Blog 3

HI

Prose #3

Henry David Thoreau - Walden Pond

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

Poem #2

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass. 1900.

GIVE me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling;

Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;

Give me a field where the unmow’d grass grows;

Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;

Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching content;
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Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars;

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk undisturb’d;

Give me for marriage a sweet-breath’d woman, of whom I should never tire;

Give me a perfect child—give me, away, aside from the noise of the world, a rural, domestic life;

Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;
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Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities!

—These, demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and rack’d by the war-strife;)

These to procure, incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,

While yet incessantly asking, still I adhere to my city;

Day upon day, and year upon year, O city, walking your streets,
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Where you hold me enchain’d a certain time, refusing to give me up;

Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich’d of soul—you give me forever faces;

(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries;

I see my own soul trampling down what it ask’d for.)

Poem #1 -

Give All To Love - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Give all to love; Obey thy heart; Friends, kindred, days, Estate, good-fame, Plans, credit and the Muse, Nothing refuse.

'T is a brave master; Let it have scope: Follow it utterly, Hope beyond hope: High and more high It dives into noon, With wing unspent, Untold intent; But it is a god, Knows its own path And the outlets of the sky.

It was never for the mean; It requireth courage stout. Souls above doubt, Valor unbending, It will reward, They shall return More than they were, And ever ascending.

Leave all for love; Yet, hear me, yet, One word more thy heart behoved, One pulse more of firm endeavor, Keep thee to-day, To-morrow, forever, Free as an Arab Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid; But when the surprise, First vague shadow of surmise Flits across her bosom young, Of a joy apart from thee, Free be she, fancy-free; Nor thou detain her vesture's hem, Nor the palest rose she flung From her summer diadem.

Though thou loved her as thyself, As a self of purer clay, Though her parting dims the day, Stealing grace from all alive; Heartily know, When half-gods go , The gods arrive.

Assignments

Hey 8-B! Spring is here, and with it, Spring Fever! After what felt like YEARS of a long and cold winter, we all want to go to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. So now more than ever is the perfect time to look at poetry that focuses on nature (being outdoors) and this term called 'Carpe Diem', which is Latin for 'Seizing the Day' - making the most out of the present. In order to do so, you will complete the following tasks:
Task ONE: Read both the poems and the prose posted on this blog. Pick the one you like the most, and describe what YOU think the poem/prose is saying. Talk about what you think the theme (message) of the poem is, and make sure to mention at least ONE poetic term that you see.
Task TWO: RESPOND to what a classmate has said (make sure you both looked at the same poem). Do you agree with your class? Why or why not?
Task THREE: Browse through the websites listed through the delicious site posted on this blog. Pick one poem that focuses on the idea of Carpe Diem or Nature. Print out the poem, and write at least TWO HEALTHY paragraphs describing what you think the poem is saying.
The TWO HEALTHY paragraphs will include:
Paragraph 1 -Discuss the themes and ideas you see in the poem, and make sure to point out any poetic terms you see - you MUST mention at least two.
Paragraph 2- Do you like the ideas presented in the poem? Why or why not?