Let Us All Rise! #WhatsupWednesday

Let today’s post be a celebration of the wonderful poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist Dr Maya Angelou. This is one my most favorite poems of all time (thanks, Google Doodle!). It reminds me of hope, courage, triumph over adversities, equality and the importance of self-acceptance. Maybe it’s timely, too, that I am reminded of it.

(NOTE: You might want to skip to 0:41)

Still I Rise

Happy 90th Birthday, Dr. Maya Angelou!

 

Beast-mode Poetry #atozchallenge2017

I owe much of my love for poetry to a certain TV series and actor Ron Perlman. Seriously.

In 1987, the series Beauty and the Beast (BATB) starring Ron and Linda Hamilton started airing. However, it did not immediately reach our shores, so to speak. Exactly when I saw it, I do not remember, although my guess would be in 1989. But its impact on me has lived with me since then.

It was a beautiful show and much of what made it beautiful to me, at least, was the premise of a “beast” with a golden voice always waxing poetic. He was a well-read creature always reading such lovely poems! And that voice!

Yes, that voice is forever embedded in my memory. That’s especially because when I reached college, someone introduced me to BATB’s Of Love and Hope official soundtrack. OF COURSE, I just had to borrow and listen to it. I did until I decided to have my own copy. Oh, bliss!!!

Ron really did justice to the poems. I fell in love with the poems. I hardly even remember the music, in fact, I often skipped the music to get to the poems! They were made more beautiful by his deep and romantic voice, romantic in the more sentimental way. I cannot read/recite any of those poems without being on “beast-mode” and reading them his way.

So if anyone ever notices why I watch some movies because Ron’s in it, it’s because I have somehow made him a friend.

If you miss the show and the poems, or would like to know what I am talking about, I have taken the liberty of finding videos for you where Vincent recites Cummings, Frost, Rilke and others. I tried to post them in an order based on what I most love, but there were those I could not decide on. So let’s just say they are in random order.

But first, the most popular audio from the show. This was the show’s theme song, The First Time I Loved Forever (sung by Liza Angelle). In-between parts are readings of excerpts from e. e. cummings‘ somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond. The whole poem follows the video. BTW, the list is not complete as I could not find vids of the others.

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron)

Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost

Longing by Matthew Arnold

I Arise from Dreams of Thee by Percy Bysshe Shelley

This is the Creature by Rainier Maria Rilke

You, Darkness by Rainier Maria Rilke

That’s it. For sure, you loved them! I am virtually hugging Ron right now :>

And now, as bonus, we have here e. e. cummings actually doing a reading of his poem 🙂

HAPPY POETRY MONTH!!!

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Love poetry? Let us know what you thought of this! Which is your favorite BATB poem? Just drop a comment or two below.

P is for “Poetry”

This piece serves as my Letter P post for the A to Z Challenge 2017.

I am creating a page for my A to Z Challenge 2017 posts. Meanwhile, to check for my past posts, kindly check out As Lovely as a Tree. Not for any other reason except that’s where I last listed down my post titles.

 

Ode Things #atozchallenge2017

I believe that many have already encountered the word “ode”, but how many do know what it means? To define it simply, an ode is a lyric poem, or a poem meant to be sung. That was what I knew of it in high school. I became fascinated with the concept of it, so I wrote a very short one:

When I’m Gone

When I’m gone…

You may cry or grieve

Or look back to where the tears have been.

And when the crying is done

And the grief has gone,

Simply remember me

And smile…

For I’ll take that smile with me

…When I’m gone.

I have always been a sentimental soul, so it is no wonder I made this sentimental ode. It was actually inspired by quotes from Michael Landon and Michael Mills.

What is Ode, Really

I realize now I most probably broke a lot of the rules for writing an ode. Actual dictionaries define the ode as the following:

Merriam-Webster: “a lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style, varying length of line, and complexity of stanza forms”

Oxford: “1. A lyric poem, typically one in the form of an address to a particular subject, written in varied or irregular metre 1.1. A classical poem of a kind originally meant to be sung”

Vocabulary.com: “a lyric poem with complex stanza forms”

Dictionary.com: “1. a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion 2. (originally) a poem intended to be sung”

At least, I got that last one right.

To further explain,…

“‘Ode’ comes from the Greek aeidein, meaning to sing or chant, and belongs to the long and varied tradition of lyric poetry. Originally accompanied by music and dance, and later reserved by the Romantic poets to convey their strongest sentiments, the ode can be generalized as a formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present.” (Poets.org)

Or simply put,…

“An ode is a form of lyric poetry — expressing emotion — and it’s usually addressed to someone or something, or it represents the poet’s musings on that person or thing…” (Vocabulary.com)

The Ode Ones

The ode’s stanza forms vary. The Poetry Foundation website tries to explain these the easiest way possible (the quotes are from their page, the links aren’t mostly):

1. The Greek or Pindaric ode – “celebrates athletic victories” (I am suddenly reminded of Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time)
2. Horatian ode – “written in quatrains in a more philosophical, contemplative manner”
3. Sapphic ode – “consists of quatrains,…unrhyming but with a strict meter.”
4. English Romantic ode – “vary in stanza form. They often address an intense emotion at the onset of a personal crisis…or celebrate an object or image that leads to revelation.”

There are various examples of odes. The poet that seems to be mentioned most is John Keats. Below is an excerpt from one of the odes he is famous for (if not the weirdest one). Click on the image to read the whole ode and even listen to the audio.

More examples can be found HERE and HERE (10 Most Famous Odes by Renowned Poets).

Now that you know what an ode is, I hope this has inspired you to try writing one yourself.

 

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If you have written your own ode, do share! Maybe add an audio along with it? 😉

O is for “Ode”

This piece serves as my Letter O post for the A to Z Challenge 2017.

I am creating a page for my A to Z Challenge 2017 posts. Meanwhile, for now, to check for my past posts, kindly check out As Lovely as a Tree.