#amy levy

[flowerytale]

John Keats, from a letter to Fanny Brawne Gabriela Mistral, from a letter to Doris Dana Charlotte Brontë, from “Jane Eyre” Amy Levy, from The Romance of a Shop Florence and the Machine, from "Haunted House"

Young Man Holding a Book ca. 1480 Heart imagery by Andrea Zanatelli

#web weaving #parallels #john keats #gabriela mistral #charlotte brontë #amy levy #florence and the machine #fatm #andrea zanatelli #art #heart #*

[petaltexturedskies]

By this time the snow lay deep on the road and the roofs of the houses; the trees looked mere blotches of greyish-white, seen through the rapid whirl of falling flakes, which it made one giddy to contemplate.

Amy Levy, from "The Romance of a Shop" wr. c. 1888

#amy levy #snow #winter

[duckprintspress]

Ten of Our Favorite Poems for National Poetry Month!

April was National Poetry Month, and to celebrate we asked authors involved with Duck Prints Press to talk about their favorite (ideally queer) poems! For the poems in the public domain, we then recorded them and shared them on Instagram and/or Tiktok!

Join us, and get your poem on, with these ten lovely pieces!

To a Stranger by Walt Whitman

read by Nina Waters (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

At a Dinner Party by Amy Levy

read by Maggie Page (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

Halfway Down by A. A. Milne

read by Tris Lawrence (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

Because I Liked You Better by A. E. Housman

read by Maggie Page (Instagram)

-

Bored: At A London Music by Horatio Brown

read by Maggie Page (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

read by Tris Lawrence (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

Endymion by Oscar Wilde

read by Nina Waters (Tiktok | Instagram)

-

The Chariot by Emily Dickinson

read by Tris Lawrence (Instagram)

-

Love Stronger than Death by Agnes Mary Frances Robinson

read by Maggie Page (Instagram)

-

Apologia by Oscar Wilde

read by Maggie Page (Instagram)

-

Honorable Mention: We couldn’t include “Stop All the Clocks” by W. H. Auden or “I Know a Man” by Robert Creeley because they’re not in the public domain, but they absolutely would have been included if we could have.

-

What are YOUR favorite queer historical poems and/or poets? Tell us in the replies!

(if you send something our way that’s in the public domain, maybe we’ll record it!)

Who We Are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fan creators publishing their original works. We are particularly dedicated to working with queer authors and publishing stories featuring characters from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Want to always hear the latest? Sign up for our monthly newsletter! Want to support the Press, read about us behind-the-scenes, learn what’s coming down the pipeline, get exclusive teasers, and claim free stories? Back us on Patreon monthly!

#duck prints press #national poetry month #oscar wilde #emily dickinson #robert frost #aa milne #amy levy #walt whitman #agnes mary frances robinson #horatio brown #a e housman

[fictionadventurer]

Celebrating the end of Victober by creating a Penguin Clothbound Classics edition style of cover for the obscure Victorian novel that I started the month with.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy is an 1888 novel about four sisters who, after their father's death, decide not to rely on the charity of relatives (or go husband-hunting), and instead support themselves by turning their hobby of photography into a business. This brings them in contact with a much different class of people than they're used to, and the adventures of running a business introduce them to several men who make the story live up to the more conventional meaning of "romance" in the title.

All four sisters are very different, but care for each other deeply--the vibe reminded me a lot of Little Women, but with a breezier, simpler writing style and setting that reminded me just a bit of Oscar Wilde. It's a fun, short, very easy to read (if very underwritten--a lot of big plot points happen off-the-page) story about a side of Victorian life one doesn't often see in literature.

As for the cover choices, pink was the natural color for such a fun, female-focused story. I had a vision of a cover design using old-fashioned cameras, but unfortunately no such clipart was available. Fortunately, my second choice of a window is still very fitting while being less on-the-nose. Windows factor into a lot of story elements. The girls have to set up a shop window. The photography business requires their building to have good windows to let in lots of light. There are several scenes of the girls looking out the windows of their new apartment at the city and people that surround their new life. Plus there's a more metaphorical interpretation of the girls' experiences giving them a new view of their life and their future. For something created on the fly using clip art, I don't think it's a half-bad image of the book.

#books #the romance of a shop #amy levy #artwork #victober

[redahlia-writes]

at a dinner party. | rhaenyra x alicent

Words: 750

A/N: fic loosely based on the poem at a dinner party by amy levy; i wrote this in less than an hour and it is heavily unedited, i just (re)read this poem and thought about them. i need to hug alicent.

also on AO3 - masterlist

feedback is always greatly appreciated. you can send it here, too

With fruit and flowers the board is decked,

Queen Alicent felt dizzied by the colours, the perfumes, the crowd at the celebration. Her celebration, the celebration of her wedding, of her union to a man blinded by grief and voices. As per tradition of a royal wedding, tables and tables of delicacies and guests extended in front of her, all eyes on her, cutting her breath, weighing her crown.

The wine and laughter flow;

She’d never had a taste for wine, too bitter - she preferred cakes and sweets - but she welcomed the dulling on her senses it brought, the way it smoothed sharp edges of conversations, of graces asked from her by lords and ladies, all wearing a façade that would’ve been enough to give her a headache if her drinks hadn’t already been doing so. But she smiled, ever so polite, ever so regal.

I’ll not complain—could one expect So dull a world to know?

She was a queen now, no feature of her could be out of place, not a single hair out of place. It did not matter she raged inside, she wished nothing but to get up from that golden seat and shriek like a wailing ghost, at the top of her lungs, tear her hair out, scream in her father’s face for making her do this. It did no matter - her front showed a woman who was complacent, satisfied, content. How could she not, when she’d been made queen? Wife to a king.

You look across the fruit and flowers,

There was nothing she should desire now, yet she ached. Ached for what she’d lost as it walked around the room, chin raised, arms locked behind her back, a posture Alicent was familiar with, could see behind closed lids. She yearned for what could’ve been, soft lips she’d tasted before and still burned her own lips, the tip of her tongue, sweet as honey, and familiar eyes that turned towards her as if she’d been calling her aloud.

My glance your glances find.—

The princess Rhaenyra was brazen, bold, everything Alicent was not. She held her gaze as she crossed the room, never once seemingly blinking, not letting her breathe - she grew hot and agitated, masked it with a soft laughter to words she’d been deaf to coming from a face with blurred features. The king touched her shoulder, and it took her everything she had to not recoil, to feign delight and lean into that touch - all the while, the young dragon’s eyes had light ablaze, a fire that spread across her body, head to toe, burning her warmer than the fleeting touches exchanged mere hours before.

It is our secret, only ours,

Though she could not remember, the memories hazy and too painful to truly relive, Alicent knew it had been the princess making the first move - it must’ve been, she was not brave enough to voice anything she might desire, might want. But how she desired, how she trembled with want under Rhaenyra’s calloused hands, the years of dragonriding showing on her alabaster skin, smoothing across her naked arms, back, sides, legs, leaving her craving for more, always more, never enough, rushed kisses and ruffled hair in a room she’d never grow to feel like it belonged to her. She would’ve wished to be in Rhaneyra’s familiar rooms instead, fall on her bed, tangle in her sheets, know what it meant to love, to worship and be worshipped in return someplace she could feel her own. It was a longing she could not voice, could not show, but the princess knew with just one look.

Since all the world is blind.

The princess Rhaenyra, the keeper of her heart and so much more, standing in front of her and the king, her father - Alicent felt shame, heavy and choking and painful, and wished nothing else than for her friend’s touch to soothe it, for her love to overwhelm it. The plea was etched in the features of her face as Rhaenyra bowed her head, never once looking away from her. At night, when duties had drained her, hurt her, smothered her, she’d find herself crawling into the known space of Rhaenyra’s embrace, and the princess would welcome her in spite of the stains, in spite of the dirt. She’d soothe her just as Alicent wished she would, kiss her better, hold her tight until she lost herself in the familiarity of her princess, her Rhaenyra. Night, after night, after day, after secret.

#rhaenicent #rhaenyra x alicent #rhaenyra targaryen x alicent hightower #rhaenicent fic #rhaenicent fanfiction #rhaenicent fanfic #hotd #hotd fanfic #at a dinner party by amy levy #at a dinner party #amy levy

[quotation--marks]

Judith, sitting there like an automaton, eating something that tasted like sawdust, something that was difficult to swallow, was vividly conscious of only this - that Bertie must be silenced at any cost. Anything else could be borne, but not Bertie’s fluent regrets. 

Amy Levy, Reuben Sachs: A Sketch

#reuben sachs: a sketch #amy levy #1888 #1880s #19th century #english literature #queue pierce my soul

[keepthisholykiss]

Lesbian Visibility Week Writers Day 4: Amy Levy

I know I have been posting the most normal and pleasant images of these writers thus far but I’m using this opportunity to force you all to look at this beautiful edit I made just go with it.

To Vernon Lee

On Bellosguardo, when the year was young, We wandered, seeking for the daffodil And dark anemone, whose purples fill The peasant's plot, between the corn-shoots sprung. Over the grey, low wall the olive flung Her deeper greyness ; far off, hill on hill Sloped to the sky, which, pearly-pale and still, Above the large and luminous landscape hung. A snowy blackthorn flowered beyond my reach; You broke a branch and gave it to me there; I found for you a scarlet blossom rare. Thereby ran on of Art and Life our speech; And of the gifts the gods had given to each-- Hope unto you, and unto me Despair.

Day One: Renée Vivien Day Two: Natalie Clifford Barney Day Three: Amy Lowell

Amy Levy was a Jewish writer, poet, and scholar from London. She suffered from extreme depression and anxiety which unfortunately led to her untimely death at the age of 28. She was notably involved with Vernon Lee also known as Violet Paget. Lee was a gothic writer who lived in Italy. Throughout her personal writings and poetry Amy Levy grapples with the concepts of death and love equally and has left behind haunting memories of herself. She also was a well-read young scholar who has lots of opinions about popular classic works of her time, her letters can be very fun to read. She’s an important component for both lesbian and Jewish history who is definitely worth your time to read.

#amy levy #lesbian visibility week #lesbian history #queer history #queer poetry #poetry

[violettesiren]

Deep in the grass outstretched I lie, Motionless on the hill; Above me is a cloudless sky, Around me all is still:

There is no breath, no sound, no stir, The drowsy peace to break: I close my tired eyes—it were So simple not to wake.  

In the Nower by Amy Levy

#amy levy

[howifeltabouthim]

I know not what can ease my pains, Nor what it is I wish; The passion at my heart-strings strains Like a tiger in a leash.

Amy Levy, from “Oh, Is It Love?”

#unrequited love #uncertainty #i don't know what i want #passion #repressed #breaking free #heart #chomping at the bit #lovesick #heartsick #quotes #lit #words #excerpts #quote #literature #no relief #addicted to love #poetry #amy levy

[apesoformythoughts]

I know not what can ease my pains,

Nor what it is I wish;

The passion at my heart-strings strains

Like a tiger in a leash.

— Amy Levy

#amy levy #poetry #the ink black heart #epigraphs

[midnightfestivalmagic]

"With fruit and flowers the board is decked, The wine and laughter flow; I'll not complain-could one expect So dull a world to know?

You look across the fruit and flowers, My glance your glances find- It is is our secret, only our, Since all the world is blind."

Amy Levy, " At A Dinner Party"

#poetry #poem #Amy levy #cottagecore

[flowerytale]

Amy Levy, from "The First Extra", A London Plane-Tree and Other Verse (1889)

#amy levy #a london plane-tree and other verse #poetry #poem #typo #typography #fragments #*

[petaltexturedskies]

By this time the snow lay deep on the road and the roofs of the houses; the trees looked mere blotches of greyish-white, seen through the rapid whirl of falling flakes, which it made one giddy to contemplate.

Amy Levy, from "The Romance of a Shop"

#amy levy #snow #winter

[darkmacademianut]

dark academics! learn about the life and works of anglo-jewish new woman poet Amy Levy NOW 🫵

#dropped nutshells #dark academia #amy levy #she should be an icon of this subculture

[jello-paws]

A Collection of Quotes from Amy Levy's The Romance of a Shop

"These two people, to all intents and purposes strangers, had been together in one of those rare moments of life when the elaborate paraphernalia of everyday intercourse is thrown aside; when soul looks straight into soul through no intervening veil; when human voice answers human voice through no medium of an actor's mask."

"To do and do and do; that is all that remains to one in a world where thinking, for all save a few chosen beings, must surely mean madness."

"But to die--it seems so impossible, so difficult, somehow."

"For death, like love, is ever old and ever new."

"There are other things which make happiness besides--pleasant things happening to one... Our own self-respect, and the integrity of the people we care for."

"Thus, with laughing faces, they stood up and defied the Fates."

#recently finished reading this book and absolutely loved it and the way Levy writes #just...so good #amy levy #the romance of a shop #victorian literature #classic literature

[polychrome-dreams]

Amy Levy, The Birch-Tree At Loschwitz

#poetry #amy levy