Fond Pageant

`Fond Pageant' from Puck's line in Midsummer Night's Dream `Shall we their fond pageant see? / Lord what fools these mortals be' follows the ekphrastic method of poetry that began with Homer's vivid illuminations of the Shield of Achilles in the Iliad. Daniel Reardon responds poetically to some of the painters and painting he's encountered from Caravaggio and Bellini through Delacroix and Whistler to Edward Hopper and Michael Mulcahy. Making inventive use of the sonnet form, rhyming couplets, and iambic pentameter in accessible, humorous, nostalgic language, the poet reflects, celebrates, and welcomes the reader to delight in the beautifully reproduced paintings as well as the rewarding and enjoyable poetry.