Happy Birthday, Charlotte Brontë!

One of my favorite novelists in classic English literature is Charlotte Brontë, most commonly known for her work, Jane Eyre.  She was born on April 21, 1816, the third of six children.  Anne and Emily Brontë were her sisters that also published novels, and all three of them wrote under pen names.  Charlotte went on to publish four novels, but only Jane Eyre ever became popular.

“No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?"

"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer. 

"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?" 

"A pit full of fire."

"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?" 

"No, sir."

"What must you do to avoid it?" 

I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come was objectionable: "I must keep in good health and not die.” ~ Jane Eyre 

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.”  

“But life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!”  

“We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence.”  

“The human heart has hidden treasures, In secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, Whose charms were broken if revealed.” 

“I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.”  

“Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves.” 

Happy Birthday, Robert Frost!

Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets, and as his birthday happens to fall today, I thought he needed a post of his own.  Happy Birthday, Robert Frost!

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”  

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”  

“Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I've tasted of desire,I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twiceI think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice.” 

“If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.” 

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” 

“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” 

“Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.”   

“Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”

Happy Birthday, Victor Hugo!

Regrettably, I have not yet read Victor Hugo's novels, but I have seen a great many quotes by him that deserved to be shared, in honor of his birth date.  Which one is your favorite?  Is there another quote of his that you cherish and have memorized?  What are they and what do you think of his works?

Thank you, Mr. Hugo, for your inspiring words. I hope to add your novels (Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) to my reading list soon.  Au Revoir!

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”  

“What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul." 

“Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”  

“Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.” 

“What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!”  

“It is from books that wise people derive consolation in the troubles of life.” 

“England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England.” 

“Love each other dearly always. There is scarcely anything else in the world but that: to love one another.”  

“Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.”  

“Love is the only future God offers.” 

Happy Birthday, To a Childhood Hero!

Tomorrow, December 5, is the birthday of one of the most famous names in the history of cinema.  No, he's not a poet or a novelist or a classic character that one would expect to find on this blog.  He is responsible, however, for creating one of the most iconic characters in all of animation and  creating a world so famous that people everywhere know of it.

Can you guess who it is?

Tis the famous Walter Elias Disney, commonly known as Walt Disney, or just his last name which has been a popular brand of movies, merchandise, and magic.  I chose Disney to celebrate because of the massive legacy he left us through his animated films, which I have enjoyed since my early childhood.  So without further ado, applause for Disney: cheers for his life, celebrating for his brilliance, and thanks for his willingness to share his wonderful ideas.

"A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive."

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life." 

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

"Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk — especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering an adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity."

"Somehow, I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. The special secret it seems to me is summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Courage, Confidence and Constancy. And the greatest of all is Confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably."

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."

Happy Birthday, Robert Louis Stevenson

Today, November 13th, was the day Robert Louis Stevenson was born back in 1850.  He is mostly remembered for his novels like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but I chose a few of his poems to share with you.  They are a nice, less familiar side of Stevenson that I thought should be remembered.  He would have been 164 years old today!

Bed In Summer

In winter I get up at night
  And dress by yellow candle-light.
  In summer quite the other way,
  I have to go to bed by day.

  I have to go to bed and see
  The birds still hopping on the tree,
  Or hear the grown-up people's feet
  Still going past me in the street.

  And does it not seem hard to you,
  When all the sky is clear and blue,
  And I should like so much to play,
  To have to go to bed by day?

In The Highlands

In  the highlands, in the country places,
Where the old plain men have rosy faces,
    And the young fair maidens
        Quiet eyes;
Where essential silence chills and blesses,       
And for ever in the hill-recesses
    Her more lovely music
        Broods and dies—

O to mount again where erst I haunted;
Where the old red hills are bird-enchanted,       
    And the low green meadows
        Bright with sward;
And when even dies, the million-tinted,
And the night has come, and planets glinted,
    Lo, the valley hollow       
        Lamp-bestarr’d!

O to dream, O to awake and wander
There, and with delight to take and render,
    Through the trance of silence,
        Quiet breath!       
Lo! for there, among the flowers and grasses,
Only the mightier movement sounds and passes;
    Only winds and rivers,
        Life and death.

Autumn Fires

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me;
"Here he lies where he longed to be,
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."

Happy Birthday, Sylvia Plath

Yesterday, October 27th, was the day Sylvia Plath was born back in 1932.  To commemorate her life, her work, and her poetic mystery, I chose several of her poems that I felt embody her style, her thoughts, and her life.  For an analytical response to her poem, Mushrooms, go here!   

Bitter Strawberries

by Sylvia Plath

All morning in the strawberry field

They talked about the Russians.

Squatted down between the rows

We listened.

We heard the head woman say,

'Bomb them off the map.'

Horseflies buzzed, paused and stung.

And the taste of strawberries

Turned thick and sour.

Mary said slowly, 'I've got a fella

Old enough to go.

If anything should happen...'

The sky was high and blue.

Two children laughed at tag

In the tall grass,

Leaping awkward and long-legged

Across the rutted road.

The fields were full of bronzed young men

Hoeing lettuce, weeding celery.

'The draft is passed,' the woman said.

'We ought to have bombed them long ago.'

'Don't,' pleaded the little girl

With blond braids.

Her blue eyes swam with vague terror.

She added petishly, 'I can't see why

You're always talking this way...'

'Oh, stop worrying, Nelda,'

Snapped the woman sharply.

She stood up, a thin commanding figure

In faded dungarees.

Businesslike she asked us, 'How many quarts?'

She recorded the total in her notebook,

And we all turned back to picking.

Kneeling over the rows,

We reached among the leaves

With quick practiced hands,

Cupping the berry protectively before

Snapping off the stem

Between thumb and forefinger.

Kindness

by Sylvia Plath

Kindness glides about my house.

Dame Kindness, she is so nice!

The blue and red jewels of her rings smoke

In the windows, the mirrors

Are filling with smiles.

What is so real as the cry of a child?

A rabbit's cry may be wilder

But it has no soul.

Sugar can cure everything, so Kindness says.

Sugar is a necessary fluid,

Its crystals a little poultice.

O kindness, kindness

Sweetly picking up pieces!

My Japanese silks, desperate butterflies,

May be pinned any minute, anesthetized.

And here you come, with a cup of tea

Wreathed in steam.

The blood jet is poetry,

There is no stopping it.

You hand me two children, two roses.

Dark Wood, Dark Water

by Sylvia Plath

This wood burns a dark

Incense. Pale moss drips

In elbow-scarves, beards

From the archaic

Bones of the great trees.

Blue mists move over

A lake thick with fish.

Snails scroll the border

Of the glazed water

With coils of ram's-horn.

Out in the open

Down there the late year

Hammers her rare and

Various metals.

Old pewter roots twist

Up from the jet-backed

Mirror of water

And while the air's clear

Hourglass sifts a

Drift of goldpieces

Bright waterlights are

Sliding their quoits one

After the other

Down boles of the fir.

A Better Resurrection

by Sylvia Plath

I have no wit, I have no words, no tears;

My heart within me like a stone

Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;

Look right, look left, I dwell alone;

A lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief

No everlasting hills I see;

My life is like the falling leaf;

O Jesus, quicken me.