Sara Teasdale ( 8 Aug 1884 Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA –29 Jan 1933 (aged 48) New York, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA ) well known in her time for lyric poetry that celebrated the beautiful things in life, even as she herself struggled with perpetual illness and loneliness.Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she was the daughter of wealthy parents. In her young adult years in St. Louis, she was part of a group of creative, talented young women who called themselves the Potters. They hand-printed a magazine called The Potter’s Wheel, where Sara’s early poems were first published.
This led to the publication of her first book, Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems in 1907. She was twenty-three at the time of its publication.noted for winning the first Columbia Poetry Prize in 1918, a prize that would later be renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. . Her third collection of poems, “Rivers to the Sea” was published in 1915 and she won the annual prize of the Poetry Society of America for “Love Songs” in 1917. Her other noted works included “Flame and Shadow” (1920), “Rainbow Gold For Children” (1922), “Dark of the Moon” (1926) and “Stars to the Night” (1930). BURIAL : Bellefontaine Cemetery Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA : Sara Teasdale : From findagrave.comSara Teasdale : BURIAL Beneath the ‘Good Earth’: In frail health with pneumonia, she took her own life with an overdose of barbiturates atage 48in New York City. : :: NOTE : : Cremation of a dead body with Fire / Firewoods / Electric Pyre gives away of Body Organics in to HEAT ONLY , which is a Wastage. BURIAL Beneath the ‘Good Earth’ is Preferable for that way , the body Organics will be devoured by So many Microorganisms and Bacterias & Worms who gratefully receive Life Energy from the Humans for their precious Living On Our Good Earth which gives all what we have in ourlifetime. Lightening strikes Manhattan, the New York city : Night View during thunderstorm
June Night : : by Sara Teasdale : : : : OH Earth, you are too dear to-night, How can I sleep while all around Floats rainy fragrance and the far Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground? Oh Earth, you gave me all I have, I love you, I love you,—oh what have I That I can give you in return— Except my body after I die?
— Sara Teasdale
“June Night “, An Eight lines June Poem By Sara Teasdale ( August 8, 1884 – January 29, 1933 ) is About A woman who doesn’t want to sleep on a “June night” as she floated across the place all around with the “rainy fragrance” and upon “the ground” with “Deep voice of the ocean talking to that ground.” Her psyche becomes ready to reveal her gesture ‘in loving the Nature’ , Here “Earth”, her only audience she hascommunicatedwith, being grateful for all she has , given by it.Getting adrift in this fashion, on associated beauty with the harmonies of the Natural World, she spiritually, set afloat, literally in motion due to fragrant air , and water current, making “voice”, “afar”, and all around her psyche. And then , as it has always happened with her, she once again expresses the fact of her own mortality with disenchantment as well as disappointments on findingout that she has nothing to give in return , as good as hoped to love ( Natural World : The Earth , this time in this poem ; Good Earth , , as HERE BY ; Not desertion of a love. ) Yet , she always has her second one , an option , she used to face , that is “Death”. So , she says “—oh what have I That I can give you in return— Except my body after I die?” : : The question she has contemplated by the ‘Good Earth’ Let us believe , Not Cynicism ! Is this her disillusionment with her own life she faces and presents in her so many love Songs / Poems of LOVE & BEAUTY !? : : God bless you , Sara Teasdale, beneath the Good Earth.: : : :
“June Night”, A June Poem By Sara Teasdale Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 4 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
Adlestrop : A June Poem By Edward Thomas : Image via geograph : For Educational Purposes only. : : Adlestrop A June Poem written by Thomas on June 24, 1914, while he was on a train going from Oxford to Worcester. The train made an unscheduled stop at Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, where Thomas took the opportunity to fill his notebook with observations about the place before the train moved again. He later used these observationsto write this poem. : :
Adlestrop : : by Edward Thomas : : : : Yes, I remember Adlestrop – The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop – only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
“Adlestrop”, Britain’s 20 Th Most Famous Poem , By Edward Thomas (1878-1917) is About the Railway Station by the name , Adlestrop, which was there once upon a time, but then , no more since 1966 ( during the infamous Beeching cuts ) It is now a place with a bench with this Poem inscribed on it , that occupies the place where the station couldbe found, all those years ago. Its Poet, Edward Thomas saw it, but, of course, he never did see it.’ He never got off the train, just passing through as he was. In 2014, the year of the centenary of Thomas’s ‘visit’ there, local Adlestrop resident Ralph Price said: ‘We get lots of visitors who want to see the place as Thomas saw it. American poet Robert Frost who encouraged Thomas to give poetry a go. Edward Thomas was on his way to Robert Frost’s home near Ledbury on that momentous day ‘in late June’ ( A journey started from Oxford to Worcester by an express train ) , when his train made that unexpected stop at Adlestrop (formerly Titlestrop) in Gloucestershire, a tiny village in the Cotswolds. This unscheduled stop occurred. 24 June 1914 is just six weeks before the outbreak of WWI. After that, as Philip Larkin put it, ‘Never such innocence again.’ Like Rupert Brooke’s ‘The Old Vicarage, Grantchester‘, ‘Adlestrop’ describes the England of sunny innocence before August 1914, when the First World War would change everything. Thomas, too, to stop, pause, contemplate, observe, and admire the surroundings. It describes the beauty of the English countryside and the flora and fauna there. He writes,”No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop – only the name.”: : : : The hidden peculiarity of Thomas’s poem lies in the remarkable uneventfulness of what it describes about a place where hardly hundred people lived. : : : :
Notes for each of the 16 lines pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 3 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
Robert Browning ( 7 May 1812 Camberwell, London – 12 December 1889 (aged 77) Venice, Italy : Resting place Westminster Abbey) : Photo By Hulton Archive/Getty Images : : Alma mater University College London : Spouse Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poet, m 1846, died 1861 : Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax. :His early long poems Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835) were acclaimed, but his reputation dwindled for a time – his 1840 poem Sordello was seen as wilfully obscure – and took over a decade to recover, by which time he had moved from Shelleyan forms to a more personal style : : Notable works : “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, Men and Women, A Book length Epic Poem , “The Ring and the Book”, Dramatis Personae, Dramatic Lyrics, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, , Asolando, “My LastDuchess : : By his death in 1889 he was the most popular Poet in England and was seen as a sage and philosopher-poet who had fed into Victorian social and political discourse. Societies for studying his work survived in Britain and the US into the 20th century. In 1930, the story of Browning and his wife was made into the play The Barretts of Wimpole Street, by Rudolph Besier. It was a success and brought popular fame to the couple in the United States. The role of Elizabeth became a signature role for the actress Katharine Cornell. It was twice adapted into film. It was also the basis of the stage musical Robert and Elizabeth, with music by Ron Grainer and book and lyrics by Ronald Millar. : : There is a Browning Street and Robert Browning School in Walworth, London (near to his birthplace in Camberwell).Captioned “Modern Poetry”, caricature of Browning in Vanity Fair, 1875. Browning now popularly known for such poems as Porphyria’s Lover, My Last Duchess, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and also for certain famous lines: “Grow old along with me!” (Rabbi Ben Ezra), “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” and “Less is more” (Andrea Del Sarto), “It was roses, roses all the way” (The Patriot), and “God’s in His heaven—All’s right with the world!” (Pippa Passes). His critical reputation has traditionally rested mainly on his dramatic monologues, in which the words not only convey setting and action but reveal the speaker’s character. In a Browning monologue, unlike a soliloquy, the meaning is not what the speaker voluntarily reveals but what he inadvertently gives away, usually while rationalising past actions or special pleading his case to a silent auditor. These monologues have been influential, and today the best of them are often treated by teachers and lecturers as paradigm cases of the monologue form. : : Ian Jack, in his introduction to the Oxford University Press edition of Browning’s poems 1833–1864, comments that Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot “all learned from Browning’s exploration of the possibilities of dramatic poetry and of colloquial idiom”. : : In Oscar Wilde’s dialogue The Critic as Artist, Browning is given a famously ironical assessment: “He is the most Shakespearean creature since Shakespeare. If Shakespeare could sing with myriad lips, Browning could stammer through a thousand mouths. Yes, Browning was great. And as what will he be remembered? As a poet? Ah, not as a poet! He will be remembered as a writer of fiction, as the most supreme writer of fiction, it may be, that we have ever had. His sense of dramatic situation was unrivalled, and, if he could not answer his own problems, he could at least put problems forth, and what more should an artist do? “.. she left the attic And stole from stair to stair”“And stood by the rose-wreathed gate. Alas !”Old man evokes memories at the Confession room in the Church
Confessions : : By ROBERT BROWNING : : : : What is he buzzing in my ears? “Now that I come to die, Do I view the world as a vale of tears?” Ah, reverend sir, not I!
What I viewed there once, what I view again Where the physic bottles stand On the table’s edge,—is a suburb lane, With a wall to my bedside hand.
That lane sloped, much as the bottles do, From a house you could descry O’er the garden-wall; is the curtain blue Or green to a healthy eye?
To mine, it serves for the old June weather Blue above lane and wall; And that farthest bottle labelled “Ether” Is the house o’ertopping all.
At a terrace, somewhere near the stopper, There watched for me, one June, A girl: I know, sir, it’s improper, My poor mind’s out of tune.
Only, there was a way… you crept Close by the side, to dodge Eyes in the house, two eyes except: They styled their house “The Lodge.”
What right had a lounger up their lane? But, by creeping very close, With the good wall’s help,—their eyes might strain And stretch themselves to Oes,
Yet never catch her and me together, As she left the attic, there, By the rim of the bottle labelled “Ether,” And stole from stair to stair,
And stood by the rose-wreathed gate. Alas, We loved, sir—used to meet: How sad and bad and mad it was— But then, how it was sweet! — Robert Browning
“Confessions” , A 1864 June Poem By Robert Browning is AboutBrowning’s dramatic monologue ‘Confessions,’ and is about the Speaker’s Secretive Meetings with a Girl. He confesses how he regularly met a girl secretly and spent time with her in her attic. A silent reverend clergyman of the church remains present , throughout , in the form of the audience. The memories refer to some “physic bottles” arranged in his room in a specific way. The bottle’s comparison is drawn with how he storedthe memoriesin his mind’slibrary. From his bedroom’s window, he could see the house where a girl lived there with whom he fell in love. Their meetings went on in a smooth fashion. it has made the speaker feel the past views in his youth which afterwards in his old age he confesses. : : : :
Stanza 1 & 2 : : “What is he buzzing in my ears? 1 “Now that I come to die, 2 Do I view the world as a vale of tears?” 3 Ah, reverend sir, not I! 4
What I viewed there once, what I view again 5 Where the physic bottles stand 6 On the table’s edge,—is a suburb lane, 7 With a wall to my bedside hand.” 8 : : : : lines 1 To 8 : : : :
About the Speaker’s Confessions of his “views” ( guilt or sin !? ) before a reverend clergyman at the Church , where the confession ( room ) seems abuzz over this visitation : ( “in my ears”: line 1 ) of the past that appears again before his view. ( line 5 ) A clergyman has asked him if he “views the world as a vale of tears “: that is, a long valley river oftears( line3 ) which is an informal farewell / goodbye remark , because , The Speaker isfeelingthat he“comes close to die” ( line 2 ) : Yet, His life is not viewed as a long valley filled with tears as he “views again” recalling the memories of his youth time which are like ” physic bottles stand On the table’s edge,” ( line 6 ), that is purging , here in the sense of ’emotionally releasing’ : A short of psychotherapeutic and healthful memories ; and not pain- causing.. . It “isa suburb lane,” ( line 7 ) ” With a wall to ( his ) bedside hand.” ( line 8 ) meaning, it is seen from his bedside window. : : : :
Stanza 3 & 4 : : “That lane sloped, much as the bottles do, 9 From a house you could descry 10 O’er the garden-wall; is the curtain blue 11 Or green to a healthy eye? 12
To mine, it serves for the old June weather 13 Blue above lane and wall; 14 And that farthest bottle labelled “Ether” 15 Is the house o’ertopping all .” 16 : : : : lines 9 To 16 : : : :
About the houses as seen from the bedroom window of the Speaker. The lane and the bottles as aforesaid took sloping turn from the house. ( lines 9 & 10 ) : Over the garden wall ; where a colour was seen either blue or green , that is not well remembered, So he is not sure of thecurtain ; however he calls it healthful : blue and green are nonetheless favourably appeasing and gentle. To his “healthy eye” ( line 12 ) the curtain in his impression appears like ” the old June weather : Blue above lane and wall;” ( lines 13 & 14 ) : : And , ” farthest bottle labelled “Ether” ( line 15 ) “Is the house o’ertopping all.” ( line 16 ) Meaning, the house where someone dearly put up was associated with his sweet memories, and commanded the locale. : : : :
Stanza 5 & 6 : : ” At a terrace, somewhere near the stopper, 17 There watched for me, one June,18 A girl: I know, sir, it’s improper, 19 My poor mind’s out of tune. 20
Only, there was a way… you crept 21 Close by the side, to dodge 22 Eyes in the house, two eyes except:23 They styled their house “The Lodge.“ 24 : : lines 17 To 24 : : : :
About improper and humorous way of his secretive meeting with a girl. It happened in the month of June , when his poor mind was “out of tune” ( line 20 ) and so at a terrace, somewhere near the stopper, ( line 17 ) , he crept over slowly and gradually ( like an ivy spreading over the wall! )the way , Close by the side, to dodge” ( line 21& 22 )Meaning , he moved from place to place by maintainingquiet, caution and secrecyin a dodgy way : so as to avoid any watch and answering for performing an improper act. Thus , he dodged the people’s eyes Or say, findings and cleverly carried out a deceitful plan for secret meeting with a girl he used to see during his youth. : : He remembers that house by saying, “They styled their house”The Lodge” ( line 24 ) Meaning , that was a small country house at the entrance that had been occupied probably by a gardener ( sound so , because of the reference in line 10 & 11 ) : “From a house you could descry 10 O’er the garden-wall;11 : : that is , from where he could descry ( secretly watch like a spy ) : : He , thus did not adhere to the proper moral standards of his time although he was never caught up by anyone. But now he is feeling a guilt in his heart on his old Aging time. : : : :
Stanza 7 & 8 : : ” What right had a lounger up their lane? 25 But, by creeping very close, 26 With the good wall’s help,—their eyes might strain 27 And stretch themselves to Oes, 28
Yet never catch her and me together, 29 As she left the attic, there, 30 By the rim of the bottle labelled “Ether,” 31 And stole from stair to stair,” 32 : : lines 25 To 32 : : : :
About the way the Speaker follows up “With the good wall’s help ,” ( line 27 ) ” By creeping very close” ( line 26 ) thus climbing the room ( “lodge” ) in a very humorous way to enjoy the meeting with a girl secretly. He asks in line 25 , ” What right had a lounger up their lane?”, Meaning he was actually wasting histime( being a lounger) after a girl by raising an affair which was not morally upright during his time of youth and would have not been acceptable , had the other people of the lane ever find it out. They would have strained their eyes as the speaker says in line 27 ,”– their eyes might strain” : ” And stretch themselves to Oes” ( line 28 ) : “Oes” means the ‘grand Children’ : With their stretchability in utterly disbelief and anger , they would have felt rueful / remorseful and bitterly regretted for the secretly carried sinful deeds , between a boyand agirl living in theirlane , who were of the age of their grandchildren. They never caught on the trending of a boy and a girl secretlymeeting together in the attic as she would leave it and steal away downstairs; slipping stairtostair : ( lines 29 & 30 : ” And stole from stair to stair.” ( line 32 ) : : An area of lightness in a picture is spotlighted in line 31,”By the rim of the bottle labelled “Ether,” 31 : Meaning, Spending time in this way with a girl was lighter, pleasant, sweeter and more exciting giving them a heady and elated spirit of optimism andfun . That’s why they continued so, in the same secretive fashion and exciting way , for Summer Month(s) : Here , he has referred to “one June ( line 18 ) & “old June weather”( line 13 ) : :: :
Stanza 9 : : “And stood by the rose-wreathed gate. Alas, 33 We loved, sir—used to meet:34 How sad and bad and mad it was— 35 But then, how it was sweet!” 36 : : lines 33 To 36 : : : :
About aftermath of the lover bird’s meeting in an “attic”, about which is this ” Confession” Poem of an old man evoking through his past memories . As she would quickly come down the stairs , and then would ” stand by the rose -wreathed gate.” ( line 33 ) to see him go uncaught. The Speaker admits by saying for the first time, “We loved, sir — used to meet : ” ( line 34 ) . . ” How sad and bad and mad it was –” ( line 35 ) .. . ” But then, how it was sweet! ” ( line 36 ) : : He called their mad love affair , sweet too, and for the first time , to a reverend clergyman during the Confession Session between them at the Church. : : He admits that it was bad but is feeling sad to think about those “mad” days in “One June”: It was sweet “old June weather”,just like the intoxicating and pleasantly – smelling “Ether.” : : : :
“Confession” , A Romantic June PoemBy Robert Browning Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 2 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
William Henry Davies ( 3 July 1871 Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales – 26 September 1940 Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England : aged 69 ) In 1913 ( By Alvin Langdon Coburn) : Poet, writer, tramp. GENRE Lyrical poetry, autobiography. Subjects : Nature, begging, the lifeof a tramp. Spouse: Helen Matilda Payne( m. 5 Feb 1923 ). Literary movement : Georgian poetry. : Notable Works : The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, “Leisure”(Famous Poem) : : A Welsh poet and writer, who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and the United States, yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes included observations on life’s hardships, the ways the human condition is reflected in nature, his tramping adventures and the characters he met. He is usually classed as a Georgian Poet, though much of his work is not typical of the group in style or theme. All In June By W H Davies : : Image via Geograph. : For Educational Purposes only.
All In June : : by William Henry Davies : : : :
A week ago I had a fire To warm my feet, my hands and face; Cold winds, that never make a friend, Crept in and out of every place.
Today the fields are rich in grass, And buttercups in thousands grow; I’ll show the world where I have been– With gold-dust seen on either shoe.
Till to my garden back I come, Where bumble-bees for hours and hours Sit on their soft, fat, velvet bums, To wriggle out of hollow flowers.
— William Henry Davies
“All In June”, A June Poem By William Henry Davies ( 1871 – 1940 ) is About the attractive Charm of Nature in June. A 1939 Poem , “All In June”presents with a capturing imagery like : “Cold Winds that never make a friend , Crept in and out of every place.” ( lines 3 & 4 ) Which is an example of Tactile Imagery.
CLICK HERE In BELOW to enjoy the appreciation of the Poem in A Narrative Video Of Recitation by Deanna Ross, presented by Jinx : :
Notes for each of the 12 Lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 1 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
Emma Lazarus ( 1849 – 1887 ) : : Raised in a Wealthy Jewish Family in New York , Emma devoted herself to Zionist as well as Marxist Causes after hearing the progroms in Russia in 1880s. She translated several important Jewish Works. “The New Colossal” has been her most famous Poem which is inscribed on the Pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. A June night : By Emma Lazarus. : Image via Flickr: For EducationalPurposes only.
A June Night : : by Emma Lazarus ( 1849 – 1887 ) : : : :
Ten o’clock: the broken moon Hangs not yet a half hour high, Yellow as a shield of brass, In the dewy air of June, Poised between the vaulted sky And the ocean’s liquid glass.
Earth lies in the shadow still; Low black bushes, trees, and lawn Night’s ambrosial dews absorb; Through the foliage creeps a thrill, Whispering of yon spectral dawn And the hidden climbing orb.
Higher, higher, gathering light, Veiling with a golden gauze All the trembling atmosphere, See, the rayless disk grows white! Hark, the glittering billows pause!
Faint, far sounds possess the ear. Elves on such a night as this Spin their rings upon the grass; On the beach the water-fay Greets her lover with a kiss; Through the air swift spirits pass, Laugh, caress, and float away.
Shut thy lids and thou shalt see Angel faces wreathed with light, Mystic forms long vanished hence. Ah, too fine, too rare, they be For the grosser mortal sight, And they foil our waking sense.
Yet we feel them floating near, Know that we are not alone, Though our open eyes behold Nothing save the moon’s bright sphere, In the vacant heavens shown, And the ocean’s path of gold.
— Emma Lazarus
“A June Night”, By Emma Lazarus is About paying tribute to the ‘dewy air’ of a June night. This atmospheric Poem draws our attention to thesky and nature.
Notes for each of the 7 Stanzas Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India February 28 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
John Clare ( 1793-1864 ) One of England’s greatest nature poets. John Clare’s Poem : June : Schematic view : : image via pinterest : For Educational Purposes only. Hard Cover Of The reissue , As on 10 April , 2014 ( Available On Amazon ; first published in 1964 and in a second edition in 1993, is published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of John Clare’sdeath. It includescharming wood engravings by David Gentleman. Beautiful background of Flower and Bird In Abundance
The Shepherd’s Calendar : : by John Clare : :
Now summer is in flower and natures hum Is never silent round her sultry bloom Insects as small as dust are never done Wi’ glittering dance and reeling in the sun And green wood fly and blossom haunting bee Are never weary of their melody Round field hedge now flowers in full glory twine Large bindweed bells wild hop and streakd woodbine That lift athirst their slender throated flowers Agape for dew falls and for honey showers These round each bush in sweet disorder run And spread their wild hues to the sultry sun Where its silk netting lace on twigs and leaves The mottld spider at eves leisure weaves That every morning meet the poets eye Like faireys dew wet dresses hung to dry The wheat swells into ear and leaves below The may month wild flowers and their gaudy show Bright carlock bluecap and corn poppy red Which in such clouds of colors wid [e] ly spread That at the sun rise might to fancys eye Seem to reflect the many colord sky And leverets seat and lark and partridge nest It leaves a schoolboys height in snugger rest And oer the weeders labour overgrows Who now in merry groups each morning goes To willow skirted meads wi fork and rake The scented hay cocks in long rows to make Where their old visitors in russet brown The haytime butterflyes dance up and down And gads that teaze like whasps the timid maid And drive the herdboys cows to pond and shade Who when his dogs assistance fails to stop Is forcd his half made oaten pipes to drop And start and hallo thro the dancing heat To keep their gadding tumult from the wheat Who in their rage will dangers overlook And leap like hunters oer the pasture brook Brushing thro blossomd beans in maddening haste And ‘stroying corn they scarce can stop to taste Labour pursues its toil in weary mood And feign woud rest wi shadows in the wood The mowing gangs bend oer the beeded grass Where oft the gipseys hungry journeying ass Will turn its wishes from the meadow paths Listning the rustle of the falling swaths The ploughman sweats along the fallow vales And down the suncrackt furrow slowly trails Oft seeking when athirst the brooks supply Where brushing eager the brinks bushes bye For coolest water he oft brakes the rest Of ring dove brooding oer its idle nest And there as loath to leave the swaily place He’ll stand to breath and whipe his burning face The shepherds idle hours are over now Nor longer leaves him neath the hedgrow bough On shadow pillowd banks and lolling stile Wilds looses now their summer friends awhile Shrill whistles barking dogs and chiding scold Drive bleating sheep each morn from fallow fold To wash pits where the willow shadows lean Dashing them in their fold staind coats to clean Then turnd on sunning sward to dry agen They drove them homeward to the clipping pen In hurdles pent where elm or sycamore Shut out the sun-or in some threshing floor There they wi scraps of songs and laugh and tale Lighten their anual toils while merry ale Goes round and gladdens old mens hearts to praise The thread bare customs of old farmers days Who while the sturting sheep wi trembling fears Lies neath the snipping of his harmless sheers Recalls full many a thing by bards unsung And pride forgot-that reignd when he was young How the hugh bowl was in the middle set At breakfast time as clippers yearly met Filld full of frumity where yearly swum The streaking sugar and the spotting plumb Which maids coud never to the table bring Without one rising from the merry ring To lend a hand who if twas taen amiss Woud sell his kindness for a stolen kiss The large stone pitcher in its homly trim And clouded pint horn wi its copper rim Oer which rude healths was drank in spirits high From the best broach the cellar woud supply While sung the ancient swains in homly ryhmes Songs that were pictures of the good old times When leathern bottles held the beer nut brown That wakd the sun wi songs and sung him down Thus will the old man ancient ways bewail Till toiling sheers gain ground upon the tale And brakes it off-when from the timid sheep The fleece is shorn and wi a fearfull leap He starts-while wi a pressing hand His sides are printed by the tarry brand Shaking his naked skin wi wondering joys And fresh ones are tugd in by sturdy boys Who when theyre thrown down neath the sheering swain Will wipe his brow and start his tale again Tho fashions haughtv frown hath thrown aside Half the old forms simplicity supplyd Yet their are some prides winter deigns to spare Left like green ivy when the trees are bare And now when sheering of the flocks are done Some ancient customs mixd wi harmless fun Crowns the swains merry toils-the timid maid Pleasd to be praisd and yet of praise affraid Seeks her best flowers not those of woods and fields But such as every farmers garden yield Fine cabbage roses painted like her face And shining pansys trimmd in golden lace And tall tuft larkheels featherd thick wi flowers And woodbines climbing oer the door in bowers And London tufts of many a mottld hue And pale pink pea and monkshood darkly blue And white and purple jiliflowers that stay Lingering in blossom summer half away And single blood walls of a lucious smell Old fashiond flowers which huswives love so well And columbines stone blue or deep night brown Their honey-comb-like blossoms hanging down Each cottage gardens fond adopted child Tho heaths still claim them where they yet grow wild Mong their old wild companions summer blooms Furze brake and mozzling ling and golden broom Snap dragons gaping like to sleeping clowns And ‘clipping pinks’ (which maidens sunday gowns Full often wear catcht at by tozing chaps) Pink as the ribbons round their snowy caps ‘Bess in her bravery’ too of glowing dyes As deep as sunsets crimson pillowd skyes And majoram notts sweet briar and ribbon grass And lavender the choice of every lass And sprigs of lads love all familiar names Which every garden thro the village claims These the maid gathers wi a coy delight And tyes them up in readiness for night Giving to every swain tween love and shame Her ‘clipping poseys’ as their yearly claim And turning as he claims the custom kiss Wi stifld smiles half ankering after bliss She shrinks away and blushing calls it rude But turns to smile and hopes to be pursued While one to whom the seeming hint applied Follows to claim it and is not denyd No doubt a lover for within his coat His nosegay owns each flower of better sort And when the envious mutter oer their beer And nodd the secret to his neighbor near Raising the laugh to make the mutter known She blushes silent and will not disown And ale and songs and healths and merry ways Keeps up a shadow of old farmers days But the old beachen bowl that once supplyd Its feast of frumity is thrown aside And the old freedom that was living then When masters made them merry wi their men Whose coat was like his neighbors russet brown And whose rude speech was vulgar as his clown Who in the same horn drank the rest among And joind the chorus while a labourer sung All this is past-and soon may pass away The time torn remnant of the holiday As proud distinction makes a wider space Between the genteel and the vulgar race Then must they fade as pride oer custom showers Its blighting mildew on her feeble flowers
— John Clare
Clare’s The Shepherd’s Calendar ( 1827 ) works—creatively and innovatively—in the tradition of Edmund Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calendar ( 1579 ). Both poems deploy each of the twelve months of the year to focus on pastoral subjects and themes. Clare’s poem is a document of considerable formal dexterity; in the different months of The Shepherd’s Calendar he utilises, variously, Stanza’s Rhyme Schemes in his Celebratory Stance towards a rural customs and intimate delineations of rural labour. : : It is a classic of English poetry and a fascinating work of social history, recording long-vanished aspects of nineteenth-century rural life. : :
The poem provides a calendar of the country year, in which the various tasks performed by the farm labourer take their place: ploughing in February, lambing in March, and hay-making in June. The countryman’s year is also punctuated by celebrations and festivals, such as May Day games, sheep-shearing feasts, Harvest Home, and Christmas. Rooted in popular culture, the poem has many vivid descriptions of the flowers, birds, and beasts of the hedgerow and field. : :
Billy Mills writes In theguardian.com , dated Fri 15 Jun 2012, ” There is, naturally, a strong contrast between Spenser’s pastoral idyll and the June of that other English poet who wrote a Shepherd’s Calendar, John Clare. Given his early experiences as a farm labourer, it isn’t surprising that Clare’s June is a somewhat more naturalistic one than Spenser’s, and among the abundant early summer flowers and birds, he gives us a picture of a world in which “Labour pursues its toil in weary mood / And feign woud rest wi shadows in the wood”.
This vision of teeming nature and honest toil sets the tone for much of the Junepoetry that follows. : : : :
Further Notes Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India February 27 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
THis Æglogue is wholly vowed to the complayning of Colins ill successe in his loue. For being (as is aforesaid) enamoured of a Country lasse Rosalind, and hauing (as seemeth) founde place in her heart, he lamenteth to his deare frend Hobbinoll, that he is nowe forsaken vnfaithfully, and in his steed Menalcas, another shepheard receiued disloyally. And this is the whole Argument of this Æglogue. HOBBINOL. COLIN Cloute. LO Coll[in], here the place, whose pleasaunt syte From other shades hath weand my wandring mynde. Tell me, what wants me here, to worke delyte? The simple ayre, the gentle warbling wynde, So calme, so coole, as no where else I fynde: The grassye ground with daintye Daysies dight, The Bramble bush, where Byrds of euery kynde To the waters fall their tunes attemper right. COLLIN. O happy Hobbinoll, I blesse thy state, That Paradise hast found, whych Adam lost. Here wander may thy flock early or late, Withouten dreade of Wolues to bene ytost: Thy louely layes here mayet thou freely boste. But I vnhappy man, whom cruell fate, And angry Gods pursue from coste to coste, Can nowhere fynd, to shouder my lucklesse pate. HOBBINOLL. Then if by me thou list aduised be, Forsake the soyle, that so doth the bewitch: Leaue me those hilles, where harbrough nis to see, Nor holybush, nor brere, nor winding witche: And to the dales resort, where shepheards ritch, And fruictfull flocks bene euery where to see. Here no night Rauens lodge more blacke then pitche, Nor eluish ghosts, nor gastly owles doe flee. But frendly Faeries, met with many Graces, And lightfote Nymphes can chace the lingring night, With Heydeguyes, and trimly trodden traces, Whilst systers nyne, which dwell on Parnasse hight, Doe make them musick, for their more delight: And Pan himselfe to kisse their christall faces, Will pype and daunce, when Phoebe shineth bright: Such pierlesse pleasures haue we in these places.
COLLIN. And I, whylst youth, and course of carelesse yeeres Did let me walke withouten lincks of loue, In such delights did ioy amongst my peeres: But ryper age such pleasures doth reproue, My fancye eke from former follies moue To stayed steps: for time in passing weares (As garments doen, which wexen old aboue) And draweth newe delightes with hoary heares. Tho couth I sing of loue, and tune my pype Vnto my plaintiue pleas in verses made: Tho would I seeke , To giue my Rosalind, and in Sommer shade Dight gaudy Girlonds, was my comen trade, To crowne her golden locks, but yeeres more rype, And losse of her, whose loue as lyfe I wayd, Those weary wanton toyes away dyd wype.
HOBBINOLL. Colin, to heare thy rymes and roundelayes, Which thou were wont on wastfull hylls to singe, I more delight, then larke in Sommer dayes: Whose Echo made the neyghbour groues to ring, And taught the byrds, which in the lower spring Did shroude in shady leaues from sonny rayes, Frame to thy songe their chereful cheriping, Or hold theyr peace, for shame of thy swete layes. I sawe Calliope wyth Muses moe, Soone as thy oaten pype began to sound, Theyr youry Luyts and Tamburins forgoe: And from the fountaine, where they sat around, Renne after hastely thy siluer sound. But when they came, where thou thy skill didst showe, They drewe abacke, as halfe with shame confound, Shepheard to see, them in theyr art outgoe.
COLLIN. Of Muses Hobbinol, I conne no skill: For they bene daughters of the hyghest Ioue, And holden scorne of homely shepheards quill. For sith I heard, that Pan with Phoebus stroue, Which him to much rebuke and Daunger droue: I neuer lyst presume to Parnasse hyll, But pyping lowe in shade of lowly groue, I play to please my selfe, all be it ill. Nought weigh I, who my song doth prayse or blame, Ne striue to winne renowne, or passe the rest: With shepheard sittes not, followe flying fame: But feede his flocke in fields, where falls hem best. I wote my rymes bene rough, and rudely drest: The fytter they, my carefull case to frame: Enough is me to paint out my vnrest, And poore my piteous plaints out in the same.
The God of shepheards Tityrus is dead, Who taught me homely, as I can, to make. He, whilst he liued, was the soueraigne head Of shepheards all, that bene with loue ytake: Well couth he wayle hys Woes, and lightly slake The flames, which loue within his heart had bredd, And tell vs mery tales, to keepe vs wake, The while our sheepe about vs safely fedde.
Nowe dead he is, and lyeth wrapt in lead, (O why should death on hym such outrage showe?) And all hys passing skil with him is fledde, The fame whereof doth dayly greater growe. But if on me some little drops would flowe, Of that the spring was in his learned hedde, I soone would learne these woods, to wayle my woe, And teache the trees, their trickling teares to shedde.
Then should my plaints, causd of discurtesee, As messengers of all my painful plight, Flye to my loue, where euer that she bee, And pierce her heart with poynt of worthy wight: As shee deserues, that wrought so deadly spight. And thou Menalcas, that by trecheree Didst vnderfong my lasse, to wexe so light, Shouldest well be knowne for such thy villanee.
But since I am not, as I wish I were, Ye gentle shepheards, which your flocks do feede, Whether on hylls, or dales, or other where, Beare witnesse all of thys so wicked deede: And tell the lasse, whose flowre is woxe a weede, And faultlesse fayth, is turned to faithlesse fere, That she the truest shepheards hart made bleede, That lyues on earth, and loued her most dere.
HOBBINOL. O carefull Colin, I lament thy case, Thy teares would make the hardest flint to flowe. Ah faithlesse Rosalind, and voide of grace, That art the roote of all this ruthfull woe. But now is time, I gesse, homeward to goe: Then ryse ye blessed flocks, and home apace, Least night with stealing steppes doe you forsloe, And wett your tender Lambes, that by you trace. Colins embleme. Gia speme spenta.
GLOSSE.
Syte) situation and place.
Paradise) A Paradise in Greeke signifieth a Garden of pleasure, or place of delights. So he compareth the soile, wherin Hobbinoll made his abode, to that earthly Paradise, in scripture called Eden; wherein Adam in his first creation was placed. Which of the most learned is thought to be in Mesopotamia, the most fertile and pleasaunte country in the world (as may appeare by Diodorus Syculus description of it, in the hystorie of Alexanders conquest thereof) lying betweene the two famous Ryuers (which are sayd in scripture to flow out of Paradise) Tygris and Euphrates, whereof it is so denominate.
Forsake the soyle) This is no poetical fiction, but vnfeynedly spoken of the Poete selfe, who for speciall occasion of priuate affayres (as I haue bene partly of himselfe informed) and for his more preferment remouing out of the Northparts came into the South, as Hobbinoll indeede aduised him priuately.
Those hylles) that is the North countreye, where he dwelt.
N’is) is not.
The Dales) the Southpartes, where he nowe abydeth, which thoughe they be full of hylles and woodes (for Kent is very hyllye and woodye; and therefore so called: for Kantsh in the Saxons tongue signifieth woodie) yet in respecte of the Northpartes they be called dales. For indede the North is counted the higher countrye.
Night Rauens &c.) by such hatefull byrdes, hee meaneth all misfortunes (whereof they be tokens) flying euery where.
Frendly faeries) the opinion of Faeries and elfes is very old, and yet sticketh very religiously in the mindes of some. But to roote that rancke opinion of Elfes oute of mens hearts, the truth is, that there be no such thinges, nor yet the shadowes of the things, but onely by a sort of bald Friers and knauish shauelings so feigned; which as in all other thinges, so in that, soughte to nousell the comen people in ignorounce, least being once acquainted with the truth of things, they woulde in tyme smell out the vntruth of theyr packed pelfe and Masspenie religion. But the sooth is, that when all Italy was distraicte into the Factions of the Guelfes and the Gibelins, being two famous houses in Florence, the name began through their great mischiefes and many outrages, to be so odious or rather dreadfull in the peoples eares, that if theyr children at any time were frowarde and wanton, they would say to them that the Guelfe or the Gibeline came. Which words nowe from them (as many thinge els) be come into our vsage, and for Guelfes and Gibelines, we say Elfes and Goblins. No otherwise then the Frenchmen vsed to say of that valiaunt captain, the very scourge of Fraunce, The Lord Thalbot, afterward Erle of Shrewsbury; whose noblesse bred such a terrour in the hearts of the French, that oft times euen great armies were defaicted and put to flyght at the onely hearing of hys name. In somuch that the French wemen, to affray theyr chyldren, would tell them that the Talbot commeth.
Many Graces) though there be indeede but three Graces of Charites (as afore is sayd) or at the vtmost but foure, yet in respect of many gyftes of bounty, there may be sayde more. And so Musaeus sayth, that in Heroes eyther eye there satte a hundred graces. And by that authoritye, thys same Poete in his Pageaunts sayth. An hundred Graces on her eyeledde satte, &c.
Haydeguies) A country daunce or rownd. The conceipt is, that the Graces and Nymphes doe daunce vnto the Muses, and Pan his musicke all night by Moonelight. To signifie the pleasauntnesse of the soyle.
Peeres) Equalles and felow shepheards.
Queneapples vnripe) imitating Virgils verse.
Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala. Neighbour groues) a straunge phrase in English, but word for word expressing the Latine vicina nemora. Spring) not of water, but of young trees springing.
Calliope) afforesayde. Thys staffe [is] full of verie poetical inuention.
Tamburines) an olde kind of instrument, which of some is supposed to be the Clarion.
Pan with Phoebus) the tale is well knowne, howe that Pan and Apollo striuing for excellencye in musick, chose Midas for their iudge. Who being corrupted wyth partiall affection, gaue the victorye to Pan vndeserued: for which Phoebus sette a payre of Asses eares vpon hys head &c.
Tityrus) That by Tityrus is meant Chaucer, hath bene already sufficiently sayde, & by thys more playne appeareth, that he sayth, he tolde merye tales. Such as by hys Canterburie tales. whom he calleth the God of Poetes for hys excellencie, so as Tullie calleth Lentulus, Deum vitae suae .s. the God of hys lyfe.
To make) to versifie.
O why) A pretye Epanorthosis or correction.
Discurtesie) he meaneth the falsenesse of his louer Rosalinde, who forsaking hym, hadde chosen another.
Poynte of worthy wite) the pricke of deserued blame.
Menalcas) the name of a shephearde in Virgile; but here is meant a person vnknowne and secrete, agaynst whome he often bitterly inuayeth.
vnderfonge) vndermynde and deceiue by false suggestion.
Embleme
You remember, that in the fyrst Æglogue, Colins Poesie was Anchora speme: for that as then there was hope of fauour to be found in tyme. But nowe being cleane forlorne and reiected of her, as whose hope, that was, is cleane extinguished and turned into despeyre, he renounceth all comfort and hope of goodnesse to come. which is all the meaning of thys Embleme.
The Shepheardes Calender, published anonymously in 1579 by Hugh Singleton, consists of twelve eclogues named for the twelve months, comprising together a year symbolic, in its turning of the seasons, of the whole of human life. : : The poetic aims of The Shepheardes Calender are multiple: Spenser seeks to recover a native voice, and to warn his nation and his Queen of dangers to England and to the English Church from within and without. : : The Calender consists of 12 eclogues, one for each month, employing a variety of metres and including archaic vocabulary Spenser borrowed from earlier poetry (particularly that of Geoffrey Chaucer). : : The Shepherd’s Calendar mark a literary epoch. Because the shepherds ruminated on life and experience in the time they lived, Spencer used these narrators to offer perspectives on the social concerns of the era. Critics say that The Shepheardes Calendar marks a turning point in literary history and signals the beginning of the English Renaissance. : : Inspired by the Roman poet Virgil’s Eclogues, Spenser (c. 1552-99) wrote this long pastoral work about a year in the life of the English countryside. In June, we find the ‘Colin Clout’ shepherd figure of the poem talking to Hobbinoll, his friend: ‘Colin, to heare thy rymes and roundelayes, / Which thou were wont on wastfull hylls to singe, / I more delight, then larke in Sommer dayes’. A window onto a different age.
Billy Mills writes , “In The Shepheardes Calender, Spenser’s June is a tale of love lost to a rival swain. Colin’s courting of the fair Rosalind has, it seems, gone off track and he has been replaced in her affections by a fellow shepherd, Menalcas. After May’s burst of Protestant propaganda, it’s a refreshing returnto form for the poet.” ( theguardian.com , dated 15 June , 2012 )
Margaret Cavendish by Abraham van Diepenbeeck. The frontispiece of ‘Natures Pictures’ (1671), British Library 8407.h.12.( born 1623 , ColchesterEssex, U.K. – Died 15 December , 1673 , Welbeck Abbey , U. k. ) : Philosopher, Poet, Scientist, Fiction Writer , Play Wright, : : ,: : : : : The central tenet of Cavendish’s philosophy is that everything in the universe—including human beings and their minds—is completely material.
Nature is material, or corporeal, and so are all her Creatures, and whatsoever is not material is no part of Nature, neither doth it belong any ways to Nature…. According to Cavendish, none of the achievements of bodies are to be traced to immaterial agents such as God, immaterial finite minds, or substantial forms, because bodies have the resources to bring about everything that they do on their own. Cavendish also holds that bodies are ubiquitous and that there is no vacuum, because extensions of space cannot be extensions of nothing but must be extensions of matter. Every body is infinitely divisible. : : : Cavendish is presumably right to warn about the inconsistency in insisting that God is utterly transcendent. Her emphasis on the study of the brain and body in addressing mental health , is noteworthy. : : Her contribution to the current debate about how to understand the relation between the most basic elements of body and the mental activity manifested in human beings and other organisms. : : she offers insights into issues of agency and authority. She argues that the reasons why an individual is often unsuccessful in embodying a life with which they identify is that, even if everything is in order on the side of their decisions and talents and skills, there is often social and political corrosion in the interface between their decisions and the world. : : She wrote in her own name in a period when most women writers remained anonymous. : : she held that the created, natural world is purely material; there are no incorporeal substances that causally affect the world in the course of nature. : : Margaret Cavendish ( 1623-1673 ) was one of the first prolific female science writers. As the author of approximately 14 scientific or quasi-scientific books, she helped to popularize some of the most important ideas of the scientific revolution, including the competing vitalistic and mechanistic natural philosophies and Atomism. A flamboyant and eccentric woman, Cavendish was the most visible of the “scientific ladies” of the 17 Th Century. Cavendish’s philosophy all atoms contained the same amount of matter but differed in size and shape; thus, earth atoms were square, water particles were round, atoms of air were long, and fire atoms were sharp. This led to her humoral theory of disease, wherein illness was due to fighting between atoms or an overabundance of one atomic shape. However in her second volume, Philosophical Fancies, published later in the same year, Cavendish already had disavowed her own atomic theory. By 1663, she had decided that if atoms were “Animated Matter,” then they would have “Free-will and Liberty” and thus would always be at war with one another and unable to cooperate in the creation of complex organisms and minerals. Nevertheless, Cavendish continued to view all matter as composed of one material, animate and intelligent, in contrast to the Cartesian view of a mechanistic universe. In 1666 and again in 1668, she published Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, a response to Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, in which she attacked the use of recently-developed microscopes and telescopes as leading to false observations and interpretations of the natural world. : : Cavendish became the first woman invited to Royal Society of London. On May 30, 1667, Cavendish watched as Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke weighed air, dissolved mutton in sulfuric acid, and conducted various other experiments. It was a major advance for the scientific lady and a personaltriumph forCavendish. she was one of the first natural philosophers to argue that theology was outside the parameters of scientific inquiry. She argued strongly for the education of women and for their involvement in scientific pursuits. : : Her most enduring work, a biography of her husband As 24 page memoir, first published in 1656 is regarded as the first major secular autobiography written by a woman. : :
Of Many Worlds in This World Margaret Cavendish
Just like as in a nest of boxes round, Degrees of sizes in each box are found: So, in this world, may many others be Thinner and less, and less still by degree: Although they are not subject to our sense, A world may be no bigger than two-pence. Nature is curious, and such works may shape, Which our dull senses easily escape: For creatures, small as atoms, may there be, If every one a creature’s figure bear. If atoms four, a world can make, then see What several worlds might in an ear-ring be: For, millions of those atoms may be in The head of one small, little, single pin. And if thus small, then ladies may well wear A world of worlds, as pendents in each ear. — Margaret Cavendish : : : : This poem is inthe public domain. : : : :
“Of Many Worlds In This World”, An Earth Poem By A remarkable 17 Th century Writer and Scientist Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ( 1623-73 ), Margaret Cavendish is About Century’s Trends & Styles and Acceptance & Use for Scientific Discovery and Exploration ( including Robert Hooke’s early work with microscopes ), and reminds us that – in Scientific but also Social Circles – Our Own Vast World containsinfinite Numbers Of Smaller ‘Worlds’. : : : :
A Shiny 1 Penny Coin : : The British decimal one penny (1p) coin is a unit of currency and denomination of sterling coinage worth one-hundredth of one pound. Its obverse featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction on 15 February 1971, the day British currency was decimalised until her death on 8 September 2022. A new portrait featuring King Charles III was introduced on 30 September 2022, designed by Martin Jennings. One penny United Kingdom Value £0.01 Mass 3.56 g Diameter 20.3 mm Thickness (Bronze) 1.52 mm (Steel) 1.65 mm Edge Plain Composition Bronze (1971–1991) Copper-plated steel (1992–) Years of minting 1971–present. The British 1 Penny Coin :2016 : Obverse: Queen Elizabeth ii, designed by Jody Clark ( 2015 ) The penny was originally minted from bronze, but since 1992 has been minted in copper-plated steel due to increasing copper prices.
There are an estimated 10.5 billion 1p coins in circulation as of 2016, with a total face value of around £105,000,000.
1p coins are legal tender only for amounts up to the sum of 20p when offered in repayment of a debt; however, the coin’s legal tender status is not normally relevant for everyday transactions : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The proposed withdrawal of the 1p coins has been subject of media speculation, such as in 2015 when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, proposed the withdrawal of the 1p coin. This was vetoed by Prime Minister David Cameron, because of the potential unpopularity with the public.No 1p coins were minted in 2018, as the Treasury said that there were already enough in circulation. in May 2019 Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced the outcome of a 2018 consultation, suggesting there were no plans to scrap copper coins and that he wanted the public to “have choice over how they spend their money”. British decimal two pence coin (often shortened to 2p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage equalling 2/100ths of a pound. on 15 February 1971, the year British currency was decimalised, its obverse has featured four profiles of Queen Elizabeth II. Two pence United Kingdom (UK) Value £0.02 Mass 7.12 g Diameter 25.9 mm Thickness (Bronze) 1.85 mm (Steel) 2.03 mm Edge Plain Composition Bronze (1971–1992, 1998) Copper-plated steel (1992–present) Years of minting 1971–presentReverse of 1 Penny : British Coin : Segment of the Royal shield : Designed by Mathew Dent( 2008 )UNITED KINGDOM – AUGUST 02: 1 penny coin, 1988, reverse, quail. Gibraltar, 20th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)The smallest denomination US coin ( 2008 ) Penny/ cent, with a nicely sculpted portrait of the great emancipator.: Lincoln. American 2022 one cent coin with President Lincoln
“Just like as in a nest of boxes round, 1 Degrees of sizes in each box are found:2 So, in this world, may many others be3 Thinner and less, and less still by degree: 4 Although they are not subject to our sense,5 A world may be no bigger than two-pence.“ 6
Lines 1 To 6 : : About how worlds come in many forms which are “like as in a nest of boxes” ( line 1 ) each of which , and many more in different “Degree sizes” forming a whole. The degrees , here refer to the “Thinner and less , and less still ( further ) by degree” ( line 4 ) The state of “Thinner and less”is because of decrease in “Degrees”. That does not mean that they are not there. “A world may be no bigger than two pense” ( line 6 ) The Pence is the plural form of penny, a British coin worth one hundredth of a pound. The British decimal two pence coin (often shortened to 2p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage equalling 2/100ths of a pound. : : : : The Monetary amounts of pennies greater than one penny is pence (e.g. one pound and twenty pence).The word penny is derived from the Old English word penig, which itself comes from the proto-Germanic panninga. The correct plural form for multiple penny coins is pennies (e.g. fifty pennies). : : : : : : : Diameter 25.9 mm, Thickness 1.85 mm ( in Bronze ) / 2.03 mm ( in Steel ) : : The Poet / The Speaker conveys the Size of 2 P , as the size of A World , the Humanity lives in. ( By the Way , 1 PENNY ( As On 05 February , 2023 ) = ₹0.000001373037 ): Only thing required to be noted here is that The Value Or Worth of the Thinnest Form is not connected to the Degrees of the Sizes of its lesser and lesser InfiniteForms.These other worlds might be, the speaker describes, smaller than a human could ever see. They might be “Thinner and less” than anything yet known. The “nesting of the world” is a metaphor for how the existence known to a Scientist lies on and within the existences of other organisms. : : : :
Lines 7-10 “Nature is curious, and such works may shape, 7
Which our dull senses easily escape: 8
For creatures, small as atoms, may there be, 9
If every one a creature’s figure bear.” 10 : : ::
Lines 7 To 10 , About how there is much about the world which escapes the human senses and understanding as these are dull, The shapes are so small, like “atoms,” which may be present but unseen. The “Nature is curious”forming “such works” in many different , deviating from the expected or usual shapes of Forms. These are the peculiar and wondering aspects the Scientist find in Nature , that is why they are also curious in their studies of Nature ( and Science of Physics ) wherein they are continuously eager after their investigations and are learning more and more. The smallest boxes that fit inside the lager box forming the whole world. The tiny world bears the life in its smallest and tiniest form. The atoms created all the Small Organisms as a whole, are described as “creatures.” to give her readers an idea of the atom which emerged in her time of 17 Th Century beforethe Scientific Community.: : : :
Lines 11-14 “If atoms four, a world can make, then see 11
What several worlds might in an ear-ring be: 12
For, millions of those atoms may be in 13
The head of one small, little, single pin.” 14 : :
Lines 11 To 14 : : About the possibilities of forming the complex Big, Here the “World” entirely, By the millions of Those atoms , may be The head of one small, little, single pin” ( lines 13 & 14 ) : : And before that she imagines , “Several Worlds might be formed in an earring” ( line 12 ) because even “four atoms can make a world” then imagine what else there could be. : : In this way even the simplest form would contain thousands of lives. : : : :
Lines 15-16 “And if thus small, then ladies may well wear 15
A world of worlds, as pendents in each ear.” 16 : : : :
Lines 15 & 16 are About the example she gives , of a woman’s earring , and how within it, an infinite number of organisms couldexist. She talks over conjecturally in her idle and casual conclusion that ” ladies may well wear A world of worlds , as pendents in each ear.”In this way of contemplation , she presents the Question of Atom’s Structure forming an element and matter which still required lots of scientific investigations and deep thinking and experimentations to find the real idea of the matter, the world and the Universe as in its entirety which remained in the realms of science of Physics and Chemistry revealed substantially by many many Scientists of the next two centuries : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :: FromJohn Dalton of 19 Th Century through J J Thomson ( of1897 measured the particles to be 1,800 times lighter than hydrogen ( the lightest atom ) concluding that these particles came from the atoms within the cathode — they were subatomic particles : corpuscles , later renamed electrons.); Ernest Rutherford, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) A New Zealand physicist known as the father of nuclear physics , & the greatest experimentalist ; Niels Henrik David Bohr ( 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962 ) A Danish Philosopher & physicist’s foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory : Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 And Then , An English Physicist & 1935 Nobel winner Sir James Chadwick ‘s ( 20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) : An English physicist & 1935 Nobel Prize winner: discovery of the neutron in 1932. His 1941, final MAUD Report inspired the U.S. to begin serious atom bomb research efforts. As a head of the British team that worked on the Manhattan Project during WorldWar II. ; Otto Hahn ( 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968 ) A German chemist & pioneer in the fields of radioactivity/ radiochemistry / the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission; In the 1950s , Neutrons and protons were found to be hadrons, or composites of smaller particles called quarks. The standard model of particle physics was successfully explained the properties of the nucleus in terms of these smallest sub-atomic particles and the forces that govern their interactions. : : : :
The Earth contains approximately 1.33×1050 atoms. Most of the atoms that make up the Earth and its inhabitants were present in their current form in the nebula that collapsed out of a molecular cloud to form the Solar System. The rest are the result of radioactive decay : ( Most of the helium in the crust of the Earth (about 99% of the helium from gas wells, as shown by its lower abundance of helium-3 ) is a product of alpha decay ) : : The relative proportion of decay can be used to determine the age of the Earth through radiometric dating. Carbon-14 is continuously generated by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. 99% of the atmosphere is bound in the form of molecules, including carbon dioxide and diatomic oxygen and nitrogen. At the surface of the Earth, an overwhelming majority of atoms combine to form various compounds, including water, salt, silicates and oxides. Atoms can also combine to create materials that do not consist of discrete molecules, including crystals and liquid or solid metals. All nuclides with atomic numbers higher than 82 (lead) are known to be radioactive. No nuclide with an atomic number exceeding 92 (uranium) exists on Earth as a primordial nuclide, and heavier elements generally have shorter half-lives. Each particle of matter has a corresponding antimatter particle with the opposite electrical charge. Thus, the positron is a positively charged antielectron and the antiproton is a negatively charged equivalent of a proton. When a matter and corresponding antimatter particle meet, they annihilate each other. The latter/ Anti matter are rare in theuniverse. In 1996, the antimatter counterpart of the hydrogen atom ( antihydrogen ) was synthesized at the CERN laboratory in Geneva.Other exotic atoms ( e.g. muonic atom ) have been created by replacing one of the protons, neutrons or electrons with other particles that have the same charge. : : : :
“Of Many Worlds In This World” , An Earth Poem By Margaret Cavendish the Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India February 25 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
Eliza Griswold ( born February 9, 1973 ) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and poet. Griswold is currently a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. She is the author of Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America, a 2018 New York Times Notable Book and a Times Critics’ Pick, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Ridenhour Book Prize in 2019. Griswold was a fellow at the New America Foundation from 2008 to 2010 and won a 2010 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a former Nieman Fellow, a current Berggruen Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine. ( From Wikipedia’s Article) Steeds ( War Horses ) of Armageddon Against the Red background : ( Catastrophically destructive battle : like WW I & Ii , Final battle between the kings at end of the world : describedin New Testament ) Golden Chariot of Sun and 2 Horse Vector illustration, artwork Torched Eucalyptus groves : Massive Fire.Hills bursting in to flames: WoolseyFire inMalibu off Kanan Road “the people’s blood boiled through the skin. Ethiopia, land of burnt faces” ( Eliza Griswold )Bible age strong power speed jewish male fighter equine arm 2 stallion combat armor guard attack caesar white dust scene. Jew battl carry black hand drawn biblic story israel God retro sketch myth art : “In a boy’s rage , For a name , the myth of race begins.”( Eliza Griswold )
Ovid on Climate Change BY ELIZA GRISWOLD Bastard, the other boys teased him, till Phaethon unleashed the steeds of Armageddon. He couldn’t hold their reins. Driving the sun too close to earth, the boy withered rivers, torched Eucalyptus groves, until the hills burst into flame, and the people’s blood boiled through the skin. Ethiopia, land of burnt faces. In a boy’s rage for a name, the myth of race begins.
“Ovid On Climate Change”, By A Contemporary Poet Eliza Griswold is About how planet Earth is being affected by climate change, summoning the risingtemperatures of equatorial and sub-Saharan Africa. In Greek Mythology , Pheathon , a son of Helios ( identified with ancient Roman Sol ; He drove the Chariot of an ancient God – Sun , each day across the sky. ) ; killed whiletrying to drive his father’sChariot across the sky every morningand came too close to Earth. The sun, as suggested by Griswold , has got out of control and is burning the Planet Earth. : : : : The PROSE Given HERE In BELOW From poetryfoundation.org elucidate th mystery lucidlysurrounding the Climate Change. : : : : PROSE FROM POETRY MAGAZINE Q&A: Eliza Griswold BY ELIZA GRISWOLD Could you talk a little about the Ovid myth to which “Ovid on Climate Change” is alluding?
In his Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the story of a boy named Phaeton who is teased by other boys for being fatherless, a bastard. His mother, Clymene, tells Phaeton that his father is Apollo, the sun god. To be certain that his mother isn’t lying, Phaeton travels to visit Apollo’s palace, where the sun god swears by the river Styx that he will grant his son any wish in order to prove his love for him. Phaeton asks to drive his father’s chariot of the sun, which is driven by fiery horses so dangerous that Zeus himself won’t drive it. Fearing for his son’s life and the fate of the world, Apollo tries to convince Phaeton to ask for anything else, but Phaeton refuses.
So off goes Phaeton, who is quickly overpowered by the horses’ galloping force. He loses control of the chariot, which veers too far from the earth, causing a freeze; then it veers too close, drying up rivers, scorching the earth, burning cities, and causing the Ethiopians’ blood to boil through their skin, turning it black. In Greek, Ethiopia means “land of the burnt faces.” This myth is the source of the name. Eventually, in order to save the earth, Zeus had to knock Phaeton off the chariot and to his death. For days, Apollo, in mourning, left the world in darkness.
Some people consider climate change to be a liberal politician’s myth. By referencing classical mythology, does the poem support that perspective?
No. It certainly doesn’t intend to. Honestly, I think climate change deniers are very rare these days; even the world’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, has grudgingly admitted that climate change is real.
The last sentence, “In a boy’s rage/for a name, the myth of race begins,” packs a lot of interesting but also potentially volatile suggestions. What is the poem claiming about race right here?
The poem turns to race because Ovid’s telling of the myth turns to race. Because I frequently work as a journalist in Africa, I am curious about the roots of the continent’s country names. Often they are left over from days before independence and reveal quite a lot about the power dynamics of imperialism. Like Ethiopia, Sudan means “land of the Blacks” in Arabic.
Imaginative metaphor seems crucial to “Ruins.” Yet in the case of the dead man in the Congo, the poem states, “The dead man looked like this. No, that.” Why the refusal of metaphoric description right here?
Because the dead man was real and so was the fact that he was missing an ear, which had been removed, probably by whoever killed him — either to be worn as a totem or to be eaten. With images like that, I’ve found metaphor to be unhelpful on the page, and also in my head, where images recur over which I have little control.
This practice was fairly common in the war in Eastern Congo some years ago. Consuming human flesh became a means to consume an enemy’s power. When I was reporting on this, I became concerned that by writing about contemporary cannibalism, I would be contributing to stupid old stereotypes about Africa as some kind of cannibal land. In researching the history, I found a couple of interesting facts. First, Christopher Columbus coined the term “cannibal” when he was writing about a certain ethnic group, probably the Caribes, who, a rival group told him, ate their enemies. Columbus used this tale as an argument for converting the rest of the world to Christianity. Also, during the colonial period, many Africans believed that the white colonists were cannibals because so many Africans never returned from working for them in the copper and gold mines. Because the colonists ate canned food, the one common African understanding was that the whites were chopping up the Africans into little pieces and sending them home in cans.
This is, in part, a poem about travel. Do you find a poet like Elizabeth Bishop to be helpful when you’re thinking through issues around travel in poetry? Or perhaps some other poet?
I love Elizabeth Bishop, but she’s too good a poet to be very helpful to me. I have been looking at her books lately, though, in terms of structure, to see how she moves from place to place to construct a book that is more than the sum of its individual poems. The other day, while looking at Geography III, I was wondering, why III? I tried to find I and II, but then a friend said that they are implied poems. Her books North & South and Questions of Travel embody those poems. I loved learning that, and it made perfect sense to the way I hope that I approach things with a wry twist. I find both James Fenton and Ryszard Kapuściński helpful in writing poems about observed horror. Both contain a kind of fury that I recognize, but that fury is useless if it comes off as scolding or moralistic. “Ruins” surprised me because I didn’t know how full of rage I was from some of the things that I’d seen until I wrote it. That’s why I kept the line, “Waking means being angry.”
The speaker does seem angry—and wounded, too. Anything you’d like to add about that?
Ha! Life is wounding. For all of us in different ways, I’d imagine. This speaker is trying to come to terms with how not to carry displaced rage into situations where it doesn’t belong; how to take that rage and integrate it into life so that it becomes generosity, wisdom, even love, rather than rage that helps no one. If you want the context of the poem, here it is: I’d just finished some rough work in the field and found myself at the American Academy in Rome for a year, which is one of the most remarkably beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It was a wonderful place to heal, but it was also at sharp odds with where I’d just been and what I’d seen. The incongruity was a bit tough at times to handle.
The nun in turquoise sneakers is an irresistible image. Where did it come from?
It came from a nun in turquoise sneakers who was facing a very long climb up a flight of stairs in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere.
Are these actual Libyan proverbs in “Libyan Proverbs”?
Yes, they are actual Libyan proverbs, and they come from a little book I bought in a hotel gift shop in Tripoli, which was next to a book about Muammar Qaddafi called Is Qaddafi a Feminist? On the cover was a picture of Qaddafi flanked by his famous female bodyguards. These were the days before Qaddafi fell, and so books in Tripoli were propaganda. There was no free press.
These are mostly presented as a series of proverbs, or aphorisms, without commentary. Is there any implied critique of them—or, conversely, approval?
Do you mean of the things they say? Like do I endorse the fact that men who wear trousers made of dried grass shouldn’t sit by open flames? No, I don’t mean to critique or endorse them on an individual level like that.
“My belly before my children” is a surprising notion, especially for American readers in this day and age. It’s also highlighted since it appears last in the poem. Could you say more about this line and its placement?
I found this proverb to be very powerful, and to be a reflection on the nature of power under Qaddafi in Libya and tyrants elsewhere. The idea is that I feed myself before I feed my child. Or I take my country’s oil, get rich and fat, and leave my citizens to starve.
The poem almost moves into narrative in the four lines beginning “He howled before going mad,” before again reverting to proverb. What is go- ing on right here in the poem?
“He howled before going mad” is a proverb. I take it to mean, Pay Attention. That before something goes wrong, there is an indication that it’s going to do so. The poem is a narrative, I hope, but not nec- essarily one driven by an individual tale: this is the story of the nature of abusive power.
“Where the turban moves, there moves/the territory”: these lines are very evocative in both sound and sense. Could you say more about them?
The turban is a symbol of the leader’s strength. In this poem, these lines reflect Qaddafi’s brittle omnipotence and the eventual collapse of his regime.
Webcam the World : : Heather McHugh : : : : Get all of it. set up the shots at every angle; run them online 24-7. Get beautiful stuff (like scenery and greenery and style) and get the ugliness (like cruelty and quackery and rue). there’s nothing unastonishing – but get that, too. We have
to save it all, now that we can, and while. Do close-ups with electron microscopes and vaster pans with planetcams. it may be getting close to our last chance – how many
millipedes or elephants are left? How many minutes for mind-blinded men? Use every lens you can – get Dubliners in fisticuffs, the last Beijinger with an abacus, the boy in Addis Abada who feeds the starving dog. And don’t forget the cows
in neck-irons, when barns begin to burn. the rollickers at clubs, the frolickers at forage – take it all, the space you need: it’s curved. Let mileage be footage, let year be light. Get goggles for the hermitage, and shades for whorage. Don’t be boggled by totality: we’re here to save the world without exception. it will serve
as its own storage. — Heather McHugh : : From reflections.yale.edu : : For Educational Purposes only : : : : : :
“Webcam The World”,A Modern Contemporary Earth Poem By Heather Mchugh is About recording the world by videoing it on a computer , ” Say about climate change and the idea of the ‘last chance’ to see some species and societies of Human settlements before its documentation disappears. : : The set shots at every angle; run them online 24-7. Get beautiful stuff ( like scenery and greenery and style ) and get the ugliness ( like cruelty and quackery and rue). Everything is fascinating – nothing failstoastonish the speaker.” : : : :
Notes for each of the lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India February 23 , 2023 : : : : : : : :
