FROM TENNYSON'S POEM: THE DEATH OF ARTHUR

NB: I have also posted about this somewhat differently at: https://joansdeathpoems.blogspot.com

The following is from: 

https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/and-slowly-answered-arthur-barge

"And slowly answered Arthur from the barge... ."

by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson

And slowly answered Arthur from the barge:
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure! but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell. I am going a long way
With these thou seëst—if indeed I go
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)—
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard-lawns
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.’
So said he, and the barge with oar and sail
Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood
With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere
Revolving many memories, till the hull
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn,
And on the mere the wailing died away.

                                       ~~~~~~~

And see:

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45370/morte-darthur

                                              ###

SPANISH IS THE LOVING TONGUE

ORIGINAL LYRICS BY CHARLES BADGER CLARK, JR.

Originally published in Charles Badger Clark, Sun and Saddle Leather, Boston, 1915; later included in N. Howard Thorp, Songs of the Cowboys, Boston, 1921. Music: unknown composer; most commonly used melody from the singing of Richard Dyer-Bennett (learned from Sam Eskin), transcribed in The People's Songs Bulletin (Vol. 3, No. 11).

---

Spanish is the loving tongue, 
Soft as music, light as spray: 
'Twas a girl I learned it from, 
Living down Sonora way. 
I don't look much like a lover, 
Yet I say her love words over, 
Often when I'm all alone -- 
"Mi amor, mi corazón."

Nights when she knew where I'd ride 
She would listen for my spurs, 
Fling the big door open wide, 
Raise them laughin' eyes of hers; 
And my heart would nigh stop beating
When I heard her tender greeting, 
Whispered soft for me alone --
"Mi amor, mi corazón." 

Moonlight in the patio, 
Old Senora nodding near, 
Me and Juana talking low
So the Madre couldn't hear; 
How those hours would go a-flyin'! 
And too soon I'd hear her sighin'
In her little sorry tone --
"Adios, mi corazón!" 

But one time I had to fly
For a foolish gamblin' fight, 
And we said a swift goodbye
In that black unlucky night. 
When I'd loosed her arms from clingin'
With her words the hoofs kept ringin'
As I galloped north alone --
"Adios, mi corazón!" 

Never seen her since that night --
I can't cross the Line, you know. 
She was "Mex" and I was white; 
Like as not it's better so. 
Yet I've always sort of missed her
Since that last wild night I kissed her; 
Left her heart and lost my own --
"Adios, mi corazón!"

---

As recorded by Dylan, Nashville, TN, Apr 24, 1969 (released on "Dylan");

transcribed by Manfred Helfert.

---

Broke her heart, lost my own, 
"Adios, mi corazón!"

Spanish is the loving tongue, 
Soft as music, light as spray: 
'Twas a girl I learned it from, 
Living down Sonora way. 
Well, I don't look much like a lover, 
Still I say her love words over, 
Mostly when I'm all alone -- 
"Mi amor, mi corazón."

Haven't seen her since that night --
I can't cross the line, you know. 
They want me for a gamblin' fight; 
Like as not it's better so. 
Still I always kind of missed her
Since that last sad night I kissed her; 
Broke her heart, lost my own --
"Adios, mi corazón!" 
Broke her heart, lost my own --
"Adios, mi corazón!" 

"Adios, mi corazón!"

---

To Lyrics Page
To Table of Contents
To Starting Page
At: http://www.bobdylanroots.com/spanish.html

ALEXANDER POPE'S ESSAY ON MAN

This is just one section of a very long work - one to which I have often returned!  See it all at: 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2428/2428-h/2428-h.htm 

I especially like this section:

II.  Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love to urge, and reason, to restrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all
And to their proper operation still,
Ascribe all good; to their improper, ill.
Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul;
Reason’s comparing balance rules the whole.
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And but for this, were active to no end:
Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
Destroying others, by himself destroyed.
Most strength the moving principle requires;
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
Formed but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love still stronger, as its objects nigh;
Reason’s at distance, and in prospect lie:
That sees immediate good by present sense;
Reason, the future and the consequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng.
At best more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to suspend,
Reason still use, to reason still attend.
Attention, habit and experience gains;
Each strengthens reason, and self-love restrains.
Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More studious to divide than to unite;
And grace and virtue, sense and reason split,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.
Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.
Self-love and reason to one end aspire,
Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire;
But greedy that, its object would devour,
This taste the honey, and not wound the flower:
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

 And especially these lines: 

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul;
Reason’s comparing balance rules the whole.
Man, but for that, no action could attend,
And but for this, were active to no end:
Fixed like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;
Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
Destroying others, by himself destroyed.

                            ###

THE LADY OF SHALOTT -- LINKS

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45359/the-lady-of-shalott-1832

Summary and Literature: 

https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-lady-of-shalott

Analysis 

https://www.owleyes.org/text/lady-shalott/analysis/themes#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20possible%20interpretations%20of%20“The%20Lady,lilies%2C%20a%20frequent%20symbol%20of%20chastity%20and%20purity.

And see: 

https://classicalteachersjournal.com/lady-of-shalott-literary-analysis/

And see: 

https://www.gradesaver.com/tennysons-poems/study-guide/summary-the-lady-of-shalott

And see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott

And see: 

  https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-lady-of-shalott

                                                                     ###

ROBERT FALCON SCOTT -- THE SAD END TO AN EXPLORER'S LIFE

This is not intended as "Good Stuff" in the sense that it was good, but rather because I wanted to include this note about Robert Falcon Scott's last expedition in one of my blogs.  

I hope readers will avail themselves of a copy of Scott's last diaries. They are collected in a volume called Scott's Last Expedition, available at Amazon and elsewhere. 

On Jan. 16, 2012 after a two-and-a-half month slog across a glacier, over the Transantarctic Mountains, and through blinding snow, the team discovered they'd been beaten to the South Pole.

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there first, on Dec. 14, 1911, a full month before Scott and his four companions spotted a telltale flag whipping in the wind over the coveted spot. [Race to the South Pole in Images]

"It is a terrible disappointment, and I am very sorry for my loyal companions," Scott wrote on the occasion.

From there, things only got worse. Hampered by the tightening stranglehold of Antarctic winter, Scott lost two of his men. Petty Officer Edgar Evans was done in by injury, and, hobbled by frostbite, Lawrence Oates famously sacrificed himself by walking out alone into a snowstorm to avoid slowing his companions' progress.

"He said, 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since," Scott wrote on March 16.

Here is Commander Scott's final entry, of Thursday, March 29, 1912:

"We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far.

It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

R. SCOTT.

For God's sake look after our people."

                                        ~~~~~~~~~

Dreaded discovery

Eight months later, in November 1912, a search party found three frozen bodies in a tent half-buried by snow. Bowers and Wilson were zipped into their sleeping bags, in the attitude of sleep.

Scott apparently died after his companions did. His sleeping bag and his coat were thrown open, his diaries stuffed beneath his shoulder. His arm was stretched across the body of his friend Wilson.

The searchers covered the tent with snow, marked it with a cross made from skis, and left the dead men where they lay.

                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Much of the above was compiled by Andrea Mustain at: 

https://www.livescience.com/19364-antarctic-explorer-death-centennial.html

And see the diary: Scott’s Last Expedition by Captain Scott, available at Amazon and elsewhere. 

                                  ### 

MAYO CLINIC DIETARY SUGGESTIONS

Mayo Clinic offers suggestions for a healthful diet.

http://view.mydiet.mayoclinic.org/?qs=ca2ddcbdcba7cf123800d859c07e78fb90bed6eef9563b8596facea0eac976ddd3ba2ba33c4da1d9b79d26e632893c215478c0e06181cde2f1bb21f710cef77ee855e7ae740b8ae76469ec82ccdcb291

Here is a shorter URL to click:

https://tinyurl.com/MayoClinicDiet2022

And here is the graphic:

The Art Institute Outside My Window!

The Art Institute of Chicago boasts a fine collection of paintings by Georges Seurat, who was famous for a painting technique called "pointillism" in which tiny dots together gave an impression of a scene. 

https://www.artic.edu/artists/40810/georges-seurat

And more about this at: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

Probably one of Seurat's most famous works is:    

Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte 

A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of the Grand Jatte 

https://www.artic.edu/artists/40810/georges-seurat

It's hard to see here but if you go to the Art Institute you can actually see the tiny dots! 

Here is a close-up view of this technique:

So in the true Spirit of Chicago, here is what Lake Michigan looks like on this sunny but very cold January 21, 2022, as if Nature herself had decided to adopt this technique!  

Perhaps Claude Monet's lovely Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies would be a more apt comparison and a reminder that summer will return!

                                                                                      ###

MAKING PLANS: A CARTOON THAT SAYS IT ALL!

 

From the New Yorker online, January 28, 2022