Sunday, April 08, 2007

April is National Poetry Month!

...Hence, I am posting a few of my favorite poems:

Jabberwocky

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

--Lewis Carroll



What Is Success?

What is success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson



What though the tempest round me roars?
I know the Truth; it liveth;
What though the darkness round me blows?
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake that inmost calm
While to that Rock I'm clinging.
Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

--Quaker hymn

4 comments:

April said...

We sang "How Can I Keep From Singing" in Chorale. It is such a pretty songs with such pretty words. :)

Patricia said...

You've found Waldo!

But seriously...good choices! "How Can I Keep From Singing" sounds so familiar--I should find the music somewhere and see if I recall the tune.

Anonymous said...

Hey Courtney,
this is once again a challenge! The first poem will add some words to my vocabulary... I will probably print it out and translate it, just for fun... ;-)
Anyway, the "What is success?"-poem is pretty good and YAY- I understood what it said. The "How can I keep from singing" one is really cool and I hope to hear ya'll sing it sometime, as April and you both seem to know it... hihi...
Love ya

thegermanygirl said...

April: Ooh, cool! I didn't know anyone still sang it, and I've never heard the actual music. Maybe we should follow Ja-9's suggestion and sing it sometime?

Patricia: Yes, the elusive Waldo did, indeed, turn up. I was so relieved. ;o)

But seriously....if you read April's comment above, you'll see that the music is out there somewhere!

Ja-9: Well, as we've already discussed IRL, the new vocabulary in "Jabberwocky" isn't exactly recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. ;o) You should do a translation, though! I'd love to read what you come up with!