Help needed: Pearls in poetry, literature...anything!

[tim]

Hi, I am after any reference to the Pearl in in Literature, Poetry and Myth. even if it is just a single line of poetry or prose, it would be great.

I would like to use these literal references as inspiration for a new series of paintings inspired by the pearl.

The more romantic the better!!

 

[jshepherd]

Of Pearls and Stars

The pearly treasures of the sea,
The lights that spatter heaven above,
More precious than these wonders are
My heart-of-hearts filled with your love.

The ocean's power, the heavenly sights
Cannot outweigh a love filled heart.
And sparkling stars or glowing pearls
Pale as love flashes, beams and darts.

So, little, youthful maiden come
Into my ample, feverish heart
For heaven and earth and sea and sky
Do melt as love has melt my heart.

Heinrich Heine

 

[pearlshoppe]

Hi Tim,

Here's a couple I know of:


"This pearl has become my soul. If I give it up, I shall lose my soul. Go thou also with God."
John Steinbeck, The Pearl

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls; Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all he had, and bought it."
The Bible, Matthew chapter 13 v. 45-46

 

[tim]

Wow Thanks..

Wow Thanks..

These are exactly what i needed!!
Cheers, Tim

www.timothyjohn.com.au

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Hi Tim,

Where do you want to start?

Here are a few ideas.... Hope they are of some help.

There are Pliny's writings.

Then we have Caligula who loved his horse so much he gave him pearls (to wear).

The famous tale of Cleopatra dissolving pearls in vinegar for a dinner bet with Anthony (very short version).

Richard Burton, once gave Elizabeth Taylor the Pearl named La Peregrina (also known as "the Wanderer", once owned by Mary Queen of Scots) it fell off her necklace and she found it in her dogs mouth (also very short Version)

Lets see, there is a 14th Century poem about pearls I think it’s allegorical and possibly a 16th Century one, (I have not been able to verify for myself, still looking.)

A really good book to get your hands on is by George Frederick Kunz, called The Book of the Pearl by ISBN:0-486-42276-3 (Dover Pub) There is a plethora of Information in that book in regards to history.

The carpet of Baroda that is encrusted with Pearls and other precious gemstones.

Early Chinese myth:

When dragons fight pearls fall from the sky, told of pearls falling from the sky when dragons fought.

Greeks believed that wearing pearls would bring about marital bliss

The hope pearl was owned by yes that is right Phillip (Henry) Hope the same man who owned the Hope Diamond (how lucky can he really be?)

JAMON PEARL OF JAPAN- the worlds oldest Extant pearl dating back 5500 years

This one is fuzzy and not sure but I believe it originated in Arab lands.

Another legend says that pearls were thought to be dew from the moon and the Oysters would go up and "eat or Kiss" these drops which would turn into pearls

There was also a Sassanid king who threw his beloved pearl in the mud rather than have it taken in battle.

throughout history in about every culture there is some kind of reference to Pearls even in the Americas with the temple of Talomeco. And Burial mounds that reveal pearls being buried. Recently there have been Viking grave digs in which some of the Beads recovered were actually pearls not just lamp work glass beads.


I am not at home right now. that is all I can think of off the top of my head. Hope this helps out.

Good Luck!

Cheers
Ash

 

[tim]

Ash, thank you so much

Ash, thank you so much

anything you can think of is appreciated, especially romantic texts inspired by pearls.

 

[CLICLASP]

Hi Tim
If you want to use a translator, you will find here a very beautiful poem from Paul Claudel

http://www.cliclasp.com/fr/galerie.html

 

[CortezPearls]

In a song by famous Mexican Rock Band "Jaguares" (formerly "Caifanes") called "Quisiera ser alcohol" ("I wish I were alcohol") a part of the lyrics state: "...como una perla, te saco de lo obscuro, te llamo por tu nombre y digo que no puede ser..." (like a pearl I bring you out of darkness, I call you by your name and I say it cannot be..." (loose translation).

We are hours from being hit by hurricane "Norbert"...wish us luck! Prayers also accepted

 

[Sueki]

Prayer sent, Douglas.
May Norbert give you a wide berth....

 

[tim]

Prayers and love sent

Prayers and love sent

Thank you for input, and i pray that you are spared any destruction

 

[Hanaleimom]

norbert

norbert

Hi Douglas,

Hope you will be fine and out of the path of destruction.

 

[Nerida]

Douglas - trusting you and your oysters can be kept safely out of Norbert's way...
Cathy - are things back to normal for you?

 

[Amrita]

Sending prayers and positive vibes your way, Douglas! Hope all is well.

 

[mausketeer]

Hi, I am after any reference to the Pearl in in Literature, Poetry and Myth. even if it is just a single line of poetry or prose, it would be great.

I would like to use these literal references as inspiration for a new series of paintings inspired by the pearl.

The more romantic the better!!

Hi Tim - I am Canadian so I chose a quote from a famous Canadian author, Lucy Maude Montgomery (she wrote the Anne of Green Gables series of books) for my "signature". Not sure it it is literally what you need but pearls are mentioned in it!

Good luck!
Jodie

 

[Nathan Reed]

Here are some quotes I like.

"Dive into the sea of thought, and find there pearls beyond price."
Moses Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael

"Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange."
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "The Tempest", Act 1 scene 2

 

[Valeria101]

Here's how Prof. Granger explains cointegration in his Nobel Prize lecture:

" Suppose that you have a loosely strung string of pearls which you throw down, gently, onto a hard table top with the string of pearls roughly stretched out..."

The rest ca be read and heard at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2003/granger-lecture.html


Hm.. maybe pearls are a challenge to poets? The object being a common metaphor might make it harder to make something surprising with it... Who knows... There are thousands of pages of searchable poetry online, but only a few sensible 'pearl' citations came up and not that many uses of the word overall. I would have expected allot more.

Here's two:

A description of music (or some other kind of 'high' ) as a string of pearls from Hyperion by Keats:

LINK to source

"A living death was in each gush of sounds,
Each family of rapturous hurried notes,
That fell, one after one, yet all at once,
Like pearl beads dropping sudden from their string:
And then another, then another strain,
Each like a dove leaving its olive perch,
With music wing'd instead of silent plumes,
To hover round my head, and make me sick
Of joy and grief at once."


And a pearl as decorative aspiration, in Poem 320 by Dickinson:


LINK to source

"We play at Paste
Till qualified for Pearl
Then, .... deem ourself a fool. "


My memories of Romanian poetry are rather shrunk (Google doesn't help much there, LOL!), but still recall a few images of pearl stringing (attn. 'Lowly Beaders Club!) as a pastime of all sorts of mythical creatures

 

[CLICLASP]

Hello,
I came accross this one, and cannot keep it for me, too beautiful and interesting,
not exactly only pearls but not too far neither...

"One large gold bracelet clasp'd each lovely arm,
Lockless-so pliable from the pure gold
That the hand stretch'd and shut it without harm,
The limb which it adorn'd its only mould ;
So beautiful-its very shape would charm,
And clinging as if loath to lose its hold,
The purest ore enclosed the whitest skin
That e'er by precious metal was held in."

BYRON, Don Juan , Canto III,71