Saturday, May 30, 2009

Anthology

18th century poems:

Soneto
Amor constante*


Antes al cielo faltarán estrellas,
al mar peligros, pájaros al viento,
al sol su resplandor y movimiento,
y al fuego abrasador vivas centellas;

antes al campo producciones bellas,
al monte horror, al llano esparcimiento,
torpes envidias al merecimiento,
y al no admitido amor tristes querellas;

antes sus flores a la primavera,
ardores inclementes al estío,
al otoño abundancia lisonjera,

y al aterido invierno hielo y frío,
que ceda un punto de su fe primera,
cuanto menos que falte el amor mío.

Vicente García de la Huerta


*También intitulado Explicación de la firmeza del verdadero amor.

I’ve chosen this poem simply because it expresses in quite a few words how great and infinite love can be.



A Dream –Songs of Innocence-

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my Angel-guarded bed,
That an Emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, 'wilder'd, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangled spray,
All heart-broken I heard her say:

"O, my children! do they cry?
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see:
Now return and weep for me.''

Pitying, I drop'd a tear;
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied: "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?

"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home.''

- William Blake




Laughing Song

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, Ha, He!''

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,
Come live & be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, Ha, He!''

- William Blake

In the case of these two William Blake’s poems, the main reason why I chose them is the clear image you can easily picture in your mind as you read them.

Anthology

My Poems


‘I am from’ poem:

I am from the corner where a gust of wind and an infinite calm meet
I am daughter of the sweetest song and the saddest poem
I believe in the power of your salty tears
I dream of your smile drawn on every moon
I am from the corner where a gust of wind and an infinite calm meet



Kind Gardens

Flying flag
Cut corks
Clown cake
Green pinafore
Kind Marita

Cheerful Adriana
Pleasant days
Shiny sun


Windmill

Windmill
Speeds
As the wind
Blows,
Showing

Its
Unachievable dream
Of flying.

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Little Black Boy

Some classes ago, we were asked to present our own interpretation of a chosen poem using Power Point presentation... Once again, the class was great! Each group interpreted the poem it had chosen in a different way: asking questions to the poem itself (good work Jan!), relating it to songs, using images, focusing on its historical / social context, giving emphasis to the author's biography, etc. I think we are doing a good job, let's go on working!

Below you will find the interpretation Janeth and I did. (I'd have liked to upload the PPp, but I'm not sure whether it is possible... :( )


THE LITTLE BLACK BOY by William Blake

The author…

• 1757-1827
• English poet, painter and printmaker.
• Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England.
• William never attended school and was educated at home by his mother.
• Blake abhorred slavery and believed in racial and sexual equality.




The poem…
This poem was published in Songs of Innocence and Experience in 1789, during a time when slavery was still legal and the campaign for the abolition of it was just beginning.


My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black as if bereav'd of light.

What do black and white convey in this first stanza?



My mother taught me underneath a tree
And sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And pointing to the east began to say.




Look on the rising sun: there God does live
And gives his light, and gives his heat away.
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning joy in the noonday.

Why does the author chose the word ‘sun’ to represent the place where God lives?



And we are put on earth a little space,

That we may learn to bear the beams of love,
And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.



For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish we shall hear his voice.
Saying: come out from the grove my love & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.

‘Come out from the grove…’ What does it mean?


Thus did my mother say and kissed me
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

What does the word ‘cloud’ represent in this stanza?



I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our father’s knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him and he will then love me.

Why does the black boy want to ‘shade him from the heat’?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A nice ship to make a voyage...


Tales in the sand by Neil Gaiman


‘[...]Forget him Nada. Find a breathing man made of blood and bone and flesh and skin. This other can never be yours'' said the bird king.’

Regardless the warnings, she did swallow the flaming berry the little weaver bird had brought her and she fell down as in a deep sleep where she met Kai’ckul.

After I read this story by Neil Gaiman, I started wondering why we always tend to chose what is not suitable, not possible or even forbidden. Why is it that the impossible love is much sweeter than the one we can have? Why is it that the option everyone warns us not to take is the one that attracts us most? Why is it that temptation is stronger than ever when we know that something is strictly prohibited? Is it idle curiosity or a human need of breaking the rules?



Sunday, May 3, 2009

Boule de Suif: my interpretation...

This short-story written by French author Guy de Maupassant is set in the Franco-Prussian War and is about the trip of ten French civilians leaving Rouen (recently occupied by the Prussians) and fleeing to Le Havre in a coach.
From my point of view, the story has several themes, some of them clearly stated and some others less noticeable, but all of them equally important and controversial. I might say that patriotism, social classes and religion are the ones that called my attention in first place. But then, as I went on reading, I found morality an interesting issue. Boule de Suif, whose birth name is Mademoiselle Élisabeth Rousset, is an attractive and desirable courtesan and an immoral woman in the eyes of her apparently respectable travel companions. In spite of the fact that her work on bringing pleasure to men may be seen as sinful, she is actually the only one in the coach who truly possess a code of ethics. I think this is clearly shown when she refuses to sleep with the Prussian Commandant, since sleeping with the enemy would mean breaking the set of rules that she holds with much conviction. Finally, and after being manipulated by the other passengers, she do commit what she considers an immoral act in order to free herself and her companions. Once again, here it appears the respectable passengers’s lack of moral values who not only do not thank her for her act but also show her great disrespect.
As a conclusion, I think we should all try not to prejudge since not everything is what it seems to be.


Bibliography:

http://www.sgcfrench.co.uk/Notes%20on%20Contes%20de%20la%20Guerre2007.htm


My "Painterpretation":