Saturday, May 31, 2008
Seven Ages Of Man
by William Shakespeare
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face,
creeping like snailUnwillingly to school.
And then the lover,Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths,
and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden,
and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justiceIn fair round belly,
with good capon lin'd,With eyes severe,
and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws,
and modern instances,
And so he plays his part.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face,
creeping like snailUnwillingly to school.
And then the lover,Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths,
and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden,
and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justiceIn fair round belly,
with good capon lin'd,With eyes severe,
and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws,
and modern instances,
And so he plays his part.
History of Poetry
Poetry as an art form predates literacy. In preliterate societies, poetry was frequently employed as a means of recording oral history, storytelling (epic poetry), genealogy, law and other forms of expression or knowledge that modern societies might expect to be handled in prose. The Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic which includes poetry, was probably written in the 3rd century BCE in a language described by William Jones as "more perfect than Latin, more copious than Greek and more exquisitely refined than either." Poetry is also often closely identified with liturgy in these societies, as the formal nature of poetry makes it easier to remember priestly incantations or prophecies. The greater part of the world's sacred scriptures are made up of poetry rather than prose.
The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today. Many English speaking–Americans know that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". An alphabet song teaches the names and order of the letters of the alphabet; another jingle states the lengths and names of the months in the Gregorian calendar. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it.
Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th-century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.
In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.
The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century BCE onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise in the sixth century BCE to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.
In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem. The late 20th-century rise of the singer-songwriter and Rap culture and the increase in popularity of Slam poetry have led to a renewed debate as to the nature of poetry that can be crudely characterised as a split between the academic and popular views. As of 2005, this debate is ongoing with no immediate prospect of a resolution.
The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today. Many English speaking–Americans know that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". An alphabet song teaches the names and order of the letters of the alphabet; another jingle states the lengths and names of the months in the Gregorian calendar. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it.
Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th-century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.
In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.
The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century BCE onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise in the sixth century BCE to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.
In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem. The late 20th-century rise of the singer-songwriter and Rap culture and the increase in popularity of Slam poetry have led to a renewed debate as to the nature of poetry that can be crudely characterised as a split between the academic and popular views. As of 2005, this debate is ongoing with no immediate prospect of a resolution.
What is Poetry?....
Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.
It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.
Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive interpretation.
It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.
Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive interpretation.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
World's Largest Photo
"The Great Picture" is the world's largest photograph taken with the biggest camera in the world. I love the fact that my little digital camera with 7 mega pixels fits in my pocket and can be taken anywhere, but I don't think a giant jet air craft hangar sized camera will ever be very popular!In July this year the Guinness Book of Records certified the hangar as the largest camera in the world, measuring 13.71 x 48.76 x 24.38 m (45 x 160 x 80 ft). The photograph was also confirmed to be the largest photograph on canvas, measuring 9.62 x 33.83 m (31ft 7in x 111ft).
The photo depicts the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is currently on show at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus Wind Tunnel, Pasadena, California until the 29th of September.
The Legacy Project says "The photograph is a magnificent tribute to a historic turning point in Orange County history as well as a statement about the evolution of the photographic medium, hand versus mechanical/technological processes, and the importance of “vision machines” to the advancement of culture." See more about the making of the picture and the Legacy Project.
DEVOTION....
by: Thomas Campion (1567?-1619)
FOLLOW your saint, follow with accents sweet!
Haste you, sad notes, fall at her flying feet!
There, wrapt in cloud of sorrow, pity move,
And tell the ravisher of my soul I perish for her love:
But if she scorns my never-ceasing pain,
Then burst with sighing in her sight, and ne'er return again!
All that I sung still to her praise did tend;
Still she was first, still she my songs did end;
Yet she my love and music both doth fly,
The music that her echo is and beauty's sympathy:
Then let my notes pursue her scornful flight!
It shall suffice that they were breathed and died for her delight.
FOLLOW your saint, follow with accents sweet!
Haste you, sad notes, fall at her flying feet!
There, wrapt in cloud of sorrow, pity move,
And tell the ravisher of my soul I perish for her love:
But if she scorns my never-ceasing pain,
Then burst with sighing in her sight, and ne'er return again!
All that I sung still to her praise did tend;
Still she was first, still she my songs did end;
Yet she my love and music both doth fly,
The music that her echo is and beauty's sympathy:
Then let my notes pursue her scornful flight!
It shall suffice that they were breathed and died for her delight.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Featured Poet
Sarah Lindsay
Sarah Lindsay is the author of Primate Behavior (Grove Press), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997, and Mount Clutter (Grove Press). Copper Canyon Press will publish her next book, Twigs and Knucklebones, this fall. She earns her keep as a copyeditor for a custom publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina.
View featured poem
About Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1973 by Herbert Leibowitz (editor) and Stanley
Lewis (publisher) to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations — international poetries have occupied center stage from our very first issue — with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary — and lilting prose; a poet’s reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers.
"For poetry reviewing, the best magazine, of course, is Parnassus: Poetry in Review."
—James Laughlin
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, like the mountain whose name it bears, rises up unchallenged."
—Helen Vendler
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review plays a central role in contemporary letters."
—Octavio Paz
"Without Parnassus: Poetry in Review, American poetry would be dangling from a blurb."
—Rodney Jones
Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Volume 30, Number 1 & Number 2
Publisher & Editor: Herbert Leibowitz
Co-Editor: Ben Downing
Assistant Editor: Adam L. Dressler
Poetry Daily / Amazon.com Bookstore
Selected books available by Sarah Lindsay:
Primate Behavior
Mount Clutter
Sarah Lindsay is the author of Primate Behavior (Grove Press), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997, and Mount Clutter (Grove Press). Copper Canyon Press will publish her next book, Twigs and Knucklebones, this fall. She earns her keep as a copyeditor for a custom publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina.
View featured poem
About Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1973 by Herbert Leibowitz (editor) and Stanley
Lewis (publisher) to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations — international poetries have occupied center stage from our very first issue — with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary — and lilting prose; a poet’s reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers."For poetry reviewing, the best magazine, of course, is Parnassus: Poetry in Review."
—James Laughlin
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, like the mountain whose name it bears, rises up unchallenged."
—Helen Vendler
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review plays a central role in contemporary letters."
—Octavio Paz
"Without Parnassus: Poetry in Review, American poetry would be dangling from a blurb."
—Rodney Jones
Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Volume 30, Number 1 & Number 2
Publisher & Editor: Herbert Leibowitz
Co-Editor: Ben Downing
Assistant Editor: Adam L. Dressler
Poetry Daily / Amazon.com Bookstore
Selected books available by Sarah Lindsay:
Primate Behavior
Mount Clutter
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