesn't have a better name than that). But for the time being, I have blogged it, and might I say thoroughly enjoyed it. I shall read it again, I'm sure, at some point. But I have years to read before I repeat, and years to read before I repeat...

Title: Shorter Poems
Editor: W. J. Alexander
Published: 1924
Pages: 489

Total books blogged: 10
Total pages: 3,669