Spring! Wordsworth, cummings, and Vivaldi

 

Romantic poet looking pensive

Would be a 'whoa, dude!' experience

That's awesome! Not exactly what Wordsworth said, but almost. This is a very famous poem with lots of mixed metaphors, but still great for this time of year with all the tulips and daffodils popping up

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wandered_Lonely_as_a_Cloud
The theme of feeling a part of nature and having joy in reflecting back on a beautiful experience is worth reading this poem with kids. Plus, they will meet 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud'  many times in English literature class. I do like the daffodils dancing spritely. Personification does it for me every time.

in Just
by e e cumming

http://www.poetry-archive.com/c/in_just.html
Springtime is an excellent time for teaching poetry because it seems poets get very inspired during this season. e. e. cummings even made up new words for spring--mudluscious (You can hear your galoshes go schluppp as you try to extract them out of the newly melted snow/mud. Like hot fudge being pulled out of a sundae. That's mudluscious.) And everyone knows what puddlewonderful is; none of us resist splashing in a puddle. Of course, we in SoCal can't fully appreciate the ecstacy that the folks Back East experience having a puddle to splash after everything freezes for half the year--but we sort of empathize.

That's not eddieandbill or bettyandisbel. Maybe its bettyandeddie or isbelandbill; or bettyandbill or isbelandeddie.

 Kids also love music. So it is no surprise that Spring from Vivaldi would really tickle them with the marvelous sounds of a  spring day--that they can identify on their walk to and from school. The music even sounds like flowers burst-blooming in the sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA
Performed by the Budapest Strings.

 

 

 

 

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning. 

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

Spring is still springing

Annual Tulip Bloom in my garden.

Helps to remember nature continues on.

And we're a part of nature.

Get some fresh air! Look at the sky, you know I think it is cheap entertainment.

Peace, my friends.

Vincent's Blossoming Trees

Flowering Peach Tree, Van Gogh 1

Almond tree, 1888

Peach tree, 1888

 When Van Gogh moved to Southern France, Arles, he was enthralled with the blossoming fruit trees. Blooming even in the snow, the artist was inspired by the new growth. My garden does the same for me. I've decided to plant similar fruit trees in my yard, looks like I need an almond and plum, already having an apple, peach, and pear.

Apricot trees, 1888

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.   

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

National Poetry Month: Whoa, Dude!

Would be a 'whoa, dude!' experience

That's awesome! Not exactly what Wordsworth said, but almost. This is a very famous poem with lots of mixed metaphors, but still great for this time of year with all the tulips and daffodils popping up.

The serendipity (happy surprise) expressed in this poem is like the opposite of PTSD--the memory of the experience brings refreshing joy and satisfying peace, as experiences in nature often do.

  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wandered_Lonely_as_a_Cloud
The theme of feeling a part of nature and having joy in reflecting back on a beautiful experience is worth reading this poem with kids. Plus, they will meet 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud'  many times in English literature class. I do like the daffodils dancing spritely. Personification does it for me every time.

in Just
by e e cumming

http://www.poetry-archive.com/c/in_just.html
Springtime is an excellent time for teaching poetry because it seems poets get very inspired during this season. e. e. cummings even made up new words for spring--mudluscious (You can hear your galoshes go schluppp as you try to extract them out of the newly melted snow/mud. Like hot fudge being pulled out of a sundae. That's mudluscious.) And everyone knows what puddlewonderful is; none of us resist splashing in a puddle. Of course, we in SoCal can't fully appreciate the ecstacy that the folks Back East experience having a puddle to splash after everything freezes for half the year--but we sort of empathize.

That's not eddieandbill or bettyandisbel. Maybe its bettyandeddie or isbelandbill; or bettyandbill or isbelandeddie.

 Kids also love music. So it is no surprise that Spring from Vivaldi would really tickle them with the marvelous sounds of a  spring day--that they can identify on their walk to and from school. The music even sounds like flowers burst-blooming in the sun.

Spring by Vivaldi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA
Performed by the Budapest Strings.

Vincent's Super Bloom

Flower Garden Vincent Van Gogh

If flowers could sing...

Delibes Lakme - The Flower Duet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYgzaNmI9vE

National Poetry Month: Poetry-- Whoa, Dude!

Would be a 'whoa, dude!' experience

That's awesome! Not exactly what Wordsworth said, but almost. This is a very famous poem with lots of mixed metaphors, but still great for this time of year with all the tulips and daffodils popping up.

The serendipity (happy surprise) expressed in this poem is like the opposite of PTSD--the memory of the experience brings refreshing joy and satisfying peace, as experiences in nature often do.

  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wandered_Lonely_as_a_Cloud
The theme of feeling a part of nature and having joy in reflecting back on a beautiful experience is worth reading this poem with kids. Plus, they will meet 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud'  many times in English literature class. I do like the daffodils dancing spritely. Personification does it for me every time.

in Just
by e e cumming

http://www.poetry-archive.com/c/in_just.html
Springtime is an excellent time for teaching poetry because it seems poets get very inspired during this season. e. e. cummings even made up new words for spring--mudluscious (You can hear your galoshes go schluppp as you try to extract them out of the newly melted snow/mud. Like hot fudge being pulled out of a sundae. That's mudluscious.) And everyone knows what puddlewonderful is; none of us resist splashing in a puddle. Of course, we in SoCal can't fully appreciate the ecstacy that the folks Back East experience having a puddle to splash after everything freezes for half the year--but we sort of empathize.

That's not eddieandbill or bettyandisbel. Maybe its bettyandeddie or isbelandbill; or bettyandbill or isbelandeddie.

 Kids also love music. So it is no surprise that Spring from Vivaldi would really tickle them with the marvelous sounds of a  spring day--that they can identify on their walk to and from school. The music even sounds like flowers burst-blooming in the sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA
Performed by the Budapest Strings.

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.  

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.   

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

Need A Breath of Spring? Here's Matisse

The Cut Outs, Matisse

Spring Song - Felix Mendelssohn

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAvbaSzX5_0

 

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.     

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

Easter Greetings from MzTeachuh

My garden always reminds me of rebirth--tulips and trees regreening. The natural cycle of life. Easter--the spiritual cycle of life.

He's alive! - Dolly Parton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBJF3_IZwnk

The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound

Half in hope of sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin' through
To drag us all away

And just before the sunrise
I heard somethin' at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call

I hurried to the window
Looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers' feet

But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told me where, she'd been

She said, "They've moved Him in the night"
And none of us knows where
The Stone's been rolled away
And now His body isn't there

So we both ran toward the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said

But the windin' sheet they wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
And how or where, they'd taken Him
Was more than I could tell

Oh, somethin' strange had happened there
Just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go

Circumstance and speculation
Couldn't lift me very high
'Cause I'd seen them crucify Him
Then I saw Him die

Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything, I'd promised Him
Just added to my shame

When at last it came to choices
I denied, I knew His name
And even if He was alive
It wouldn't be the same

But suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove shadows from the room

And Jesus stood before me
With His arms held open wide
And I fell down on my knees
And I just clung to Him and cried

Then He raised me to my feet
And as I looked into His eyes
The love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies

Guilt in my confusion
Disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I ever had
Just melted into peace

He's alive, yes He's alive
Yes, He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive, yes He's alive
Oh, He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide

He's alive, He's alive
Hallelujah, He's alive
He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive, He's alive, He's alive
I believe it, He's alive, sweet Jesus

 

 

 

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.      

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins

Monet and Vivaldi: Tulips, Music and Spring

Claude Monet Tulip Field with the Rijnsburg Windmill

Wish you could smell these narcissus!

Springing in my garden.

I was hoping to give you just a little blast of Spring--the brilliant blue sky after a spring shower, the shocking, vibrant red, yellow, purple of bulb flowers blaring through the winter's end grey, the enthusiastic chirp and twitter of the birds now activated for the season like an army just getting out of boot camp. I can just about do it with Monet and Vivaldi--but I can't send you the still-chilly-but-not-freezing breeze on a finally sunny day or the scent of earth unfreezing. You'll have to go outside for that.

Oh those spring showers!

 

Vivaldi Spring 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqojc0UrhOU 

 

 

 

 

National Poetry Month: Earth Day Every Day Gerard Manley Hopkins

 This might be the first poem supporting the ecological movement.

God’s Grandeur

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;	5
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;	10
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Spring

By Gerard Manley Hopkins 

 

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –         

   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;         

   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush         

Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring         

The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;

   The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush         

   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush         

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.         

What is all this juice and all this joy?         

   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning

In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,         

   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,         

Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,         

   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.        

Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England during the Industrial Revolution.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins