11-21-2004, 02:36 PM | #41 | ||
Fëanorophobic
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Anyway, BUMP! How about trying to interpret this poem (I can't make any sense out of it): Quote:
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11-21-2004, 03:58 PM | #42 |
Lady of Letters
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I'll have a go (as penance )
I think "he" refers to God and therefore it's about the fear that the apparent absence of God, which could be seen as a way of increasing the joy at his presence, may actually turn out to be a real absence. She's afraid of finding only "death's stiff stare" where she expected to find a loving God.
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
11-21-2004, 04:01 PM | #43 | |
Fëanorophobic
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Great explanation! I think you're right. But why would she call it a "jest"?
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11-21-2004, 04:08 PM | #44 | ||
Lady of Letters
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Quote:
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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11-29-2004, 07:51 AM | #45 | |
Fëanorophobic
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11-29-2004, 01:05 PM | #46 |
Lady of Letters
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You mean she would have used a capital letter? Yes, you're probably right... hmm...
Well, she didn't really have hard and fast rules on capitalisation, I suppose. It usually depends on the editor of the poems. This version has lots of capitals in it.
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
12-19-2004, 04:45 AM | #47 | ||
Elven Warrior
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Quote:
Quote:
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"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
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12-19-2004, 07:08 AM | #48 | |
Fëanorophobic
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Welcome to the club, Minielin!
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12-19-2004, 06:21 PM | #49 | |
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Quote:
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"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
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12-21-2004, 12:03 AM | #50 |
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The poem reminds me very much of religion classes last year, where we were told that as much as we want to see God, we wouldn't be able to handle the pure embodiment of happiness. Our souls would leap from our bodies to Heaven in joy, and so we have to wait for death. In her first stanza, she touches upon God's holding back in that sense; in the second she relates to him as that instant happiness, which I think implies also immeasuarbility; and the third sort of says "if we were on the edge of life, and he revealed himself," the fourth completes "we'd die--he's too good for us." I think by "jest" she's refering to how we kid our own selves, wishing to see God.
I really enjoy art. Even watching movies or reading simple little books, I'm thrilled by the depth and the moral, never the mindless action sequences. But I've never actively researched poetry, really art at its highest in my opinion. Still, this one is the one poem I most relate to, by any author: We never know how high we are Till we are asked to rise And then if we are true to plan Our statures touch the skies— The Heroism we recite Would be a normal thing Did not ourselves the Cubits warp For fear to be a King—
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Could it be that one path to enlightenment leads through insanity? Last edited by Bombadillo : 12-21-2004 at 12:20 AM. |
12-21-2004, 04:22 AM | #51 |
Fëanorophobic
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This poem is one of my favorites, too, Bombadillo. It's amazing how much meaning she can put into a few lines!
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01-02-2005, 03:27 AM | #52 | |
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Quote:
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"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
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01-02-2005, 10:04 AM | #53 | |
Fëanorophobic
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Read to this ED poem about love:
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01-02-2005, 02:12 PM | #54 |
Elf Lord
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Humanity is the pinnacle of the created order and thus recapitulates in proper order the animal and spiritual aspects of love from the insensate material through the nonsentient plant kingdom and sentient animal kingdom to the conscious, gloriously material consummation of them all in human love between man and woman! " 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!"
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Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941 |
01-03-2005, 09:06 AM | #55 | |
Fëanorophobic
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01-03-2005, 12:23 PM | #56 |
Elf Lord
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Beren3000,
I've always enjoyed ED. This thread has re-ignited the enjoyment. I shall have to read her more and not only anthologized!
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Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941 |
01-08-2005, 03:51 PM | #57 |
Fëanorophobic
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Here's a new question:
ED said that she chose exile by herself, but I always felt that this was her reaction to her being unpopular in her community. Do you think it was self chosen exile and that she thought (like Thoreau) "to live deep and suck all the marrow out of life" or was it merely a defensive attitude towards people who rejected her? |
01-08-2005, 05:35 PM | #58 |
Elven Warrior
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From ED:
"This is my letter to the world that never wrote to me." "The soul selects her own society and then shuts the door." "I guess it's best to abandon paths when you find they lead nowhere."
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"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
01-08-2005, 06:27 PM | #59 | ||
Fëanorophobic
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But ED also wrote:
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01-09-2005, 01:11 AM | #60 |
Elven Warrior
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I have heard speculation that she was agoraphobic (complete with panic attacks) as well as that she felt too deeply to take part in a superficial society life. Not sure how much validity there are in those theories.
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"...then how shall I Revive the dying tones of minstrelsy, Which linger yet about lone gothic arches, In dark green ivy, and among wild larches?" Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum. |
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