William Wordsworth I

Here are a few poems to get you started on Wordsworth:

"I Wandered Lonely As A Child"

"The World Is Too Much With Us"

"My Heart Leaps Up"

"Mutability"

A capella Ben Harper

Malcolm X: Oxford Union Debate

Nineteen

Fast Car--Tracy Chapman

Thomas Gray

Here is the link to Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

The assignment should be typed and ready turn in at the beginning of class on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Here's a Thought

Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. - Buddha

Dress Code

Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrell, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee, June 30, 1922.

Tooter the Turtle

Proud Tigers

Mario Martinez and I attended the Arkansas Tennis Association's annual awards banquet last night. My tennis team was recognized for winning the Southern Sectional Championship and finishing second in the nation. Mario won the Herschel Friday Outstanding Junior Award, in recognition of "ability and excellence in junior tennis, and achievements in sportsmanship, character and citizenship."

When asked about his most memorable match (at the podium in front of like 300 people) Mario said, "My most memorable match was the finals of the high school state championships. It was an honor to carry on the 11 year winning tradition at Central High." Can you say dynasty?

Good job Mario. We're all very proud of you. Way to represent.

Another

by Robert Herrick

Here a pretty baby lies

Sung asleep with lullabies:

Pray be silent and not stir

Th' easy earth that covers her.

The first three lines of this lyric describe a sleeping baby. At the fourth line, this understanding is shaken. The baby is covered, not by a blanket, but by earth. That is, the baby has been buried. The baby is dead. This realization provokes a sharp emotional reaction, an almost physical pang.

Upon Julia's Clothes

by Robert Herrick

WHENAS in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes.

Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free ;
O how that glittering taketh me !

The poem is made up of two tercets--3 line stanzas connected by rhyme. The speaker muses on Julia's style, beauty and grace. Oh yeah, he finds her sexy too.

FML

Sir John Suckling (left) and Richard Lovelace (right)

A couple of notes on the reading for tomorrow:

First, you might need some vocabulary help with Suckling's poems. "Out upon it!" is an old expression of self-indignation comparable to the modern day saying, "FML!" Wan means sickly looking--all green and clammy and dizzy. Both of these poems deal with falling in love with a woman who makes you weak in the knees.

Lovelace's poems (pronounced love-less) are Neoclassical. Althea and Lucasta are the names of idealized women from Ancient Greece. So the speakers of the poems are comparing their women to Greek goddesses.

I'll talk more about this stuff in class. The next couple of discussions should be fun.

Carpe diem

All four of these poems are fabulous! Make sure to print the text of the poems for class next time. Carpe diem quam credula postera.

"Out Upon It" by Sir John Suckling

"Why So Pale and Wan" by Sir John Suckling

"To Althea From Prison" by Richard Lovelace

"To Lucasta on Going to the Wars" by Richard Lovelace