This is a course of free personal expression and creative writing at International Christian University in Tokyo. Each member of the class is an "author" with freedom to choose any theme, genre, format, and length they feel will be meaningful for them. The goal is to develop life-long writers who use English not only as a tool for professions, but as a way for self-expression that can connect and communicate with readers all over the world. Please enjoy and leave comments!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Share One Good Poem (any kind!)
Hi everyone,
By Wednesday, please leave a Comment that includes one good poem in English that you know or have found.
Title: My Friend(http://100-poems.com/poems/best/1408001.htm) Author: Sammy Lane Sharp Year: I could not know...
Poem:
We all need someone To talk to in our life, A friend to whom we run In times of stress or strife
A friend who's always there Throughout the years, A friend we know will care And take away our fears.
A friend who's always near, Waiting for our call, To wipe away our tears, And lift us when we fall.
A loving friend indeed, On whom we can depend To fulfill our every need - Thank you, precious friend
Why you like it? Easily I could imagine my friends through this poem. This poem gives an specific, sufficient and meaningful explanation of the question; “What is the meaning of friends?”. Also, thanks to this poem, I could watch some scenes with my friends.
Title: Desperado (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BwOXlGbW6Q) Author, Year: Don Henley, 1973
Poem: Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses? You been out ridin’ fences for so long now Oh, you’re a hard one I know that you got your reasons These things that are pleasin’ you Can hurt you somehow
Don’ you draw the queen of diamonds, boy She’ll beat you if she’s able You know the queen of heats is always your best bet
Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can’t get
Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no youger Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home And freedom, oh freedom well, that’s just some people talkin’ Your prison is walking through this world all alone
Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time? The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine It’s hard to tell the night time from the day You’re loosin’ all your highs and lows Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late
Why you like it. Just cool! I like Eagles and this song. He is difficult person but good person.
Title: The Poets but Lamps― (http://amzn.to/o7wntH) Author, Year: Emily Dickinson, 1864
Poem: The Poets light but Lamps― Themselves― go out― The Wicks they stimulate― If vital Light
Inhere as do the Suns― Each Age a Lens Disseminating their Circumference―
Why you like it: It tells me that any words may have meanings and whether they are poor or not is not important. To read this poem, I can be confident about creating words.
I wonder that the only 8 sentences can express such a huge literary universe.
Tiger Tiger. burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye. Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat. What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp. Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears And watered heaven with their tears: Did he smile His work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger Tiger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The reason why I like it: The tempo of this poem is so good and there are alliterations(for example, Tiger Tiger,Burning Bright and dare Frame thy FearFul) and rhymes(for example, bright and night, skies and eyes). And also, there are metaphor of Satan and God.If you are interested in, please google it.
Sorry, my posting kind of messed up. The letters turned out jumbled. I've tried again.
Author: Lewis Carroll 1872
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky
Title: Jabberwocky (from "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There")
'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 hast 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.
Why I like this poem; This poem is full of words invented by Carroll. Words like "brillig" "mimsy" "vorpal". Even Carroll himself says he can't explain the meaning of some of these words! They appear to be nonsense, but the sound of these words seem to fit perfectly with the scenery in the poem. It's an odd sensation, but I love reading Carroll's poems.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine Staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long And there is time to kill today And then the one day You find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun But it's sinking And racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in the relative way But you're older And shorter of breath And one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter Never seem to find the time Plans that either come to naught Or half a page of scribbled lines Hanging on in quiet desperation Is the English way The time is gone the song is over Thought I'd something more to say
Why I like this song(poem) ?
There are many people, including me, who always waste of time. This song is caution for those people. Every time, I listen to this song, I decide not to waste of time and to start action. Thus, this song urges me to go into action, so I like this poem.
Why I like this poem? I like this poem about birthday made by Christina Rossetti. I became 20 last week and I remember the really happy and delighted feelings I had that day.
This poem expresses the feelings of birthday person by colorful things in the natural world. When I read this poem, suddenly a lot of animals, scenery, colors, seeds and berries came to my mind and my heart came to throb with the greatest happiness as I had on my birthday.
I think it is really difficult to express and show our real feelings or what we are thinking to others. But this poem made me imagine the birthday person’s feelings clearly and interestingly. So I want try describing what I am thinking and feeling by writing poem, too!!
Title: Always with me Author: Wakako Kaku・Julie Rogers Composer: Youmi Kimura
Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depths of my heart May I always be dreaming, the dreams that move my heart
So many tears of sadness, uncountable through and through I know on the other side of them I'll find you
Every time we fall down to the ground we look up to the blue sky above We wake to it's blueness, as for the first time
Though the road is long and lonely and the end far away, out of sight I can with these two arms embrace the light
As I bid farewell my heart stops, in tenderness I feel My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real
The wonder of living, the wonder of dying The wind, town, and flowers, we all dance one unity
Somewhere a voice calls in the depths of my heart keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part
Why speak of all your sadness or of life's painful woes Instead let the same lips sing a gentle song for you
The whispering voice, we never want to forget, in each passing memory always there to guide you
When a mirror has been broken, shattered pieces scattered on the ground Glimpses of new life, reflected all around
Window of beginning, stillness, new light of the dawn Let my silent, empty body be filled and reborn
No need to search outside, nor sail across the sea Cause here shining inside me, it's right here inside me
I've found a brightness, it's always with me
Why I like this song?
This is the English translation of Japanese song, "Itsumo Nando Demo", from the movie "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi(Spirited Away)". I like this song in Japanese, but English one is also good. This song gives me power when I am depressed.
I been walking around Inside a haze Between the lines of reason Hiding from the ghost Of yesterday Feels like I'm barely breathing
I-I wanna feel the rain again I-I wanna feel the water on my skin< And let it all just wash away In a downpour I wanna feel the rain Na na na na Feel the rain Na na na na
I've been losin days The shades pulled down I still can't face the sun
But I-I'm goin crazy I can't stay here I've gone completely numb I just wanna need someone
Oh no I thought you were the only one girl But now I think I was wrong Cause life goes on Na na na na na...
I've been walking around inside a haze
Oh I...
In a downpour feel the rain Feel the rain
I wanna feel the rain
Why I like it: I like this song because this song effectively describes the connection between rain and loss of something. Rain is metaphor of inconsolable feeling and sometimes people wanna feel rain to forget something sad.
Title: Both Sides Now Author: Joni Mitchell Link: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni+mitchell/both+sides+now_20075289.html (I'm sorry this is not a link to her HP as I couldn't open the page....)
Bows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere I've looked at cloud that way
But now they only block the sun They rain and snow on everyone So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow It's cloud illusions I recall I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and ferris wheels The dizzy dancing way you feel As every fairy tale comes real I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show You leave 'em laughing when you go And if you care, don't let them know Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now From give and take, and still somehow It's love's illusions I recall I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud To say "I love you" right out loud Dreams and schemes and circus crowds I've looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Something's lost but something's gained In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all
Why I like this song: I met this song at a concert as arrange for choir. This single CD was published on 1968, but these words are not old. I love her cute expressions and images in this lyrics, and also its contents. Anything has two or more sides in it, with no fixed answer, and people understand it through their live otherwise they never know it. ^^
Title: My Friend(http://100-poems.com/poems/best/1408001.htm)
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Sammy Lane Sharp
Year: I could not know...
Poem:
We all need someone
To talk to in our life,
A friend to whom we run
In times of stress or strife
A friend who's always there
Throughout the years,
A friend we know will care
And take away our fears.
A friend who's always near,
Waiting for our call,
To wipe away our tears,
And lift us when we fall.
A loving friend indeed,
On whom we can depend
To fulfill our every need -
Thank you, precious friend
Why you like it?
Easily I could imagine my friends through this poem. This poem gives an specific, sufficient and meaningful explanation of the question; “What is the meaning of friends?”. Also, thanks to this poem, I could watch some scenes with my friends.
Title: Desperado (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BwOXlGbW6Q)
ReplyDeleteAuthor, Year: Don Henley, 1973
Poem:
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now
Oh, you’re a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin’ you
Can hurt you somehow
Don’ you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She’ll beat you if she’s able
You know the queen of heats is always your best bet
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can’t get
Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no youger
Your pain and your hunger, they’re drivin’ you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that’s just some people talkin’
Your prison is walking through this world all alone
Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine
It’s hard to tell the night time from the day
You’re loosin’ all your highs and lows
Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away?
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it’s too late
Why you like it.
Just cool! I like Eagles and this song. He is difficult person but good person.
Title: The Poets but Lamps― (http://amzn.to/o7wntH)
ReplyDeleteAuthor, Year: Emily Dickinson, 1864
Poem:
The Poets light but Lamps―
Themselves― go out―
The Wicks they stimulate―
If vital Light
Inhere as do the Suns―
Each Age a Lens
Disseminating their
Circumference―
Why you like it:
It tells me that any words may have meanings and
whether they are poor or not is not important.
To read this poem, I can be confident about creating words.
I wonder that the only 8 sentences can express such a huge literary universe.
Title:The Tiger
ReplyDeleteAuthor,Year:William Blake,1794
Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The reason why I like it:
The tempo of this poem is so good and there are alliterations(for example, Tiger Tiger,Burning Bright and dare Frame thy FearFul) and rhymes(for example, bright and night, skies and eyes).
And also, there are metaphor of Satan and God.If you are interested in, please google it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my posting kind of messed up. The letters turned out jumbled. I've tried again.
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Lewis Carroll 1872
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky
Title: Jabberwocky (from "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There")
'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 hast 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.
Why I like this poem;
This poem is full of words invented by Carroll. Words like "brillig" "mimsy" "vorpal". Even Carroll himself says he can't explain the meaning of some of these words!
They appear to be nonsense, but the sound of these words seem to fit perfectly with the scenery in the poem. It's an odd sensation, but I love reading Carroll's poems.
Time
ReplyDeletePink Floyd, 1973
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then the one day
You find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
you missed the starting gun
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun
But it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way
But you're older
And shorter of breath
And one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter
Never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught
Or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation
Is the English way
The time is gone the song is over
Thought I'd something more to say
Why I like this song(poem) ?
There are many people, including me, who always waste of time. This song is caution for those people.
Every time, I listen to this song, I decide not to waste of time and to start action.
Thus, this song urges me to go into action, so I like this poem.
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/christina_rossetti/poems/16452.html
ReplyDeleteTitle: A Birthday
Author: Christina Rossetti
A Birthday by Christina Rossetti
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
Why I like this poem?
I like this poem about birthday made by Christina Rossetti. I became 20 last week and I remember the really happy and delighted feelings I had that day.
This poem expresses the feelings of birthday person by colorful things in the natural world. When I read this poem, suddenly a lot of animals, scenery, colors, seeds and berries came to my mind and my heart came to throb with the greatest happiness as I had on my birthday.
I think it is really difficult to express and show our real feelings or what we are thinking to others. But this poem made me imagine the birthday person’s feelings clearly and interestingly. So I want try describing what I am thinking and feeling by writing poem, too!!
Title: Always with me
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Wakako Kaku・Julie Rogers
Composer: Youmi Kimura
Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depths of my heart
May I always be dreaming, the dreams that move my heart
So many tears of sadness, uncountable through and through
I know on the other side of them I'll find you
Every time we fall down to the ground we look up to the blue sky above
We wake to it's blueness, as for the first time
Though the road is long and lonely and the end far away, out of sight
I can with these two arms embrace the light
As I bid farewell my heart stops, in tenderness I feel
My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real
The wonder of living, the wonder of dying
The wind, town, and flowers, we all dance one unity
Somewhere a voice calls in the depths of my heart
keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part
Why speak of all your sadness or of life's painful woes
Instead let the same lips sing a gentle song for you
The whispering voice, we never want to forget,
in each passing memory always there to guide you
When a mirror has been broken, shattered pieces scattered on the ground
Glimpses of new life, reflected all around
Window of beginning, stillness, new light of the dawn
Let my silent, empty body be filled and reborn
No need to search outside, nor sail across the sea
Cause here shining inside me, it's right here inside me
I've found a brightness, it's always with me
Why I like this song?
This is the English translation of Japanese song, "Itsumo Nando Demo", from the movie "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi(Spirited Away)". I like this song in Japanese, but English one is also good. This song gives me power when I am depressed.
Title: Downpour
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Backstreet Boys
I been walking around
Inside a haze
Between the lines of reason
Hiding from the ghost
Of yesterday
Feels like I'm barely breathing
I-I wanna feel the rain again
I-I wanna feel the water on my skin<
And let it all just wash away
In a downpour
I wanna feel the rain
Na na na na
Feel the rain
Na na na na
I've been losin days
The shades pulled down
I still can't face the sun
But I-I'm goin crazy
I can't stay here
I've gone completely numb
I just wanna need someone
Oh no
I thought you were the only one girl
But now I think I was wrong
Cause life goes on
Na na na na na...
I've been walking around inside a haze
Oh I...
In a downpour feel the rain
Feel the rain
I wanna feel the rain
Why I like it:
I like this song because this song effectively describes the connection between rain and loss of something.
Rain is metaphor of inconsolable feeling and sometimes people wanna feel rain to forget something sad.
Title: Both Sides Now
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Joni Mitchell
Link: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni+mitchell/both+sides+now_20075289.html
(I'm sorry this is not a link to her HP as I couldn't open the page....)
Bows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at cloud that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Something's lost but something's gained
In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
Why I like this song:
I met this song at a concert as arrange for choir. This single CD was published on 1968, but these words are not old.
I love her cute expressions and images in this lyrics, and also its contents. Anything has two or more sides in it, with no fixed answer, and people understand it through their live otherwise they never know it. ^^