Life in Bits of Poetry and in Other Things | "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." So wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). This blog is primarily for adults.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
"September 1, 1939" by W. H. Auden
"We must love one another or die," wrote W. H. Auden (1907-1973) in his long poem "September 1, 1939." To read that poem in its entirety, click here.
Article: "Notes from Auden Land" by Austin Allen
Read this essay on why W. H. Auden is as essential to our times as George Orwell: Notes from Auden Land by Austin Allen
Monday, May 1, 2017
"Out of May's Shows Selected" by Walt Whitman
Here is a short poem by Walt Whitman for spring, the season of renewal.
OUT OF MAY'S SHOWS SELECTED
Apple orchards, the trees all cover'd with blossoms;
Wheat fields carpeted far and near in vital emerald green;
The eternal, exhaustless freshness of each early morning;
The yellow, golden, transparent haze of the warm afternoon sun;
The aspiring lilac bushes with profuse purple or white flowers.
Source: The Language of Spring: Poems for the Season of Renewal (2003), Selected by Robert Atwan, with an Introduction by Maxine Kumin
OUT OF MAY'S SHOWS SELECTED
Apple orchards, the trees all cover'd with blossoms;
Wheat fields carpeted far and near in vital emerald green;
The eternal, exhaustless freshness of each early morning;
The yellow, golden, transparent haze of the warm afternoon sun;
The aspiring lilac bushes with profuse purple or white flowers.
Source: The Language of Spring: Poems for the Season of Renewal (2003), Selected by Robert Atwan, with an Introduction by Maxine Kumin
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Saturday, April 29, 2017
"Haiku: April" by Monty Gilmer
Here is a new haiku of mine that first appeared in the 24th Edition, the Spring 2017 edition, of The Bluestone Review, a literary magazine published annually at Bluefield College.
HAIKU: APRIL
by Monty Gilmer
Now that April has
Strewed at our feet dozens of
Daisies, it is spring.
HAIKU: APRIL
by Monty Gilmer
Now that April has
Strewed at our feet dozens of
Daisies, it is spring.
Friday, April 28, 2017
John Stuart Mill and his Principles of Political Economy
JOHN STUART MILL
A clerihew from Biography for Beginners (1905)
by Edmund Clerihew Bentley
John Stuart Mill,
By a mighty effort of will,
Overcame his natural bonhomie
And wrote "Principles of Political Economy."
A clerihew from Biography for Beginners (1905)
by Edmund Clerihew Bentley
John Stuart Mill,
By a mighty effort of will,
Overcame his natural bonhomie
And wrote "Principles of Political Economy."
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
English philosopher and economist
Four great quotations from Principles of Political Economy (1848)
by John Stuart Mill
"Man's power over Nature should be used to shorten the hours of work."
"Unproductive consumption, if it adds to the joy of life, may be regarded as a true economic surplus."
"There is not much satisfaction in contemplating a world with scarcely a place where a wild shrub or flower could grow without being eradicated as a weed in the name of improved agriculture."
"Money is only a medium of exchange."
Principles of Political Economy (1848)
by John Stuart Mill
Thursday, April 27, 2017
A Poem by Emily Dickinson about Fire and Flood
Here is a short, untitled poem by Emily Dickinson.
You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --
You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor --
You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --
You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor --
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
American poet
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