Sand and me have handled the most bizarre briefs

[jadesfire]

Poetry isn't something I generally connect to, but just as last year was my experiment in 'trying to understand vids', I thought I'd use this poetry month to try out some poetry. I went through a phase of memorising it, although the only things I can remember now are the couplets of "If" in a more or less random order, "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's Day", a couple of Yeats poems and this one:


She walks in beauty, like the night
Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!


And while we're on the subject, I can't recommend the Mark Steel lecture on Byron highly enough. He has a few series on 'People with a Passion' and is a joy to listen to.

Oh, and not directly on that subject, but related to the idea of 'People with a Passion', if you can access the BBC iPlayer, try the latest Horizon programme. (apiphile, you'll like this - it's an hour of Marcus du Sautoy getting enthusiastic about maths and at one point they scan his brain :D) I swear, I fangirl that man to an embarrassing degree. Since the programme features Alan Davies getting maths lessons, you can also watch it and see where I went to school! We even had the same maths teacher *g*

I have a whole load more links I wanted to share with you, but for now, I'll settle for Diablo III - Archivist. There's more like this under my 'LJ' tag at my delicious account if anyone wants to get a head start on my next linkspam.

And if anyone spots my life while they're out and about, please send it back, along with the sleep that I seem to be missing at the moment. Ta muchly :)

Comments

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

Ooooo Thanks for the link on the lecture. I'm not a big fan of contemporary poetry, but the older it gets, the more I like it. I do have to confess to a love for the Romantics, though. And for poetry from the 1700s. *shrug*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Mark steel is a genius, definitely - he's got a current series on R4 that is briliant. My favourite in the series is actually Beethoven, but the Byron one is good too.

Hee! Well, I plan to post some Roman poetry in the next few days so that might be a better era for you ;)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I tried to read that Diablo page to figure out what it is, but the gyrating man with the tremor was freaking me out! I covered him with a card and it was better. *g* I'm thinking it's some sort of fictional world related to a video game? Ack, I just went to the home page and there are more gyrating people! Why can't the internet be *still*? /is apparently an elderly lady

I had forgotten it's Poetry Month! I might go through my other journal and unlock some of the poetry I've been collecting over the years. I haven't memorized any in awhile, either, but it used to be a great way to keep my brain occupied in a constructive way.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I think it was made for April fools, but it seems to have taken on a life of its own. I approve of archivist/librarian heroes :)

That sounds like a very good thing to alternate with the crazy marking time. I'm not going to get a poem up every day, I don't think, but I'll dig up what I can, when I can. :)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

What is it spoofing, though? A video game? Oh, maybe an online roleplaying game? I've never seen one, only read about them, so I'm taking a shot in the dark. Is it implausible that there would be an archivist character in one of those types of games? Most of the fantasy worlds I've been exposed to *have* had libraries and well respected keepers of books and history, so that aspect didn't seem odd.

Even if you don't post, browsing for poems is a good use of time, imo. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Have you heard Sissel's sung version of the first few lines, from the Vanity Fair movie a few years back? It's pretty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3_vz7ApKXg

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's beautiful, thanks. I love this poem mostly because of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia - my school did a production of it in my last year and it was absolutely magical.

I'll have to look up more about Sissel :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

She did a beautiful duet with the Danish band Sort Sol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XIkYklgCo

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

I'm hopeless at poetry, but if you feel like branching out into medieval epic poems I can recommend a few - the Dream of the Rood and Beowulf (particularly Seamus Heaney's version) are lovely :D Otherwise it's just not my thing. I like a few poets - W.H.Auden and Robert Frost write poems which really appeal to me - but for the most part I just don't 'get it'. I mean, I can admire a finely turned phrase and I can pick apart the meter and the structure just fine. But it doesn't move me on any deep level.

Having said which, I keep seeing this everywhere at the moment, and I really like it:

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.

It's by Hafiz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafez), or to be more accurate by one of his translators (redactors might be more accurate still...), but whatever. I like it :)

*sends you sleepy vibes and cocoa*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I'm pretty much the same. Yeats definitely moves me, as do some Roman poets, but otherwise I tend to be the same about poems as I am about music, picking up random things I like while most of it passes me by.

That's really lovely, thanks. And I've not heard of The Dream of the Rood, so I'll put it on my list :)

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. I do like that one - Byron evidently had issues with women, but he did write beautiful poetry.

I too can remember odd bits from 'If' - one day I'll memorise it. I did that about eight years ago with Tennyson's Ulysses, and I can still recite most of it.

I'll send your sleep back if I find it - it's probably out hobnobbing with mine.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* Nice to see you though *passes blanket*

Ooh, Ulysses is another one I love. Must post that at some point... Thanks :D

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*snuggles up with blanket*

[caersmane.livejournal.com]

Ooooo Thanks for the link on the lecture. I'm not a big fan of contemporary poetry, but the older it gets, the more I like it. I do have to confess to a love for the Romantics, though. And for poetry from the 1700s. *shrug*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Mark steel is a genius, definitely - he's got a current series on R4 that is briliant. My favourite in the series is actually Beethoven, but the Byron one is good too.

Hee! Well, I plan to post some Roman poetry in the next few days so that might be a better era for you ;)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I tried to read that Diablo page to figure out what it is, but the gyrating man with the tremor was freaking me out! I covered him with a card and it was better. *g* I'm thinking it's some sort of fictional world related to a video game? Ack, I just went to the home page and there are more gyrating people! Why can't the internet be *still*? /is apparently an elderly lady

I had forgotten it's Poetry Month! I might go through my other journal and unlock some of the poetry I've been collecting over the years. I haven't memorized any in awhile, either, but it used to be a great way to keep my brain occupied in a constructive way.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I think it was made for April fools, but it seems to have taken on a life of its own. I approve of archivist/librarian heroes :)

That sounds like a very good thing to alternate with the crazy marking time. I'm not going to get a poem up every day, I don't think, but I'll dig up what I can, when I can. :)

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

What is it spoofing, though? A video game? Oh, maybe an online roleplaying game? I've never seen one, only read about them, so I'm taking a shot in the dark. Is it implausible that there would be an archivist character in one of those types of games? Most of the fantasy worlds I've been exposed to *have* had libraries and well respected keepers of books and history, so that aspect didn't seem odd.

Even if you don't post, browsing for poems is a good use of time, imo. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Have you heard Sissel's sung version of the first few lines, from the Vanity Fair movie a few years back? It's pretty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3_vz7ApKXg

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's beautiful, thanks. I love this poem mostly because of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia - my school did a production of it in my last year and it was absolutely magical.

I'll have to look up more about Sissel :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

She did a beautiful duet with the Danish band Sort Sol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XIkYklgCo

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

I'm hopeless at poetry, but if you feel like branching out into medieval epic poems I can recommend a few - the Dream of the Rood and Beowulf (particularly Seamus Heaney's version) are lovely :D Otherwise it's just not my thing. I like a few poets - W.H.Auden and Robert Frost write poems which really appeal to me - but for the most part I just don't 'get it'. I mean, I can admire a finely turned phrase and I can pick apart the meter and the structure just fine. But it doesn't move me on any deep level.

Having said which, I keep seeing this everywhere at the moment, and I really like it:

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.

It's by Hafiz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafez), or to be more accurate by one of his translators (redactors might be more accurate still...), but whatever. I like it :)

*sends you sleepy vibes and cocoa*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I'm pretty much the same. Yeats definitely moves me, as do some Roman poets, but otherwise I tend to be the same about poems as I am about music, picking up random things I like while most of it passes me by.

That's really lovely, thanks. And I've not heard of The Dream of the Rood, so I'll put it on my list :)

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. I do like that one - Byron evidently had issues with women, but he did write beautiful poetry.

I too can remember odd bits from 'If' - one day I'll memorise it. I did that about eight years ago with Tennyson's Ulysses, and I can still recite most of it.

I'll send your sleep back if I find it - it's probably out hobnobbing with mine.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* Nice to see you though *passes blanket*

Ooh, Ulysses is another one I love. Must post that at some point... Thanks :D

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*snuggles up with blanket*