Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Bright Star
This movie was so moving and enlightening. It was about the poet John Keats. His life as a poet was hard. He did not make allot of money and yet he was in love with Fanny Browne. The year is 1818 in London. Their destiny was to be together yet there was thorns in their side - people and illness. His friend advised him to not court Fanny Brown since she was more concerned for stitches and clothes. John fell ill to consumption. He died thinking all his work was in vain yet he is very popular today.Here is his poem Bright Star:
Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like natures patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
to feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tneder-taken breath,
And so live ever --or else swoon to death
This poem uses a star as an imagery to get to his point. John uses analagy saying he wants to be like a star who is steadfast but not alone that is unreachable (aloft) . The star is ever watchful (eternal), eternal ( patient) and unchanging (sleepless). The star watches over the snow covered mountains and cleansing waters as the priest task is- another analogy. He does not want to be alone like the star. He wants to rest his head on his beloveds breast and inhale hhe sweetness of her fragrant breath and hear the music of her heart. He wants this to last forever or if it were not possible he would rather die ( swoon to death). There is a spiritual element to this. He wants to be eternal ( awake forever) and yet he does not want to be alone (lone) .but awake forever in the lovers breast. To love means to be human and therefore not an unchangeable thing like a star. His love will not last forever so he would rather die the moment he is experiencing the ecstasy of love. Even though he wants love and immortality it is impossible.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Listeners by Walter de la Mare
This is one of the poems that I was studying with Victoria that I like
The Listeners
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
"Is there anybody there?"he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men;
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred an shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:-
"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,"he said
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoeing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When th plunging hoofs were gone.
The Listeners
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
"Is there anybody there?"he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men;
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred an shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:-
"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,"he said
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoeing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When th plunging hoofs were gone.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
ponderings
It is Sunday September 6th. Tomorrow will be a holiday and then school starts. I had to say goodbye to a special friend today Dianna Scholtens who is going to England for a few years. She is special in that she homeschooled as well and we got along wonderfully. We shared special moments together and shared precious thoughts. There is allot of changes coming and I pray that God gives me the strength and vision of these changing times. God has shown his authority through life of changes. I'll miss you Diane!
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