Plagiarism

 When, at the age of 7, I wrote my first poem, "Paddy Baloney," I was tortured by the thought of the plagiarism in the opening lines, which went:

I'll tell you a story
About Paddy Baloney ...

This was inspired by a rhyme my father often quoted:

Will I tell you a story
About Johnny Magory?
Will I begin it?
That's all that's in it. 

But let's see some other examples in literature.

Rise and Go

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894):

Travel

I should like to rise and go

Where the golden apples grow ...

 

William Butler Yeats

Lake Isle of Innis Free

 

I will arise and go now

And go to Innis Free ... 

 

Down by the Sally Gardens

William Butler Yeats

Down by the Salley gardens, my love and I did meet

She passed the Salley gardens with little snow-white feet

She bid me take life easy, as the leaves grow on the trees

But I, being young and foolish, with her I did not agree ...

DOWN IN A WILLOW GARDEN

(American Folk Song)

Down in a willow garden

Where me and my love did meet,

'Twas there we sat a courting

My love dropped off to sleep ... 

 DOWN IN MY SALLY'S GARDEN

(English folk song)

Down in my Sally's garden,

Upon an ivy bush,

At morning and at twilight,

There sings a sweet song thrush ...

 

The Rambling Boys of Pleasure

...

It was down by Sally's Garden one evening late I took my way.
'Twas there I spied this pretty little girl, and those words to me sure she did say
She advised me to take love easy, as the leaves grew on the tree
But I was young and foolish, with my darling could not agree ...

 

Yeats was not aware that he was writing someone else's poem. He had being trying to recall a song he heard an old woman in County Sligo singing, containing the words "Sally Gardens," or some such. He failed to recall the song, but then his own poem came flooding into his mind.

Can we ever be sure, when a new theme presents itself to us, that it is a new creation of our own, and not a subconscious memory of something heard in the past?

One morning I woke to the joy of Spring. I took out my copy book and wrote: "I woke up this morning to the joy of Spring." When we start a project, it takes on a life of its own, and I was surprised by the resulting poem, which I called "Meld." Where did these words and this theme come from? Was it an entirely new creation, or did it contain words from some poem I had heard in the past and long forgotten, as far as the conscious mind is concerned?

Some days later, I woke up and wrote my poem, "Someone Else's Poem."