221B -- Vincent Starrett

Guest poem submitted by M. E. Lasseter:

(Poem #875) 221B Here dwell together still two men of note Who never lived and so can never die: How very near they seem, yet how remote That age before the world went all awry. But still the game's afoot for those with ears Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo: England is England yet, for all our fears-- Only those things the heart believes are true. A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane As night descends upon this fabled street: A lonely hansom splashes through the rain, The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet. Here, though the world explode, these two survive, And it is always eighteen ninety-five. -- Vincent Starrett

[Commentary]

Ah, Sherlock Holmes poetry. Perhaps the meter is off, but the imagery in it
makes it worthwhile. That and the fact that it makes things nice for the
closet romantic. All warm-fuzzy and all that.

Rather, it's not warm-fuzzy, but instead gives a feeling of security in this
rapidly changing world of ours. "...though the world explode, these two
[Holmes and Watson] survive", forsooth. Being stuck in a certain era isn't
necessarily a bad thing.

[Short Biography]

Vincent Starrett was the author of the renowned pastiche the Adventure of
the Unique Hamlet, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and other writings.
The pastiche [high-class fan fiction] is widely considered one of the finest
ever written and is listed in The Diogenes Club Required Readings.  Mr
Starrett was a prolific Sherlockian author and critic, friend of many highly
acclaimed authors and writers, including such luminaries as August Derleth
(of the Solar Pons series fame) and  H. P. Lovecraft, and a much admired
journalist with American Newspapers.
        -- [broken link] http://www.marietta.edu/~cislerd/diogenese/starrett.htm:

Extensive biography and bibliography:
[broken link] http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/May2001/starrett.htm

-Mel.