A Gold Mine!!

In a riveting essay called "Life Without Principle," Thoreau wrote about the vanity of gold miners (among many, many other things....it's really a GREAT essay/speech indeed...well worth reading if you want your view of life to change!!)....well in honor and jest of his mention of California and Australian gold miners I am pleased to announce that I have in fact struck at gold this very night!

Thanks to a friend posting a random Thoreau quote tonight on Facebook which I happened across and have never once read before in my life, I went out in search of more info regarding this quote (the quote is below if you're curious). And boy did I find more than what I was looking for!!!

Here it is ladies and gentlemen without further adieu....

The Walden Woods Project

http://www.walden.org/

There is much here and there in the site and I'll let you uncover what you will lifting up each stone and unveiling (perhaps) one more corner from "the statute of the divinity" at your leisure (of course). But suffice it to say that there is a fully downloadable pdf version (chapter by chapter) of Walden Pond as published in book form from 1906. What a treat indeed! My rather boring night (admittedly) has been replenished by sweet elvish music!!! :D :D

Happy foraging fellow readers!!

Here is the quote that started this fox chase:

• When I hear music I fear no danger, I am invulnerable, I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times and to the latest. [Journal, 13 January 1857]

And here is a quote that struck me deeply (as I too play the flute) while in hot pursuit:

• I sailed on the North River last night with my flute, and my music was a tinkling stream which meandered with the river, and fell from note to note as a brook from rock to rock. I did not hear the strains after they had issued from the flute, but before they were breathed into it, for the original strain precedes the sound by as much as the echo follows after, and the rest is the perquisite of the rocks and trees and beasts. Unpremeditated music is the true gauge which measures the current of our thoughts, the very undertow of our life’s stream. [Journal, 18 August 1841]

Also if interested, here's a link to the text of the essay mentioned above called "Life Without Principle." Happy reading!

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Life_Without_Principle

Walden Pond (yes I'm Back!!!) & the "Reading" Chapter

Hi All,

No you're not dreaming....I have in fact put up another post here at my happy blog!! :D

I've been quite busy this year with getting my second bachelors (this time in Accounting....my first one is in English Literature of course). ;) But it looks like I'll be graduating by the end of this year (God willing) and so I've got a bit of time on my hands now to devote to the blog again (yeah!). :)

I decided to do a video on chapter 3 of Walden Pond called READING. This is a powerful and very compact chapter that speaks VOLUMES (no pun intended!!). Of course I love it and almost swear by the precepts found within it. In fact it makes me want to read and get far more familiar with the Ancient writers even further. So perhaps I'll get to that more in 2012 (hopefully). :D :D

Well the video post for my discussion with you of this chapter of Reading is right here below (parts 2 and 3 weren't uploading to the blog correctly so I put the web links below for you to cut and paste instead):

READING CHAPTER PART 1 OF 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qXZqeTdt8w

READING CHAPTER PART 2 OF 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSKj0otXI8Y

READING CHAPTER PART 3 OF 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRwtBC-iF5M

Here's the Shakespearean Sonnet I mentioned about the leaves changing, Death, and Time (in case you were interested in reading that). I thought it was Sonnet 74 but it turns out to actually be Sonnet 73 (pretty darn close though eh?!!?) :D :D

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
   This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
   To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.


And here's the link to where I got the sonnet in case you were curious:

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/73

I've been seriously MIA!!

Hey all,

Sorry I have been seriously MIA the past couple weeks!!! What with the holidays, family time, the new year, work, new ventures, ordinary life/living, etc. the Lit blog has seriously been neglected!!! But an old buddy of mine was like, "Hey I miss that blog!! Get back to posting!!" So I have and here I am!! Sorry for the delay and I hope your family and holiday times were wonderful for you too.

I don't have a post here per say but rather just a quick hello to say I'm back!!!

Hopefully soon as I do have many irons in the fire as they say but we'll definitely be getting back to Walden Pond soon enough!!! :D

I have been reading in the meanwhile LOTS of Shakespeare over the break and just LOVING IT!!! He really is one of the absolute best!!! As well as listening to an esteemed academic talk about Shakespeare...Peter Saccio from Dartmouth. It's been lovely as well. :D

I've also been reading from the Gospel of Thomas as of late and just loving it!! I really do hope to get some lines of that up on the blog here and share my thoughts on that mysterious piece for sure.

Well that's all for now and much Love, Light, and Literature to you all!!!

Random Poetry!!! #2 -- John Keats -- Ode to a Nightingale

One of my favorite Romantic Poets is John Keats. An absolutely incredible man and in my personal opinion a true genius. He died at 26 due to Tuberculosis and by that time his works had already outpaced most writers that have ever existed in Western Civilization (after quitting his career as a dresser/surgeon/doctor). His personal letters are just as enthralling as his poetry and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND all of you to read up on his mysterious idea of negative capability. He didn't say much about negative capability but it's just GREAT. Here's a snippet:

what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously--I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason

...just fascinating stuff...maybe we'll do a little post on that alone (or on Keats alone) at some point...but alas not today! This quote comes from this letter by John Keats to his brothers George and Thomas on 12/21/1817.

Today we shall simply read Keats' Ode to a Nightingale...which is quite truly one of my favorite poems of all time...Keats created his own ode form with an original rhyme scheme, metrical footing, and lines for his verses. Its just wonderful b/c his FORM matches up with the MEANING of these odes and that is just INCREDIBLE to me, which all match up with many romantic notions of literature (by Romantic I mean the Romantic movement in literature---similar in music with Beethoven, etc.---and NOT romance like cheesy love relations---they are decidedly different just fyi).

Keats was HUGELY influenced by William Wordsworth and since in our last post of Random Poetry we were read Wordsworth's poem called "Tintern Abbey," I thought it would be fitting to share with you some lines from one of Keats' letters to a friend and what he had to say not only about Tintern Abbey but about Wordsworth at large (and in comparison to John Milton--the poet who wrote "Paradise Lost"--the great epic poem for the English Language--maybe we'll read that at some point too who knows. It's quite a fun read indeed!). Anyway here's the lines from Keats' letter:

the World is full of Misery and Heartbreak, Pain, Sickness and oppression - whereby This Chamber of Maiden Thought become gradually darken'd and at the same time on all sides of it many doors are set open - but all dark - all leading to dark passages - We see not the ballance of good and evil.  We are in a Mist - We are now in that state - We feel the "burden of the Mystery," To this point was Wordsworth come, as far as I can conceive when he wrote 'Tintern Abbey' and it seems to me that his Genius is explorative of those dark Passages.  Now if we live, and go on thinking, we too shall explore them.  He is a Genius and superior [to] us, in so far as he can, more than we, make discoveries, and shed a light in them - Here I must think Wordsworth is deeper than Milton - though I think it has depended more upon the general and gregarious advance of intellect, than individual greatness of Mind - From the Paradise Lost and the other Works of Milton, I hope it is not too presuming, even between ourselves to say, his Philosophy, human and divine, may be tolerably understood by one not much advanced in years…He [Milton] did not think into the human heart, as Wordsworth has done - Yet Milton as a Philosopher, had sure as great powers as Wordsworth - What is then to be inferr'd?  O many things - It proves there is really a grand march of intellect - , it proves that a mighty providence subdues the mightiest Minds to the service of the time being, whether it be in human Knowledge or Religion

Here's a link to the letter where I got this quote from: http://englishhistory.net/keats/letters/reynolds3May1818.html

And here's a link to a great site to get some of John Keats' Letters (not all unfortunately): http://englishhistory.net/keats/letters.html

So without further adieu...here's a copy of the poem for you to read to yourself. I am too busy right now to read it and post a video with the text so alas today is just for you! But that's good too b/c you can start to really read the poetry you see before your eyes...that is with enthusiasm, energy, passion!! As my late great professor Richard Tobias would say..."you gotta feel it in your bones!"

Well cheers to good old Tobes with this one that I have always felt deep in my bones!

Ode to a Nightingale

MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,	5
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.	10
O for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delvèd earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country-green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South!	15
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stainèd mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:	20
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs,	25
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs;
Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.	30
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,	35
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.	40
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmèd darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;	45
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast-fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.	50
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,	55
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.	60
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path	65
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.	70
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades	75
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—do I wake or sleep?	80

Walden Pond Continued Reading Round #2

Hi all,

So I've been itching to get this post out for days now!! I hope you are all doing well out there in your worlds.

I don't know about you but I've been reading Walden again and just loving it!! I wonder if you are too and if our first round of Walden Pond discussions got you thinking and viewing the text any differently?!?! Regardless, here's round #2 of readings...this time we have four 15 min. videos for your viewing pleasure...I am just going to go and go until I feel it prudent and time to stop the vids...I figure you of course will watch you want anyway so why not just do what I do right!?! I mean it is my blog anyway!!

Much love to you all and happy reading and viewing and THINKING!!!

Random Poetry!!! -- #1 Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth

Okay so here is a fragment of a larger video that I just couldn't put together and get onto youtube for some WEIRD REASON...it just wasn't accepting the cut and pasted version of quicktime...oh well!!

Originally this had a video of me talking a bit before and after the poem but alas it is no more...so you just really have the reading of the poem now.



Rather than "talk about" my opinions and views towards this poem, I will instead leave you with a few (hopefully) thought-provoking questions to maybe lead you into the text a bit further. Man when I read this I really FELT the poem in my bones if you will...and really that is the best way to read poems...through YOUR BONES!!! Let great poetry really sink into you that deeply so you can really FEEL IT reverberating inside your very sinews!! yeah! That's what poetry is really all about. :D One of my professors from college said that you can't even BEGIN to understand a poem until you've read at least 20 times...so there you go!! A reading of Tintern Abbey for you to watch 20 times over!! haha!! happy poetry to ya!!

P.S.--I hope to get at least one poem out each week for ya'll just to keep things rolling and moving for your viewing pleasure and I hopefully can get 1 reading session of Walden Pond out each week as well...that's the intention...let's see if we can make it.

P.S.S--I don't necessarily intend to do much "talking and analyzing" of the poems I post up here for ya'll...I really just more intend to read them and let them "be" if you will...let them stand on their own ground and muster and let you grapple and work with them and manipulate (or not) them as you deem fit. Of course any questions, comments, ideas, thoughts, feelings, inspirations, pains, memories YOU GET from reading the poems would all be welcome and enjoyed over here at the blog. Feel free to post away! (also if you have any poetry or poet requests feel free to post them as well here at the running reading list post too!)

Much Love, Enjoy, and happy reading!!!

#1. Does this poem praise or condemn the “common man,” the ramhackle ordinariness of life? And WHY (on what grounds) does this poem seek to praise or condemn that?

#2. What does this poem state is the value of "Nature" to man…to this very speaker in the poem?

#3. What is the relationship between this speaker and the world around him? Does a relationship between inner and outer worlds for him work in his favor or to his detriment? How and why?

#4. Consider how your answers to question #3 relate to POLITICS and ECONOMICS. Do your conclusions lead you into new or "revolutionary" ideas about the individual and his (or her) relationship to society? How, if at all, does these ideas relate to the hopes (as well as the actual outcomes) of the French Revolution?

My Apologies...I am still here!!

Quick post to ya'll...I am very sorry I haven't posted anything in the past week or two. I actually do have a post that I have wanted to get up for a week now and just have NOT been able to get it together with editing it correctly...I'll edit it and then youtube won't accept it or if they do accept it then it won't show some of the inserted clips into it...blah, blah, blah...very frustrating.

I do have stuff coming out I just need to finangle with the tech side of stuff longer. I also have some new things going on in my life now so my time is a bit more eaten up with those things as well...fear not though fellow readers!! We shall be back soon enough!!!

Wishing you all a lovely holiday and be well!!

MT :)