Almanac Poetry: George Stubbs’ ‘A Lion Attacking a Horse’
‘A Lion Attacking A Horse’, by George Stubbs, oil on canvas, 1765. National Gallery of Victoria. [Source: Wikimedia Commons]
George Stubbs’ A Lion Attacking a Horse
Poetic lines
of muscle and movement
– the lion viciously sinking his teeth
into the horse’s neck,
his razor claws
tearing into its flanks and rump.
Moody, dynamic,
archetypally Romantic:
a lion (Passion) attacking a horse (Reason).
We know which will prevail.
Blake indicated that:
‘The tigers of wrath are wiser
than the horses of instruction.’
(Acknowledgements: poem first appeared in my second book-length collection, Lionheart Summer, Picaro Press, 2011; reprinted by Ginninderra Press, 2018.)
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Sacredly Profane, is available HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Fascinating stuff, KD. I like the varied ‘angles of attack’ in this one.
Thanks so much, JL. I like writing ekphrastic poems (basically poems about paintings) like this one – they can yield some interesting results.