Then I went to "Event of the Day" and the only event I bothered to remember was that on this day in 1859 the French Government - passed a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch. I don't know enough about music to write at length about sound frequencies - other frequencies maybe :) I was surprised, though that it required a law. I thought that the musical scale just "happened" like flowers. I guess not. It makes you wonder what music was like before 1859.
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Me somewhere - maybe Britain |
Next, I went to "Quote of the Day" and found the usual inspirational quotation, of which I receive several hundred a day posted to my FB wall. Finally I went to "Poem of the Day" and spent about an hour on a favourite site - Poetry 180 and decided to use the first of the 180 poems listed, as a blog topic. It's by Billy Collins and says a lot about how we should approach poetry.
Introduction to Poetry
Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
to find out what it really means.
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"Tyger Tyger burning bright..." |
My pictures were suggested by the first few lines of the poem. They are slides from a time - long ago and far away, when I used to teach poetry in high school. I held them up to the light!!
Have an inspired day!!
Great post Carol. Poetry can certainly be interesting. Glad you found your blog topic there.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read Carol, thanks for this!
ReplyDelete